Welcome!

I'm Xue Zhen/学真! I am an aspiring author learning as I go on this self-publishing journey. I’m still new to this space, but I am giving it my all! And every step so far has been exciting, fun, and meaningful. I’m so glad you’re all here to witness the beginning of this 'Journey' with me.

About My Journey...

The Journey is a story I have carried with me for years. Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated with Wu Cheng’en’s masterpiece, Journey to the West / 西游记. Over the years, I felt like I had consumed this classic in every form I could find. Its symbolism, lessons, characters, and meaning stayed with me even now. I may shamelessly be a little too obsessed with it, but that obsession filled my imagination until, eventually, I began envisioning a re-telling of my own. At first, it was just a story in my head. I thought about the characters in my sleep, imagined scenes on my way to work, and reflected on the lessons I wanted to portray during meals. Basically during every quiet moment of my day, my mind settled on my story. For a long time, I thought a manga or comic would be the perfect medium for the world I imagined. Unfortunately, my art abilities have always been less than desirable, so the story remained a creative exercise, something I thought for myself to pass the time. Years passed, and eventually over a decade went by with me quietly shaping this world in my mind. As I grew, the story grew alongside me. My experiences, the people around me, and more of our world I visited, all helped inspire the tale. I became proud of the world I had built, the history and lore of Zou, and most of all, the characters. Their journeys, struggles, growth, and development began to feel real to me. At times, they felt like living, breathing people! But a part of me was also sad, because I thought this story would eventually fade. I wished I could share it with others, but I was not confident that I could. So, for a long time, I accepted that it would only be a story I cherished alone.

Then, during a turning point in my life, I asked myself: what if I wrote it?Writing was new to me, but I decided to try. I wrote, I wrote, I wrote, and I wrote. I started with brainstorming, then little by little, day by day, I began putting the story on paper. I wrote, rewrote, revised, and kept going. The more I wrote, the more I realized that maybe this story did not have to stay only in my head. Maybe I could preserve it. Maybe I could share it. Starting this journey and stepping into the world of writing has been daunting, but I have loved every second of it. Eventually, I finished the first draft of Volume 1, and that was when I truly began to think, “This could be possible. I still have so much to learn, and I am learning as I go. But I am committed to the process, to the world I have built, and to the characters who have stayed with me for so long.

That was a lot, thank you for making it this far! TLDR, this is the start of my Journey to tell the story I have always wanted to tell.