DOORWAYS TO THE DEADEYE - Fulfillment of a Lifetime Goal

In late 1999/ early 2000, when I was about 24 years old, and trying to “find myself in the world” I made a list of lifetime goals, and I printed that list, laminated it, and stuck it in my wallet, where I still carry it today.

However, it’s one of those things that’s gotten buried behind some other old cards (advanced SCUBA certification, credentials of ministry from the Universal Life Church, etc.), basically things I haven’t looked at or even thought about for the past 6 or 7 years, at least.

But this week, I received a box of contributor copies of my first novel, and I realized that I just achieved the fulfillment of one of my lifetime goals.

Being as these goals were written about two decades ago, there are some that I've since lost interest in accomplishing. Some of them I already have accomplished. Some I know I’ll never do, while a few are still ones I’m working on and hopeful for.

This week, I just crossed off “Write and publish a book.”

I’ve written and published other books, anthologies and non-fiction, and my primer series, my collection, books on genealogy, etc. But I knew what the intent of this goal was, and nothing less would have fulfilled it. The intent was to see in print a fiction novel that I alone had authored. That book is: DOORWAYS TO THE DEADEYE, coming out next month (July 26) through JournalStone.

Here’s my original list of goals. They’re not in any order. If memory serves me correctly I had a couple different goals in the first draft list I made, but otherwise, not much changed over the years. This incarnation is dated from 2005.

15 GOALS TO FULFILL MY LIFE

• Earn a doctoral degree
• Hold a public position in political office
• Fluently speak a foreign language
• Invent/ Patent Something
• Run the Los Angeles Marathon
• Visit every continent
• Ride my bicycle across America
• Write and publish a book
• Efficiently play a musical instrument
• Hold my child
• Restore a classic car
• Celebrate my 50th wedding anniversary
• Build my own house
• Operate my own business
• Master a martial art

####

Anyway, it’s a great feeling of gratification today, of accomplishment, wonder even, that I did it.

Below is a picture of DOORWAYS TO THE DEADEYE, as opened in its shipping box, and of course I’m so proud of it, and hope the world should find some bit of enjoyment in my writing as well…. This novel was truly a passion project, something I wrote from the heart without a care for genre constraints. Of course, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system, I’ll be all about writing for the market and the big bucks now (yes, I know, I laugh too!).

It's available for preorder on Amazon, and more on it can be found here: http://ericjguignard.com/doorways_to_the_deadeye.html