Within Reach

This book, my first published work, "Within Reach" has been a long time coming. Arguably, since I have wanted to write since as far back as 1985, it was forty years coming. This has been a lifelong dream.

"Within Reach" was `in my head in various forms over the course of fifteen years. It was initially codenamed "Hooked" until I figured out a title that better suited what the book ultimately became. I actually wrote it in 2020 and then tried to get agent representation for a traditional publishing cycle from 2021 through 2022, I think. The last agent I sent it to actually gave me feedback though they rejected the work. They liked the idea and the story, but the writing did not resonate with them. At that point, I completely rewrote it. Most significantly, I changed it from third person to first and rewrote whole sections of the novel and rearranged others, while rewriting them as well. It was a massive undertaking.

"Within Reach" Copies on my Bookshelf

Later, at an art festival, I met with an author of a fantasy trilogy called "The Forest of Arrows." Her name was V.F. Sharp. We discussed writing and publishing, and she mentioned that she had had the same discussion with other authors before her first publication and had opted to self-publish after careful consideration of the costs and benefits of doing so. She encouraged me to look into doing the same with my work. I did look into it and, after my own careful consideration, decided to do the same. I think I made the right decision. "Within Reach" is a good story and was worth telling. I felt compelled to share it. Not just because I wanted to for myself, but also because I wanted more readers. Readers are participants, after all.

In 2020, I had initially sent a draft of the novel to three friends. I got some feedback from each of them, but not a lot. The feedback was positive, but I needed a more critical eye. So, through the company I had engaged to self-publish my novel, Book Baby, I hired a professional editor. My first reader. It didn't come cheaply but it was so worth it. He or she scrubbed every line of the book and provided outstanding suggestions and feedback. I'm glad I didn't try to skip this step of the publication process.

Once again, I rewrote sections and made adjustments as I felt were needed based on this feedback. This book isn't perfect, but I am content with its state. It's the best that I could do for my first time and with this story. I think my sophomore work will be even stronger, but a lot still needs to be done for that to come to fruition. On that score, I have engaged a well-studied and extremely well-read scholar of English literature as my editor whenever I get around to finishing my second novel. I'll post more about that once it is done (give me a year-and-a-half or so).

I engaged my daughter to draw three pictures of wisteria flowers in various stages of life. We went back and forth a little bit about what I was looking for and presentation...she drew quite a few versions of each so I could pick from them, which was considerate and helped me to be able to contribute to the artistic style used in an area I wasn't astute in as I couldn't do the drawings myself. Or at least I didn't trust myself to. My primary contribution to "Within Reach" was the words. I also hired a private investigator to try to find my creative writing teacher from my senior year in high school, who, more than anyone, pushed me and encouraged me to write. She believed that my voice was worth sharing and that meant the world to me at the time where I didn't yet have many skills to speak of. The private investigator found her and confirmed she was alive, but I unfortunately haven't made contact with her yet. I want to give her a copy and thank her. But perhaps I will be able to do so in time.

I also created my own corporation, Luminescent Books, Inc., to use as my imprint on this and any future books I publish. It was an easy process...I just used Legal Zoom, and I went ahead and funded it and set it up as the recipient of any royalties. I don't expect a lot of money coming my way, but that was never the point to begin with. The point is dreaming with others. I also grabbed ten ISBNs to use for this and other books. It was surprisingly cheaper to buy ten than to buy the three I actually needed, one for each format of "Within Reach."

Once I submitted the edited "Within Reach" for drafting as a published work, I gave only high-level comments about my vision for the cover. The team at Book Baby did a phenomenal job at creating an outstanding cover. It, I hope, will draw readers to pick up the book and read the back or even just the first few lines of the book. Enough for them to consider whether to look into it further or not. For those that do, I hope they feel something at different stages of the book. I think that is one of my principal goals as a writer: to incite emotion...and thought. And for those that pick up the book, read a healthy portion of it, and decide against finishing it, that doesn't diminish the fact that they still experienced a part of the story with me. If that is part of their personal journey with this story, then it belongs to them, and they can think about it later or decline to as they prefer. The interactive process of writing and reading is an astounding thing, and I think it provides an avenue on both sides for writers and readers to come together. It's about the story and the (in this case fictional) characters navigating their lives in its midst.

I love literature when it does that well. I hope and pray that my work is a positive contribution to the body of outstanding literature that abounds out there. There are so many must-read authors and must-read books in my view that one cannot hope to exhaust those available resources in one lifetime. It's fun to navigate them, though, and read new and different works while you're aging in the background. I hope the drop I've made in the bucket of literature is a positive one.

Anyway, back on topic, after I got my first digital proof back, I noticed a score of issues that needed to be corrected in the text. Most of these were on me rather than on the outstanding drafting team at Book Baby. I communicated those changes and got another round back with just two of the tiniest nits needed. I missed a period on a sentence (once again that was on me), and there was an indention on another paragraph that needed to be made. That version, though, was so clean that I even counted it as one of the books I had read for 2025. When I finished it, I happened to be listening to an Entombed album called "Wolverine Blues." Since then, I have listened to it quite a bit. It is kind of an informal theme song for the novel since it has been playing at several significant moments of its creation, reading, and editing.

Entombed "Wolverine Blues" Album Cover

It's arbitrary but fun. All told, I've read "Within Reach" five times, which ties with my next most-read book, "Journey to the End of the Night."

Two more keepsakes are coming out of this publication process. First, a good friend of mine who is an avid coin collector helped me get my hands on some coin mint sets for each of the three happiest years of my life, including 2025, which will include the fulfillment of a forty-plus-year-old dream of publication. While I was at it, I went ahead and got coin mint sets for the year of my daughter's birth and that of my son's as well - 2010 and 2012, respectively. The latter was the costliest of the bunch, but that's how coin buying can be, I understand.

I also retired a mousepad I have used for years going back to when the book was initially drafted. Upon publication, I am going to get my hands on a Sharpie, write "Within Reach" on it with my name and the publication date, and hold onto it as a keepsake. It was a mousepad using an image of the cover of an old NES game called "Ninja Gaiden," which I just love. It's an incredible game, in my opinion, and lots of fun. You can see it in the image below where my cat is wondering what in the tarnation I am doing while I am rewriting "Within Reach." For my next book, I'll do the same with the mousepad I use for it. This time it is a "Pitfall" mousepad, but I won't post an image of that until the book is much further along.

Elfi Watching me Rewrite "Within Reach"

On May 23rd, 2025, I received the first portion of my copies of the hard cover. I will never forget holding it in my hands, for real, the first time. I shared pictures of it with my family and friends and, over the next several days (and likely weeks) gave out copies to some of them so they wouldn't have to wait until the July 8th release date or even have to pay for the book. I'm humbled in that many of those I was committed to giving a copy to declined and were opting to buy it instead. Others want both, which still humbles me. I've been signing them. It's so surreal.

I don't know how many folks this story may resonate with, but I hope to reach new readers and to provoke thought and feelings as they follow this daydream of a story with me. I can't wait to contribute another story down the road. I've got two ideas, which are in various phases of production, and a fourth (well, actually also a fifth) that are embryonic but being pondered by myself.