Finally launching Our Young Guardians.

I can't believe it has been 12 years in the making. I still remember the day that my wife and I discussed how we were going to talk to our daughter about life—both the good and the bad. Being as inexperienced as most new parents are (and living as far away from most of our relatives as we did), we wondered how the two of us were going to guide (or at least advise) our child as she navigated the beautiful but sometimes hard tides in this world.

I knew we would eventually find a reasonable formula to do this (and we did after many trials and errors), but that night in 2004, as I tossed and turned in bed, an idea slowly took over every other thought in my mind. What if I wrote a story for her? An adventure that would hopefully spark an interest in her and would enable her to uncover the achievements, mishaps, and sorrows of young kids like her. "That could be a reasonable avenue to send a few messages to her," I thought.

Sometimes they would be right on the surface, sometimes carefully embedded in the lines of the story—I knew I had to touch upon some serious topics like friendship, love, pregnancy, family, betrayal, addiction, hatred, and war.

The idea was reasonable, but there were a number of challenges ahead.

First, I was no writer (I still don't think I am!). Second, even though we spoke mostly in Spanish at home, I knew I had to write the story in English so she could really dive into it. Finally, I still had to put bread on the table, so my day job was a must. As many authors know, creating decent content requires a serious time commitment, and unless you are one of those gifted authors out there, the process requires that you sacrifice time—either with your family or your pillow.

After countless hours staring at my computer, I am days away from launching the first installment in the Our Young Guardians series. Now that my daughter is fourteen, I just hope that she’ll have fun reading Seven & Two, and if I am lucky, she might walk into my room and ask me why life treated the characters in the story one way or another.

For my readers, I hope you enjoy my small contribution to genre of fantasy/adventure. The good news is that even though I am a rookie author, lately I've found my stride writing. I am making great headway on the second installment of the series. It won't take another twelve years to find out what happens to Jonek and his friends, I promise. My daughter just won't allow it.

Never stop following your dreams.

Rodi