The LionHead Rose: A Rewrite

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In 2018, trying to fight my battle with imposter syndrome, I published my short story, The Lionhead Rose, in an anthology called Petals and Blades. (Disclaimer: I was one of two owners of the publisher, Dreaming Rabbit Press, now rebranded, that published the book.)

It wasn't as if it was a horrible ordeal. The book itself was enjoyable and I was happy at the time. I was ecstatic even. I had published my second story to the public and had a third short story, Suoixna, being published shortly after.

I felt like I was on cloud nine.

​Until 4 years passed me by, filled with stress, anxiety, and more imposter syndrome than my meds could handle. 4 years of struggling to find my confidence as a writer, constantly going back to the harsh reminder, I barely sold a baker's dozen. Pages read, the book available on KU, were horrid.

​I asked myself a thousand questions. Should I have put my story first? Was it the rest of the content in the book? Did the cover fail me? Was my formatting bad? Did editing not catch major issues?

In the end, what really caused it to flounder, my whole-hearted belief now, is that I didn't market it or myself. I didn't market. I wasn't sharing. Social media is a serious struggle for my mental health and I failed myself and the books.

The reviews I did get were great. 5 stars. People liked the book and those that read it did tell me as much, but in the end, it was the failure of the book that brought me down. Coming off of a near decade-long imposter hell-hole, I didn't crawl out of this failure lightly.

However, today, in 2023, I have completed the manuscript to 2 books and am in revision stages for both. I'm confident, I'm more knowledgable than I was before, and I'm willing to fight for my work.

So, here we sit. Closing in on 5 years after the original publication, I have decided to rewrite Lionhead Rose. Taking it from almost 6k words, I'm aiming for a 20k novella, the first installment in the Thorns of Prisams Duology.

And I can't be more excited to share it with anyone and everyone.

Here is to 2023 and all the publications and creativity it will bring.

Find fantasy , Page Goblins.

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