And now, after many months, years even, my latest novel is near completion. My editor and I are currently reading through it, looking for typos and awkward sentences. Or just a sentence that can be made more interesting by changing a few words. Or maybe even cutting a few paragraphs and putting them into another chapter, which I actually did! In other words, this is the hard part. 

Writing the novel takes far less time than the actual 'making' of the novel. That's where all the work is. And this one is longer than previous novels that I've written. The plan is to be finished and have it ready for the printers by the end of October. The name of the novel is "The Mart". I don't even have a cover for it! I usually have some idea of what I want on the cover and sometimes I even know exactly what I want. But I'm not sure about this one. It is starting to formulate, but for now we are focusing on the stories, getting them right. 

It is always a bittersweet moment when I finish a novel. I'm so happy to have finished another book and also happy to be done with it; it is so draining to constantly think about what I've written not only while I'm writing it but also when I'm trying to sleep at night or doing just about anything else! But it is an accomplishment that I'm proud of and can now move on to the next book on my list - and there is one that I already have over 50K words written. It was the book I wrote for NaNoWriMo month in 2019. Since I have the most words written for that novel, it is logically the next novel to complete. 

I'm also proud because an acquaintance from college actually commented that from all the English majors we hung out with, I'm the only one doing it, actually writing novels. Sometimes when you are a college student, you can be so pretentious and put on airs that you are the next J.K.Rowling or Stephen King when in fact, you completely give up writing once you are out of college and in the real world of work. I also had to get a job when I left college, in the tech industry, and taught myself to paint, which I love, but several years ago, with so many stories buzzing around in my head, I started working on them and now painting is on the back burner and writing is my priority. 

I hope so many of you who are following me on this journey will stick with me - I promise I will not disappoint! 

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