I’m standing in a Barnes & Noble. Or maybe it’s an Amazon store. I pick up a novel from the New Releases rack. I don’t remember the cover of the novel, but I read the back jacket summary.

It’s the year 2090. The world is very different from present day. Humankind used to worry about overpopulation, but those fears were unrealized. In the future, the opposite problem exists: Earth has a dangerously low population. A mysterious genetic mutation has rendered most men and women sterile. Any women who become pregnant are immediately identified by the Mankind Protectorate, which controls their lives from conception until birth. The powers-that-be established the Mankind Protectorate in a last-ditch attempt to save humankind. Unfortunately, noble intentions led to deep corruption.

A small and unlikely group of men and women from different walks of life unite in a high-stakes game of survival. One young woman beats the odds and is with child. The Mankind Protectorate identifies her and begins the Control Protocol. The rag-tag group decides to band together and fight the system in what could be humankind’s last chance to destroy the evil that now controls the world.

This is the story of that small group of ordinary people facing an extraordinary task–to save humankind before it is destroyed forever. 

There are no blurbs from famous people. There are no blurbs period. You can’t expect much for your first novel.

I remember the feeling clearly. I did it. The work paid off. I look back and think about every time I asked myself, “Why am I doing this?” This was the moment I was waiting for. It is a glorious feeling.

That’s why I keep going.