Astrid Outdoors....

Good morning!

Today is the last day of my summer break, and so I have one last very big treat for you. I have posted the first two chapters of my novel, "Astrid Outdoors." I am very excited to share this, but it's also admittedly a little nerve wracking too. I wanted to make this post to talk a little bit about Astrid and how the whole thing came together.

I started writing Astrid in 2020, at the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic. I was sitting outside, and it was the most beautiful day. A song was playing. "Paradise " by Coldplay. For anyone not familiar with that song, it goes like this.

When she was just a girl she expected the world But it flew away from her reach So she ran away in her sleep And dreamed of paradise Every time she closed her eyes

When she was just a girl she expected the world But it flew away from her reach And the bullets catch in her teeth Life goes on, it gets so heavy The wheel breaks the butterfly Every tear a waterfall In the night the stormy night she'd close her eyes In the night the stormy night away she'd fly

And dream of paradise

It hit me. Right then and there. I had my lap top open, a blank google doc on the screen. I wanted to write about that girl. The girl the song was talking about. I was currently living in lockdown. The entire world was, actually. So I drew inspiration from my own life in creating Astrid's world. However, as I started to create it, I had crafted a universe that- while inspired by what was going on in the world at the time- was quite different.

Astrid Summers is the character I am always going to carry closest to me. Her world, her journey, the people who are a part of it, it is the story I am most proud of. Astrid Outdoors was the first time I had actually started writing a book and finished. It was completed last August. It was a year and a half of working hard, and never giving up, despite wanting to time and time again.

After all this time, she is here now and she is ready to be published and shown to the world. I still have faith that that will happen, but for now I am more than thrilled to share the first two chapters.

Why two?

Because then you get to meet ALL of the people closest to Astrid , especially Amin, and believe me when I say, that the end of chapter II will have you dying to find out what happens next. Oh yes, I love being a teaser. Get used to it ha ha ha.

I am currently sending my book out to beta readers, so if you are a big reader and you'd like to read the whole book and give feedback, please email me!

Anyways, I have more stuff coming I promise. It's going to take some time, but I will have more for you soon.

Until then, I appreciate the support. Happy reading.

More soon :)

Patrick.