[ I Spent Five Years Writing a Book, and I Need Your Help! ]
Do you know the agony of a project that takes two to five years to complete? The change in middle school in the USA is a three-year problem. Completing high school is a four-year slog. Undergrad degrees are usually four years, a master’s is another two, and a Ph.D. can be three to five years. If you go into a trade, it is usually a two, three-year training project. In martial arts like Karate and Tae-Kwon-Do, earning a black belt is a three to five-year project. When I was in Boy Scouts, it took, on average, five years to go from tenderfoot to the illustrious rank of eagle. The average artist that draws consistently for fun can see improvements in their work every two years. Most importantly, it has been five years since writing a particular book. I can only finish this with your help.
I am J. J. Bartel, Author, Botanist, Historian, and Gamer. Last year I published a book called The Lost Soul of Scholastic Study, links in the description, and it has succeeded. Many people have purchased this work, which is still selling as of this video. As someone trying to make a living publishing multiple books, it’s the first of many. When I posted that book, I already had several other works. You will hear about the other books in other videos, but the one that matters now is the mango book.
In the year 2000, I was seven when I ate my first mango. It was love at first taste. I wanted to grow it in my garden but discovered I needed help too. A tropical fruit does not grow in a place with snowy winters. I looked into the fruit on and off, learning more and more about it over the years. By 2018 I was in the first year of my master’s, and between working on experiments and writing my thesis, I decided to write a mango encyclopedia, a book on everything mango. Biology, agriculture, architecture, chemistry, geography, history, theology, I wanted to write about everything mango and put it in.
Now, I am the kind of person that can read between the lines of a scientific journal article and chortle at jokes implied. Yes, I am the Party King. When they learn, most people learn factoids that are out of their minds three minutes later. Learning was either getting a new story, speaking of a new angle, or perfecting a cherished story. I wanted to tell the fruit’s story as I learned more about the mango. It’s a human miracle that a fruit like that has spread worldwide. It is a fruit that has been both divine and of creation in many religions. It actually benefited from economic and political forces like war, colonialism, and trade.
As I struggled through my master’s, dealing with experimental complications and my own inner demons, there was a powerful, hopeful story of the mango. Our modern world is a better place to live than in the past, partially because parents wanted to give mango trees to their children. Whether they realized it or not, these parents also passed down a legacy that slowly changed for the better over hundreds of thousands of years. History may have forgotten most of the people that grew mangos, but we bite, drink, and cherish what they have left behind. Even if all you do is forgotten, it still matters. Such a message of hope is what I want to carry through in my book. The fruit and tree have an exciting, thrilling historical account, and the angels are in the details. I wanted to create a book that helped others see what I saw.
I have finished writing The Mango Encopedia. It needs to go through a beta reader bonanza. Because of its academic nature, I will send this to some professors that I know. I also have recently joined Critique Circle, an online place where people get and receive critiques. For those more authorly, this seems to be an excellent place. I have recently signed up, so I can’t speak from experience. If this website is as great as friends and reviewers say, I intend to cultivate this into some greatness. Feel free to search for my mango story in the creative nonfiction section. It will be available June 14th this year for a limited time.
For those not academics or on this website, that usually means that you have a real chance to be the Party King. It’s also where you come in. I need to hear from all of you. By the time your getting this work, I will have posted a part of the first chapter on my subscribestar for free. If you go to subscribestar and search for J. J. Bartel, you will find the first half of the first chapter! Feel free to let me know your thoughts. The best critiquers will get a chance to help me make this book unforgettable and a free copy of this work, signed by yours. Beta reading won’t take two to five years, even if things go wrong.
Thank you, everyone, for sticking to the end. Until next time, let’s go and cultivate some greatness.
Image Source
https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/egcfbc/its_almost_been_5_years/
I love your wording, “angels are in the details” ! Your perspective on this topic of mangos and the effort that you put into your presentation are what will make this book a must read! So glad you keep writing!