(Jamilah finished working on Turbulence today so now it's time to) let her (work on) Rip(ples)

It's done. I have been working on this story for a long time. I think I started in 2004. I wrote the last part first. Then I went back and wrote in the first part. And just as everything was beginning to gel I lost 80 pages, inexplicably--at night they were there, and the next morning they were nowhere to be found. Fortunately, I knew the story well enough by then that I could successfully reconstruct.

When I began, I knew only the basics about my main character. Over the course of the novel, I continued to discover more about his personality. That's what it is to me. Not invention, but discovery. There came a point when I was realized he was not who I thought he was. That was the turning point for this book.

Every time I turned to the manuscript I found a new way of saying things. Just this afternoon I was still editing and rephrasing. That's a continual problem for writers. If we work on our books until we think they are absolutely perfect, they will never be published.

And now it's done. I think I made all the necessary revisions. The manuscript is formatted.
It's time to take it to the next level. And soon, insha Allah, Turbulence will be ready for all of my readers.

Now I can spend some time on Ripples. That manuscript has patiently waited for me. I can finally give it first priority. As with Turbulence and every other book--at the beginning--I know the main character and the primary plot. Now it's time to smooth everything out.

It's time to write!