Update from the Writer’s Desk

Having never written a book before, I imagined I might be able to write a book if I gave myself a year. After all, I'm married to someone who did that (with a major publisher, no less). But I am a mere mortal.

I did finish my first draft in one year, and that felt great. My queries to publishers and agents got tepid responses, however. I was unsure of my book's genre -- is it biography? Narrative non-fiction? Memoir? Historical fiction? My manuscript wanders into all three areas.

The publishing world is complex, particularly in the past 10-15 years as self-publishing comes of age and hybrid presses multiply. The first editor I hired (who was wonderful) suggested that I lean into biography because of my heavily researched and footnoted approach to the first draft. She did a wonderful job editing it, and thanks to her I added historical detail and did a lot of fact-checking.

That process, however, helped me to better see the gaps in my knowledge. Biographies are a specific breed; they have necessarily hard rules. Creating the detail to move past book report into readable, authoritative narrative is a challenge because 90% of Akiko’s work has never been translated into English. Researching every little point is time consuming.

My connections with the Akiko community in Japan are well-meaning but too busy to answer most of my questions. Trial balloons into the English-speaking Japanese literature community were shot down with poison darts. That community is about as welcoming as a Ray Bradbury-inspired roving band of dogs— competing with each other to bring down amateurs like me.

Meanwhile, in the back of my mind I have been fretting that I still don't have the heart of the story told. If I rush this book to press because I'm sick of it and want to move on, I'll regret it later. I'd feel that I'd let Akiko down. I need to try again.

So after a discussion with a new editor (with connections to a hybrid publisher), I've decided to recast the manuscript as historical fiction. This will allow me to create scenes and dialogue that will allow me to paint a more compelling picture, one that is fun to read, even meaningful.

This will take at least six months. Once I get into the publishing queue, it will be about 18 months after that before ink hits paper. The prospect of waiting 2 more years before this book comes out is weighing on me, but I think it's the right thing to do.

Thanks for all your love and support, my friends.

Nobody said this was going to be easy.