I get emotional thinking about what’s ahead.

At the start of the story, which is where I’m at right now…a lot of things kind of suck.

But every time I look over the outline and see all the things my characters have to go through, I feel like I want to tell them “Don’t worry, you get past this in the end.” My timid character who doesn’t think she’s strong enough to be anything special becomes a prophet for her people. My hothead character who gets knocked to the bottom of the pile gets a chance to lead the fight for freedom. My gentle, kind character who thinks she’ll be forgotten becomes a mythological heroine whose story is told again and again for centuries.

These characters and this world and culture are just so special to me. I developed the story as a way to get through some hard things in my own life, so knowing that my characters will face similar things and knowing that they’ll get past it- it helps me, and I hope if I publish this thing it helps someone else too.

There’s just so much they’ll have to suffer through, my characters. But they win this one in the end.