Finished!

Hurray! The first draft of Kwangsook (the main character's name) is finished! I do have a title for this book, but it would give away too much to reveal it right now. So, I'm just going to use the main character's name which means Virtuous Light in Korean (based on Chinese characters).

This was the first book I wrote, before Waiting for Appa, but it's an epic. After getting a lot of negative feedback on the book length alone (~550 pages), I've decided to work on a shorter, more manageable book. I did have an agent for this book before and she dubbed it Gone with the Wind Korean style, but I'm not sure about that description.... Anyhow, it's also the first book of a trilogy, so I've got a lot of work ahead of me to finish off this trilogy well.

I do have a lot of problems though. I still don't like the ending very much. You see, I can forgive a mediocre book if it finishes well. No matter how slow, how boring, it is, if I got passed 100 pages, I'll most likely read on. And if the ending is good, I forget about all the other things and rejoice in the great ending. So, I want a great ending for my book. I want my reader to forgive me of a lot of flaws if I give them a great ending. I'm not sure if I'm being too tough on myself, but I want a better ending. I hope something will come to me soon.

I've decided not to work on this book for two weeks. My dear friend will read the third section (she's read the first two sections already) and give me feedback. I don't know how long that will take, but I'm giving myself two weeks away so that I can look at the book with some fresh eyes. I get too familiar with the material and I can't catch anything. So, in the two weeks I've decided to take a break, I'm going to work on the 3rd book of the Gorgoyian Chronicles for my son. Hopefully, I'd have enough written to have it done by Christmas for him. My son told me to work on this series before anything because it'd surely bring me success which had eluded me so far. I have an uncanny feeling that he's going to be right and he's going to spend the rest of his life reminding me of that. That would be really funny.

Things I need to do for Waiting for Appa:

1. I really need to schedule some books signings soon. It's just that I haven't been too motivated for several reasons....

2. Need to craft a letter/email to community colleges/adult schools for book talk/book signing opportunities.

3. Continue looking into contact person for the community colleges/adult schools book talk/book signing opportunities.

4. Work on branding ideas for Waiting for Appa as well as Jennifer R. Kim as whole. What immediate message do I want to send?

5. Work on website layout and web content ideas.

Did I mention that I'm a full-time mom with two young kids who is looking for a job currently? I'm not sure how I'm going to find the time to do everything, but I will eventually.... It's all a matter of setting priorities, I guess.