When a Story Is Ready

A finished manuscript ready for the next step

There is a moment in writing that comes at the very end. It is not the first draft. It is not the final revision. Those still belong to the work of shaping something unfinished. This is different. It comes when the manuscript returns from its final proofread.

I received that manuscript today for Huldufólk: A Modern Icelandic Folktale. For the first time, I am not looking at a work in progress. I am looking at a finished book. Not perfect. No book ever is. But complete. Clean. Ready. At least, I think it is.

So what comes next?

This is where the journey shifts and the relationship changes. The story no longer belongs entirely to me. It begins to move outward, toward readers and whatever path it will take, whether through representation or publication on its own terms.

Honestly, there is some relief. Some pride. And the hope that I am not missing something obvious at the eleventh hour.

It is also a strange feeling. After spending so much time inside a story, its absence is noticeable. Like an old friend who has moved away.

Huldufólk has been that kind of work. It is a story that sticks. But like any book, it began with a simple idea and grew into something larger. A story about survival, about change, and about the cost of holding too tightly to what once kept us safe. At its core, it asks whether what we fear may also be what saves us.

And now, it is ready to leave my hands.

I am considering next steps and will share more as that path becomes clear. Will an agent pick it up, or will I publish it under my own imprint? Time will tell. What matters most is that this story finds its way into the wider world. It carries, I think, something worth holding onto. For now, I am taking a moment to recognize what this is: a story finished, and a journey beginning.

And with that, I am turning back to another world that has been waiting, the continuation of The Last Independence Day. I have kept readers waiting long enough. It is time to bring Jon Freeman full circle.

There is more to tell.

There always is.

At the edge of Vatnajökull, where what is hidden still waits.