The In-Between Weeks Update

Two weeks ago, we had a ten-day holiday from school, the Muslim holidays of Eid Al Adha (the traditional time for making the hajj, or the pilgrimage to Mecca) and the United Arab Emirates National Day holidays combining to give us a nice long break. Some people traveled abroad, some people stayed in Dubai. For this break, I was one of the latter. But it was a truly wonderful time.

Much of my week was just geared towards relaxing and writing. The day after our last day of work was Thanksgiving, so some of my friends and I went to a dinner hosted by Vicki, the librarian at the school (and someone who, considering my love of books, I’ve come to know quite well over the past year-and-a-half). She had me over for Thanksgiving last year, and her cooking is famous around school (and she’s American, so the dinner was a proper Thanksgiving one: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, ham and pineapple (Real pig ham! Oh happy day!), corn, beans, three kinds of pie, and all sorts of other glorious home cooking. And, since her husband is a pilot with Emirates, they live in a villa (with a yard and everything), and since they’ve been here six years, the place felt more like a home than most places around here. A lovely evening, all around.

My roommate kicked off to Egypt for six days during the break, so I used that time to feel more at home. One thing I realized I miss terribly about having my own place is being able to listen to (and at times, crank) the stereo without bothering a roommate. It was rather relaxing (with nights lasting until quarter past late, and mornings starting whenever I felt like it), and, as it’s the last long stretch of time I have without working or traveling between now and June, I made the most of it.

One of the key activities I worked on was revising the novel (yes, still). Two of the best agents I applied to (okay, tell a lie, probably the best) at AgentFest in New York this past July are interested in my novel, but they felt some work needed to be done on increasing the tension in the earlier part of the book (the only part they’ve yet seen, which, admittedly, was a bit high on the exposition and a bit low on the tension for a thriller), but they both want to see more once I’ve revised it. So I’ve been revising it. Before Christmas break, I’m going to give the novel to a few trusted readers who are going to get back to me with their thoughts and suggestions, which, in January, I’ll take into account, make any final tweaks, and then send off to the agents in question. I’m hoping I’ll have roped in an agent (if neither of these two wants it, the manuscript itself should be strong enough to land another solid agent) by March or so, and hoping equally for a possible publisher come summer. For networking purposes, I’ve set up a Facebook Fan Page, and even without having an agent yet, I’m already at nearly a hundred fans. Given, many of those are students, but, considering the nature of our school, that also means that I have fans from several dozen countries. And not a word yet in print! Portending good things for the future? I hope so.

And speaking of the future, I have officially told management that I do not plan to come back to teach in Dubai for a third year. I’ve been leaning that way for a long while, the past few months pushing me over the decisive edge. So, come June, I will be back in the States to stay (at least, for a little while). What of my plans, though? Well, my eventual goal is to write full-time, and, sadly, jobs like teaching, which sap much of your evenings and weekends with planning, grading, etc., are hardly conducive to building my writing skills and putting out new novels with some semblance of regularity. Writing full-time, though a bit more free with the hours, truly is a full-time job. And it takes a long time, barring some sort of extremely rare overnight sensation (think Harry Potter or The Da Vinci Code), to get royalty income up to a decent rate. Thankfully, despite my travels and experiences I’ve had over here, I’ve been really good about saving, and when I come back, I’ll have enough to live on for several years, even if I don’t work at all. I do plan on working, though, probably part-time at a bookstore (which will provide me not only with some income, but also with health insurance, some insight into the retail end of the publishing industry, and help to keep me abreast of what’s going on in the industry). As far as where to live, I’m planning at the moment to move to Jacksonville, Florida. It’s still in Florida (no state income tax, weather I’m used to, etc.); it’s a relatively large city, close to the beach, a river, and a major airport (like Dubai); it not only has history and culture (oh how I miss it out here!), but it is just a short drive from St. Augustine and Savannah. Orlando, Disney, and Tampa, aren’t too far away, either. My best friend and his fiancée live out there, as well. But, perhaps most importantly, it’s close (but not too close) to my hometown of Tallahassee. Another event that transpired over this past break is that my sister, Becca, got engaged to her boyfriend, who incidentally, is a good friend of mine. Living half-a-world away, I’ve missed most of their courtship, and I don’t want to miss their marriage. So them’s the plans. And don’t worry about my ‘adventures’ dying down when I move back to the States. I’ve already got two major trips planned for researching my next two novels. And that’s not including the research trip I’ve got planned for this April (more on that later…). That’s one of the perks of writing international thrillers: traveling to exotic locales to research the sites.

That’s about all for this entry, except to say look for another travelogue coming up soon about the trip I’m taking over Christmas break: to Europe. For some reason, I keep going to Europe in December. Less crowds, I guess, but going from summers in Florida and Dubai to winters in the Netherlands? I’m not quite sure how many countries I’m going to be visiting, but at the moment, it’s looking like it’ll be six (in two weeks). Tomorrow, I fly into Amsterdam, and out of London on the 31st, and I’m probably going to be stopping through Stuttgart, Brussels, and Paris on my way to jolly old England. Should be a lot of fun. And who knows, maybe I’ll have my first white Christmas! Stay tuned!

That being said, I wish all of my readers and loved ones a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. My latest revision of From the Ashes is with a few trusted readers who are going to give me some feedback on the work, so my primary writing project the first few weeks of the new year will be travelogues: for Lebanon (way overdue, I know) and for this Europe trip. Watch this space, and may God bless you and yours during this festive season.