Long time no talk! It’s been over three months since I last updated, but I promise it’s for a good reason. I’ve spent nearly every spare moment working on my new book, and it’s almost done!

I finished the first draft on February 15, and since then it’s gone through three revisions after feedback from three successive beta readers. Right now I’m doing a second post-revision reading to catch errors and inconsistencies, and to make sure the revisions I made work. As soon as I finish this current round, I plan to begin querying agents. Please cross your fingers for me!

In other exciting news, the first anniversary of Laika in Lisan‘s publication is in two weeks. I’ll post my one-year-later thoughts to mark the occasion. This past year has definitely been a learning experience. For example, I self-published Laika in Lisan without querying agents first, which I regret. I didn’t even try! That won’t be the case with this next book.

I’m so in love with my new book. I’m incredibly invested in the story and characters. Even if no one else likes it, writing it has been a wonderful experience for me. While I can’t wait to finish it and send it to agents, I’ll be sad the day the book is finished for good. (That’s probably a very long way off, of course.) The characters have been close to my heart for a long time now, and I don’t want to let them go. But don’t worry–I will. Once I begin querying agents for this book, I plan to turn my attention to writing the sequel to Laika in Lisan.

I have one more thing to share. Last month was my work trip to Seoul, South Korea. It was an amazing experience! Most of the pictures I took are of the students I traveled with, so I don’t have many scenic photos to share. (It was also smoggy and overcast, so my landscape photos are on the dull side.) However, if you’re interested, you can see some of my better photos here.

The trip was exhausting, especially the return. I got home on a Sunday evening, and I had to be back at work the next morning. That’s after 24 hours of traveling (from hostel to home) during which I was awake the whole time. (I did play some awesome games of Texas Hold ‘Em on the plane, though.) I got really sick two days later. Thank you, travel and exhaustion, for destroying my immune system. But aside from the rough return, the trip was great. Prior to this trip, the only place I’ve ever missed after visiting it is the Pacific Northwest. But I missed Seoul before I even got home. The intensity of my own emotion shocked me. Or maybe it was just travel fatigue… Regardless, Seoul is a pretty cool city, and I’d like to spend more time there.