A cover reveal and some life-lesson advice, syndicated from @RaphyelMJordan

The following is syndicated from raphyelmjordan.com and is posted here with permission.

This post is part of a series which started with this post.

Amazon

Redoing Prossia’s cover was a metaphor for what this entire project has meant to me; it’s a new start, a chance to right the wrongs that I didn’t even know I was originally doing. Like the cover, I made sure to go through the proper channels when it came to republishing Prossia, seeking the right advice, laying out a solid plan, and executing to the best of my abilities. It’s funny. At times I wonder if the 1st edition of the novel should even count, given how “amateur” I was about handling it. But then I stop and realize I didn’t know how much I loved being a writer until I took that first shot at publishing.

Sure, it wasn’t the best attempt, but I’m realizing any attempt is an accomplishment in its own right. Better to try than not try at all. That’s why the number one advice professional authors give aspiring ones sounds so obvious, but is still so vital.

Write.

If you want to be an author, then be an author. In the same manner, if you want to be an artist, then be an artist. If you want to be a leader, then be a leader. If you want to be about something, then get up and do something.

I know; that’s easier said than done. No one ever likes to talk about what that requires most of the time. Nobody wants to know that Kevin J. Anderson, a multi-international bestselling author, was rejected by literary agents over 80 times before he finally got his first novel published. No one likes to hear how J.K Rowling wrote out her ideas for Harry Potter on napkins because she was cleaning up her last table for the night. No one wants to know about Stephanie Myer spending a great deal of her time at Critique Circle, a social network for writers so they can get their works critique. Oh no. Who wants to hear about that? These people are overnight success stories, right?

No, these people knew what it took to be something. They took a step, even when it didn’t lead them anywhere. And then they took another one, and another one, and then another one. And before they knew it, when they turned around, they had an wave of people, like me, asking them how they managed to get so far ahead.

Just take that one step, and you’ll have no idea where it takes you. You might find yourself speaking to a classroom of kids, who gaze astonished at your  illustrations. You may have a book signing, and take a picture with a young lady who thinks you’re a superstar. You might lead a peace demonstration in your local community, urging your peers to stand up and encourage one another. Or, who knows? Maybe you’ll travel with a seventeen-year-old alien girl, eyes brighter than a full moon, who found herself on another world when confronted that first big life question: Where Were You When You Had To Grow Up? Hey, you have to start somewhere.

Think big on a galactic level, and you’ll never know where it takes you. Welcome to the relaunch of Prossia.

-Raphyel M. Jordan