My Future King has been my passion project since the summer of 2017. When I started it, I didn’t know that it would be a book, but there was a small part of me that came to that realization pretty quick. I have been working on this story for the past 8 years, give or take. There might be a year or two where it went completely untouched. This book was a summer project, something I’d only work on in the summer because that’s when I had the most time. During the school year, I left it alone and wouldn’t open it until June.

Since June 2017, it has gone through so many changes. It wasn’t even a fully completed first draft before I decided to start over. Although I did start again, I didn’t toss the old draft. There are bits and pieces of the old work in my current draft, but it’s mostly revamped. For some reason, I can’t seem to give up on this “book”. It exhausts me, yes, and has pushed me to start writing another book, but I can’t not keep working towards my end goal. Last year, my dad had asked me to make him a 5-item bucket list. One that was short-term and achievable in 5 years. So, on March 14, 2024, I made him that list, and the third one on it said:

“Finish writing my book from start to end in 5 years.”

When the thought came to me, I had to stop and consider whether or not I was crazy. Because writing it down meant truly considering it. Something I couldn’t ignore anymore. Something I’d have to work towards. Telling my dad about it meant I was going to make it real. “Speaking it into existence,” if you will. I sent that text, feeling like I’d just launched myself off a cliff, but I also felt a thrill in my stomach. “I’m doing this,” I said to myself, because I’ve secretly had a dream to one day hold the physical copy of My Future King in my hands. And I think I realized that that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t set a date.

It is now April 9th, 2025.

One year gone, and one year closer. I’ve made it so much farther. Somewhere around September of 2024, I opened the My Future King document because there was a scene from it I was thinking about at work earlier, and I couldn’t remember what happened next. But when I pulled it up, I couldn’t find that specific scene and started panicking. “Where is it? I know I wrote it somewhere. It’s gotta be in my notes or something.” My heart sank that first night when I thought it was all lost, but when I searched again the next night, I found it in its own chapter document. Chapter 11! My heart reinflated, and I sighed in relief because all was not lost. Chapter 11 was actually right where I left off, so every night since then, up until January 5th, I worked on it. Every. Night. I went to work from 8:30 to 5:30, came home, had dinner, took a shower, and finally sat down to work on it. And guess what? I went from 72 Google doc pages to 169 pages! 11 chapters to, now, 26 chapters.

Before I continue, let me explain the premise. This is the short blurb I have for it so far:

Julia discovers that her childhood best friend, Alexander Canmore, Prince of Espria, has returned to his kingdom after ten years. He is preparing to become King and proposes to her. Julia finds herself in a dilemma: how will she rule a kingdom if she was born as a commoner?

I’ve been working on this book for SO long, I don’t know how to explain it concisely. It is in the Romance Fiction genre, and some of the tropes are: childhood-friends-to-lovers, royalty, and second chance. It is set in Europe in the made-up country called Espria and told through the main character’s point of view. Julia Mabel. She grew up with Alex from the age of 5 to the age of 15. Except when he turned 15, he was required to leave for Italy in preparation for his inevitable reign as King of Espria. She was fully aware of this Royal custom, but she was not at all prepared for his hasty departure. Julia is now 25 years old, and she hasn’t seen or heard from her best friend in ten years. The prince was her only friend growing up. After all, she was only the baker’s daughter. She wasn’t renowned unlike the charming and well-respected prince. He saw her as more than “the baker’s daughter”. Alex saw her as his equal. Inversely, Julia was Alex’s only friend. She saw and understood him better than anyone. Someone who didn’t just see him as his title. The crown prince of Espria.

So much for concise, haha. I could go on and on, but I wanted to share a scene from chapter 11 that I think best describes how my characters feel about their ten-year separation.

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“I don’t know how to dance,” I blurted.

His brow arched. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know the steps.”

“You’re telling me all that time you’d been with Thomas, he never taught you to dance?” He asked. “You didn’t dance with him?”

