145: Last Words
3/6/2026
I’m coming up on the one-year anniversary of my return to Seattle, which will be on the 31st of this month. I also just finished entering my first book, Wings of Providence, into my laptop computer a couple days ago – Wednesday, 3/4/26. According to how my Word document is formatted, its tally comes in at 593 pages. Though the more accurate, thus more important metric, is the total number of words – 181,915.
Even this is not going to remain accurate for long because there’s still a lot of editing to do, and I don’t even have most of the epigraphs written yet. There’s 71 chapters now, since I no longer number fables as chapters, and I only have 4 or 5 epigraphs written. So, there’s still a lot of writing to do. I have copies of epigraphs – short ones – as fill-ins already in place, so adding the epigraphs won’t increase the word count dramatically, but it will alter it. As will future edits.
I already edited quite a bit as I typed it all into the computer, fixing inconsistencies, deleting redundancies, and fixing punctuation and grammar issues Word caught. I didn’t change all the grammar issues though because I didn’t’ want my author’s voice to be altered. I just wanted the blatantly awkward stuff fixed. It’s a fine line and judgement call.
I also had Word’s A.I. read back to me each chapter after I entered it, so I’d know there’s no major typos and that it sounds smooth and clear. Did quite a few rewrites based on that.
My next step will be to feed my entire manuscript to an A.I. and have it analyzed for copy editing issues – grammar, punctuation, and clarity issues. Then have it check for inconsistencies – like ages of characters, name spellings, etc. I don’t want to let it get too deep into content editing though. I’ll ask it for suggestions on style and structure, content, etc., but primarily out of curiosity. I refuse to implement any changes regarding those unless I’m 100% convinced it will improve the manuscript.
I don’t trust A.I. at all creatively. Only regarding the mechanics. And even that I can’t trust 100%, because those things are influenced by creative choices sometimes as well.
Anyway, I’m just glad I finally have the entire manuscript entered. Right now, I’m just struggling with Word’s formatting and pagination issues. I need three versions of my book – the eBook, the Amazon paperback, and my author’s edition that will be formatted precisely how I’d want a printed book to look (including illustrations).
So, there’s still a lot of work to do.
Present-Day Reflection
10/17/2026
Well, not much has changed since my last entry here in March. Not dramatically anyway. The structure is the same. I did finish the epigraphs and final edits, of course. And I decided to forego the Author’s Edition since I’m self-publishing and am not being forced by the gatekeepers of a publishing house to sacrifice elements I care deeply about.
The only thing I left undone was the illustrations for each chapter. My original concept was to have a small illustration to the left of the epigraph at the beginning of each chapter, but since I only had a handful done and needed 71, it would have required more time to execute than I had. I didn’t want to wait years for my first book to launch, and it was a luxury I could do without.
Maybe someday, years down the road, I can release an edition with all 71 illustrations. After all, even once all four books are published, I plan on spending the remainder of my life illustrating my favorite scenes as fully rendered paintings. Maybe produce calendars including these for each month of the year. I might even release a book of Batu Art, along with a published version of the Batu Companion that is currently under development here on my website.
I’ve always thought of The Batu Saga as my life’s work, though it didn’t actually begin until I was 37 – seventeen years ago. I got a late start and will always have a lot of things to keep me busy even after the series is completed. For now, however, the manuscript for Wings of Providence is finished, and the digital storefronts are live. The transition from a private internal journey to a much more public one is now underway.
It’s a strange, surreal experience finishing a debut novel within a series like The Batu Saga. For almost two decades this universe has belonged exclusively to me. It has lived and grown in isolation – within my journal entries, handwritten notes, rough drafts, sketches, and in the quiet hours of countless walks while working out creative decisions within the confines of my own mind.
As of now, that all changes. The gates of isolation are opening, the book has launched, and Wings of Providence no longer belongs to its creator alone. Thus, the ending of this Author’s Journal merely marks the end of the beginning. With the private journey complete, the public one now begins.
So yes, there’s still a lot of work to do.
