I sent out Project: GREY last Saturday night.

That’s right, after months of sitting on a completed manuscript, a semi-completed author bio, and a pitch that was mostly done but maybe could do with a bit of tweaking, I finally have started the querying process again. The thing that used to scare me most about it is now just another thing I cross of my Bullet Journal Daily Log. So, where did this burst of courage come from?

Well, I got a sudden urge to build a themed team in Pokémon Sword.

I know.

Just wait it out.

For those new here, Pokémon might be my favorite video game series of all time. How do I know this?

The team in question I built was themed around a previous character from an older game. One of my favorites, in fact, if not my absolute favorite. So I spent a couple of hours, twin in hand, over a few days, hatching eggs, choosing moves, and getting the right stats prepared.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, that’s okay. It’s not too important except for this part:

Competitively, the team’s not good.

Sure, it’s fun for me, but do I really expect to defeat anyone online?

Except I did.

Once. Just once. It was a close battle, 2-on-2, and it came down to the wire, but I eeked out a victory because one of my Pokémon was faster than his. Basically, if I didn’t knock out my opponent’s Pokémon, then he most assuredly would have KO’d mine.

What did this teach me? I was unafraid to hop online to battle with other people. I was so confident in the fun I would have battling with this themed team. The team has some legs, but if I went another 100 games and never beat someone from I’d be okay because, and this is the really important part, I didn’t build the team to be ultra competitive with the best players around the world.

I built it for me.

…

You see where I’m going with this?

We all have one thing we’re unafraid of doing that someone else might be 100% comfortable with. I used to stand in front of a classroom of thirty 10 year olds every day without batting an eye, but if I tell that to people who are afraid of kids they’ll probably go and hide under a rock. We’re not afraid of everything.

Transfer that bravery.

Brian Michael Bendis once said something to the tune of write the comic you would want to read. You shouldn’t fret about other people reading your work. So long as you write it for you, nothing else matters.

And, hey, that 1 victory you might get?

It only takes 1 agent to say yes to your book.

Thanks for reading,

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