Project Seer; The BackStory

Project Seer has been in the works for somewhere around 10 years. Sometimes it was at the forefront of my mind, while other times it was pushed to the back. But, still always there. 

The idea started years ago, before I even left my undergraduate university. Since then I would always have little ideas, little scenes, little bits of dialogue that came to me. I would try to get these tidbits down so I wouldn’t forget. Scribbles in notebooks or on scraps of paper. A jumble of notes in my phone. Even notes taken in a waitress notebook back in my server days. These notes were everything from big bits, little bits, full scenes or just a single line of dialogue. 

One of my older Project Seer notebooks, from 2015, on top of the first full draft. 

However, there was always something that prevented me from working on it. It was school, or work, or life. Mainly it was my crippling self doubt that kept me from putting pen to paper. From feedback that I had received in my undergrad when doing writing courses, I honestly didn’t believe I was good enough. 

In 2017, I started to make an attempt at drafting Project Seer. I decided it might never see the light of day, but I wanted it out of my head. I titled the document “Seer - Complete Shit Draft” and then set about writing every night when I got home from work. 

I made it about 13,000 words.

There is a running joke between my husband and I that I am really good at finding holes. I am not sure how, or even when this started, but I apparently seemed to have a knack for finding holes in the ground when we went on walks. 

Apparently, my hole finding ability extends to my creative space as well. Because I found a giant plot hole that rendered the whole story pretty much pointless. That was the end of my attempt and the return of my self doubt. 

I would spend the next few years as I had before my failed attempt. I worked on character development and world building. I noted down new ideas, new scenes, and new dialogue. 

I fixed the hole. But I didn’t return to try and write. 

It wasn’t until September of 2023 that I got serious. And it started with a holiday and a book. 

That September we took a family trip to Italy. We had plans to lounge and relax. It was also around that time a certain book came out, and I was super excited to read it as my vacation book. 

The view from where we stayed in Italy. 

I won’t name the book, I will only say it was a bestseller.

I finished the book in a few days, and was left feeling… unsatisfied… disappointed…duped. I’m not sure exactly what I would call the feeling. But I was left in my feelings. 

Sure it was a okay book, but not what I expected, not what I wanted, and not what I was promised. And while I was processing my feelings on the book, one emotion kept bubbling to the surface. 

Annoyance. 

I was so annoyed. This book had gotten published. This book. With mistakes that even I noticed. It had been published. 

From that sprang a little bloom of hope. This book had been published. Why couldn’t I? Why couldn’t this be me? 

So in October 2023, I started writing. Every single night after my son went to bed, I would write. I used some of my original words. I created new ones. But I continued to write.

Around this time I met my friend Macey. We had connected over instagram and she then introduced me to an amazing group of people. A group of writers who had come together themselves and built up a small community. 

And suddenly, I had support. 

I had writing partners, sprint partners, people to bounce ideas off of, people to read my work and give me feedback. 

When I finished the first draft of Project Seer at the end of January 2024, I cried. 

It has been through rounds of alpha readers and received great feedback and reviews. Right now it sits at just over 78,000 words. 

It is now one year later. A full after I decided to finally write this story and I plan to query it by the end of September. 

Don’t give up. Your story is possible.