My cheeks flushed in embarrassment, and he chuckled before asking, “What about the first night we danced? The first party you attended?”

“I was too focused on seeing you again, it didn’t cross my mind to tell you,” I admit.

His grip on my waist tightened a little bit.  “It’s alright. Follow my lead, okay?”

I nodded and matched his steps before my muscles caught up with my memory, and we were dancing across the floor, talking with our eyes.

It all felt so new, but also nostalgic. My mind couldn’t seem to put together that this was the same Alex I used to play with when we were eight years old. It didn’t feel like it’d been ten years since we’d been here. The blues of his eyes were the same, but the lines around them had matured, which made it nearly impossible to tear my gaze away from him. We danced for what felt like an eternity, not speaking and simply staring into each other’s eyes.

“This reminds me of the way we used to dance when we were younger,” he said, smiling.

The way he smiled reminded me of the way he would convince me to do something with him when we were younger. There wasn’t anything that I wouldn’t do for or with him. I get the stark reminder of how I fell for him, and how hard it was for me not to tell him to stay when he needed to leave for Italy. All of a sudden, it became too much. My steps faltered, and my arms fell to my sides. “I can’t—I’m sorry. Please, excuse me.” I blushed in embarrassment before turning and running out into the hallway.

My heart was beating so fast, I could hear it in my ears. I started pacing back and forth to calm both my heart and my mind from making the wrong decision and saying something I’d immediately regret.

Either he was ignoring it, or he was pretending like there wasn’t a ten-year gap between us that separated the past from the present. He’s acting like everything was fine, throwing me the same smile he’d flash at other girls when he was in the mood to swoon them. He didn’t know that very smile had the same effect on me then it did on the other girls. He’s pretending like everything’s fine, but everything was not fine. Everything had changed, and it seemed like I was spiralling back in time.

“Julia?”

I spun at the sound of my name and the sound of his voice. There he was. Standing there with his image and poise perfectly intact, not a single hair out of place.

“Are you alright?” he asked politely, which only enraged me more.

“I’m fine,”

“Talk to me,” he said, stepping closer to me.

“I’m fine, Your Highness, really. Just leave me alone, I’ll be back in a moment.” I snapped. My composure was breaking a little more and more. Alex flinched, and I realized that I didn’t mean to sound as harsh as I had intended.

“You’re mad at me, and I can’t think of a single reason why.”

My voice raised, “Did you even get any of my letters?”

His brows furrowed in confusion. “Of course, I got all of them.”

“Well, did you read them?”

“Every day, Julia. I couldn’t go to sleep at night without reading one.”

I grew silent. It didn’t help that his explanations were going against my beliefs.

“Why did you stop writing back?” He asked.

“What?” I looked up.

“Do you really think I wouldn’t notice the way your letters got shorter and more dejected each time? The way you wrote to me more and more sporadically?” He paused to gauge my reaction, stepping closer. “You stopped writing to me, and it was like a piece of me died.” His voice was sad and disappointed.

“I stopped writing because after that first year, I lost hope of you ever coming back. You promised me two months. Two months, but you were gone for ten years. You left me, Alex. You left me behind, and you never came back.” I said, partly out of anger and partly out of heartbreak. I hadn’t realized that I was crying until I finished my sentence.

Alex pulled me into his chest and placed his chin on top of my head. He held me tightly as he spoke softly. “I’m so sorry, Jewel. If I knew it was hurting you this much, I would’ve come back instantly. I thought I’d be gone for two months, too, but by the time I learned it was ten years, it was too late.” He paused, “Not a single day went by that I didn’t think of you, Julia. I swear.”

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As I mentioned earlier, I worked consistently on this book for about 4 months, and since January 6th, I have had writer’s block and haven’t made any progress since. Maybe a few grammatical fixes, but other than that, nothing else. I didn’t write anything for a month, and then on February 10, I started writing another book.

But I’m not worried because I know I will meet my goal of having My Future King published by March 2029. I’m simply working towards a different goal.