Milestone #1

Last week I finished the first draft of my next novel in the Jayne Keeney series.

I have no idea how good it is – no one else has seen it yet – and it still needs lots of work. I’ve changed my mind about a few characters along the way. And I’m probably going to have to change some names, too. Last time there were too many Thai names beginning with ‘P’ for the non-Thai speaker. This time, too many ‘C’ names!

But it feels good to have reached this milestone.

How different it is writing a book after already having one published. When I wrote Behind the Night Bazaar, I made Andrew read every new chapter as it emerged – and then every re-write. But apart from subjecting him to the occasional read-out loud passage, I’ve written this one without the need for constant feedback. I guess that’s the difference between being an emerging author and a published one.

Of course, being published once is no guarantee of being published again. But I’m hopeful.

And I’m aiming to produce this novel in less than the eleven drafts it took last time…