Anniversary

  
  It seems life is all about numbers. I could enumerate the words I wrote. I could bore you with my battles with page count. I could lament the many nights I didn't sleep in favor of writing another chapter. I could proudly tell you how many readers keep making my dream come true. I could, but I won't. Today, it's all about the number one.
  Exactly one year ago, I self-published The Gaze. I will not lie to you, I'd hoped to hit the ground running but instead, I fell flat on my face and the momentum carried me into a full tumble over jagged ground. 
  Did the work stop at the publication? Hell, no!
  This trip had only marked its first step.
  Samantha Reddick's emotional roller coaster touched its share of hearts. The reviews and emails I received were far more than I could have possibly dreamed. 
  I constantly fight the perfectionist in me, who wants to open that file and rearrange a phrase, a cover page, a comma, and even considered republishing it in two parts...
  But any artist who abuses the brush will inevitably cover his vision in a monochromatic mess therefore, its quill will never again leave its inkwell.
  Samantha will just have to be happy with her place in the literary universe. I'm indebted to her, and all my characters who put me through every facet of the human emotional spectrum.
  The Gaze changed me by inspiring me to believe in myself again, by making a writer out of a dreamer.
  It's my first novel, one of my best accomplishments, one book that transformed me and gave me one glimpse at the life I wanted despite the thousands of writing hours, the hundreds of hours working on its promotion.
  Life is about numbers...
  But today...
  Today is all about the number one.

  Happy Anniversary, Samantha, Lewis, Gwen, and Tony. Thank you for all you've taught me.

  Javier A. Robayo