Satisfaction

Copies of Turbulence showed up at my door today, courtesy of UPS. Alhamdulillah.

I eagerly opened a box and held a copy. I flipped through it, reading passages I became very familiar with when they existed only on my laptop monitor. See your own words in print is a wonderful experience.

I've already related my difficulties in writing Turbulence. I ran up against some real-life difficulties in the two or more years since starting this story. I also encountered a few dilemmas within the story itself.

The first third of the book didn't exist in early versions. I wrote that in later. And still, I knew the story was lacking. The answer came to me, but I tried to ignore it. I didn't like it. Still, it nagged at me and wouldn't leave me alone. Finally I gave in. I adopted a new angle in my story line, going back and editing the text to make it more feasible. The story began to gel. At last.

Turbulence has been my most turbulent writing experience to date. There were times when I thought it would never be published.

Alhamdulillah.