“Never give up on a dream just because of the time it will take to accomplish it. The time will pass away.” – Earl Nightingale

Back in June, 2016, I had an (outrageous) dream of seeing the main character of my fantasy series–the young, brave dragon, Laeka’Draeon–come to life in the form of a plushie.

May, 2019, and that dream arrived in the shape of 20 boxes filled with 500 dragon plushies.

20 giant boxes, looking a little battered from their trip across the ocean.

Nearly 3 years, from initial idea to physical fruition. Written down, that doesn’t seem like an awfuly extensive length of time. But the requirement to live it, moment-by-moment … trust me, it’s a heck of a long time to fight for a dream that looked to be drowning from the get-go.

It’s nice to read and be inspired by quotes like Follow Your Dreams, and, Never Give Up, but I’d also like to throw in a regular reminder to Prepare for the Mind Battles, and, There Will be Maulings from Pain, Doubt, and a Thousand Whys.

Why am I trying to do this?!

The months dedicated to the plushie project were not filled with “I can do this” and “Wow, look at all the support I am getting!”; those were only scattered bread crumbs, broken off and dropped along the trail by some deep inner determination that made no practical sense, but was fiery enough to stay alive and burning, even during the most discouraging of times.

Dozens upon dozens of hours were poured into planning, designing, promotional attempts, followed by bouts of falling into pits of despair, frustration, doubt, and the occasional ‘Why am I even doing this?’.

This was a dream birthed from starry-eyed aspirations, lofty imaginings, and a hope that seemed almost too hopeful for grounded and gritty reality, and the truth of the hard and near-impossible road that made up the majority of this project’s journey. You can read a little more on my flailing to get the project off the ground here: Plushie Project Summary.

BUT, I did have support, and that support (however small in number) was what helped to keep my determination alive, and from my determination, the plushie dream. And from the dream, reality!

Thank You to my wonderful Supporters!

And now, here they are, at last: 500 super cute, super awesome, limited edition Laeka’Draeon plushies.

A veritable invasion!

Only 19 of the 25 Plushies from the FIRST Box!

Plushies waiting their turn to get sorted!

The truck was due to arrive May 1st, and rolled up around 4:30pm (and yes, I had been waiting all day in anticipation).

The Plushies coming off the truck!

Once I transferred the boxes inside, I began the slow, painstaking (but exciting) task of unpacking one box at a time, removing the plushies, unsealing them from their plastic bags, giving them some careful TLC of massaging and tweaking (x25 plushies per box makes for some unfortunate crushing), signing their tags, putting them back in their respective bags, and sorting them into storage places around the house.

Working my way through Plushie TLC.

Kyo the cat is suspicious of all the green interlopers!

I’ve only sorted 2 boxes so far … only 18 more to go!

On top of box sorting, I need to put together the pre-orders and ship them out to their eager owners. I will also need to buy some additional storage supplies, because hundreds of plushies have to fit somewhere! I don’t want to keep them in the boxes long-term, as I hate the idea of them remaining squashed and misshapen. They weren’t originally supposed to come in only 20 boxes (it was supposed to be 40); not sure what when wrong during the shipping process, but I’ve talked with my correspondence at the toy company and they said they’d look into the matter.

Anyway, the dragons are here now, and I need to remind myself that that in itself is an incredible feat!

45cm x 30cm of awesome dragon plushness!!!

I have the plushies available on my Etsy store now, so all dragon-lovers and dragon-seekers can get their paws on an awesome limited edition plushie!

Grab yourself a Laeka’Draeon Plushie HERE!

OR, why not join me over on Patreon? I will be doing a Dragon Plushie Promotion this month–in that if I reach a certain number of Patrons on Patreon, they will all go into the draw to WIN a Laeka’Draeon plushie! And not just any plushie, but one of the super limited plushies that come with a numbered certificate!

You’re more than welcome to investigate my Patreon page here: Patreon you say?

Well, there you have it; one of my long-term projects finally come to fruition!

It was definitely an experience. One I don’t really wish to go through again, to be honest, unless I have the proper finances to back it up straight off the bat. But I am glad the plushies are a part of the world now. And I hope you are, too!

This is a great accomplishment!