Though there are many helpful and great books out there about people overcoming immense odds to achieve success, all of them I have seen or read are written after someone achieved that success. “Things were really tough, you know. Let me tell you how I worked through x, y, and z to get where I am now.”  There is nothing wrong with that at all. You know you will be entertained and receive helpful advice along the way. But you also know they succeeded at some point in the book while probably failing a few times along the way to present teachable moments.  Regardless of what happened, though, the outcome has already been determined.

I want to write something in the thick of it all where nothing is determined because everything is still being being worked for. On the journey to Mordor, I’m still in the Shire. For those of you unacquainted with J.R.R. Tolkien, if I’m traveling from Denver to Australia I just parked at Denver International Airport. Essentially, there is a long way to go. We have a map detailing where we want to go, but getting there is far more involved than simply planning a route. Also, I don’t have Gandalf, so that kind of sucks.

Honestly it is quite terrifying to start this. There is a sizeable possibility I could be writing the slow demise of my dreams, which began taking shape 9 years ago, for anyone to read…Perhaps I’ll write it all privately then publish it depending on what happens…Who am I kidding? No one is going to publish that. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first steps, Rome wasn’t built in a day, he who wants to build very high must dig very deep, and all that, right?  Here we go!