My first two novels, Under Shōko’s Bed and Neyuki, had been around for a long while before I opened this website last year, so I introduced them immediately. Neither had been through a professional edit, but both were well formed and unlikely to change fundamentally. My editor had me fix Under Shōko’s Bed for length, pacing, and some overwritting, not the basic storyline. Neyuki is with her now, and I hope the outcome will be similar.

I have three more novels, though, that are not as well developed. Since early May, I’ve been editing them. I started on them sequentially, but at times I have edited all three simultaneously. I have patched up holes and filled out thin spots. Novel 3 needs one more bit of story to make it satisfying. Besides wracking my brain, I am wheedling family and friends for the spark of that final idea. Novel 4 still needs research/expert knowledge to finish a few scenes. I know an expert. It’s time to make contact. Novel 5, last year’s NaNoWriMo novel, needed a new ending, which it has now. Each novel has places where I’ve written “FIX” in all caps, to mark (along with underscores) spots that need attention or are missing words. But those places are disappearing.

Despite the three novels approaching the point of asking others to read them, I am not adding them yet as “coming attractions” to this website. Validating feedback must come first. Each one needs editing for characteristics like symbolism and foreshadowing that will raise its literary quality. I also need to pay more attention to their voices. Announcing them is an exciting prospect, though, and it’s coming much more quickly than I expected even a few months ago. I’ve made breakthrough progress on all three in the time I thought it would take for just one.

It is going quicker partly because working simultaneously on three novels is not the confusing, scatterbrained experience I expected it to be. The content is all in my head. The voices are not all there yet, but I’m getting closer with that too. It’s been a great confidence builder.

In fact, I’m feeling buoyant enough that I am eager to start something fresh. Ideas draw my mind in new directions every day now. If all goes well, I may even do NaNoWriMo again this year.