Hi everyone,

Just wanted to thank you again for reading The Blue Path: Step 1. The journey's been long and challenging, yet ultimately fulfilling. Two and a half years of very hard work, but I couldn't be happier with the results. Finishing a novel was a life-long dream of mine, so I'm happy I finally did it.

There are definitely more stories about Shae's adventure's I'd like to tell (four more books, to be precise...), but it ultimately depends on how this one does. My plan is to give myself the rest of the year off, do a major editing pass next year, then ultimately re-release the revised version with a tighter (i.e. daily) schedule to see if it can gain some traction. If I can build an audience (or if enough people poke me about it), I'll likely begin writing Book 2.

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I started writing this book a few years ago with the hope that I could build an audience and craft a community to support my writing endeavors. But in reality, building a sustainable audience takes a huge marketing effort and endless self-promotion. It was demoralizing for a while to watch my Follower Count and Rating Scores dwindle with each new chapter. After a certain point however, I realized my real reason for writing:

In high school, I created a Pen and Paper RPG (this story is actually based on that RPG!). Over a dozen players initially enjoyed this RPG, but due to life circumstances, many of them fell away until only one remained. Me and that friend played this RPG for over ten years; countless hours of custom content crafted just for him. It was a lot of effort for just one person's entertainment, but it made me happier than anything else in this world.

I don't expect to make a living off this novel. Or to ever be famous/successful from writing alone. But if it brings joy, it was all worth it.

Even if that joy is just for you and me.

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Thank you for reading,

- Alex