I’d been toying with the idea of writing a book for about a year. January 1st 2003 was a public holiday and I couldn’t find a book at home that interested me-the shops were closed-so I thought that it would be time to begin writing something of my own. I had planned to write a book, a fantasy novel of epic proportions, just one,  so that I would have something in print for the time that I had grandchildren far into the future.

I penned the whole plot from beginning to end that day and spent the rest of my holidays writing. I had a plan to have the book finished in a couple of months, and then return to my other interests, but I let my imagination run wild with my plot. Everything changed, it morphed to something else. The story grew, took on a life of it’s own and I realised that it was much bigger. I remember thinking that maybe it will take four months. Like all fantasy writers embarking on their first masterpiece I found myself saying, I’m writing a Fantasy Novel – it’s a trilogy (are there any other sort at the moment?) and I didn’t realise what an undertaking it has become.  Writing is a tireless, reclusive task, that requires discipline and often quite monotonous in the editing stages, but it has to be done.  I didn’t know that back then.

In 2007 I was still doing my final edit of the first book. After some advice from several people I ended up cutting the first novel into two smaller 130,000ish word chunks. It was a great feeling to see two novels appear, and now I have a lot less editing to do, but it still a fair size. But I’m still at it everyday and proud that I can hold it up for scrutiny and say that I did write a story. It’s become my apprenticeship in writing. Nobody had warned me about point of view, characterisation, plot development, the joys of peer review, of editing and re-editing and polishing a story.

After having it reviewed and finding that it had been written in an older style, I began a complete rewrite in 2008.  I also was told that my writing was too distant.  I was told to give up on it by others, to put it in my bottom drawer and start something new.  I haven’t and for better or worse, I began again at page one.  In many ways it felt that I had taken two steps backwards.

And then I did put it aside, for a while at least and took a breath, wrote a lot of short stories, and developed my skills to a point where I have improved on what I was.  So here I am, seven years later, and I understand that it needs to be my highest priority writing task, if I am to finish the first and second book reviews and write the next one.  Will it be good enough to publish, to be a bestseller?  Possibly not, but that’s not the point. For me finishing it, having something that can be read, and perhaps imparts an inkling of my lifes experiences that are instilled within it is enough.

Did I say that the craft of writing is harder than I expected …

I take heart in the fact that I can say that I am a writer, and as overused as the phrase is, it is the journey and not the destination that counts.

BIO:

David Kernot is an Adelaide based writer. He has work published with MicroHorror, AlienSkin Magazine, AntipodeanSF, The Specusphere, and Positive Words Magazine. He was the 2006 winner of the United Federation of Planets Fan Club of SA, Science Fiction and Fantasy story competition and in 2008 he received an Honourable Mention from Writers of the Future.  He can be found behind a large Mountain Ash desk, surrounded by pictures of the Flinders Ranges, editing books one and two of  The Kingdom of Isalde.  More information can be found at www.davidkernot.com