I just finished the third revision of the Hajj novel.

I think it’s pretty much done–or I should say I HOPE it’s pretty much done.

Won’t know till I polish it up and send it off to my agent and I hear back.

But one good sign, the book made me cry when I got to the end even though I’ve gone through it so many times.

That’s a very good sign!

So I’ll spend this week polishing and smoothing out any rough edges and then hopefully send it off by Friday. We’ll see.

On another note, gotta love google alerts!

Went to a social media workshop a while back and they strongly advised all authors to plug themselves into google alerts.

That way, anyone on the internet mentions your name, you get notified.

Remember that journalist I mentioned who interviewed me in that Starbucks in Kuala Lumpur? Well this is the profile she wrote about me for the New Strait Times: http://www.nst.com.my/life-times/sunday-life-times/truth-behind-the-tale-1.92790

It’s quite a nice profile! Meeting Amanda Suriya Ariffin was great! She’s so wildly enthusiastic about children’s literature!

The weirdest thing! I LOVE the photo they took of me. I think it’s one of the nicest I’ve ever seen!

And here’s a blog post someone who attended the AFCC wrote that mentions me: http://gatheringbooks.wordpress.com/2012/06/13/afcc-final-update-rukhsana-khan-margarita-engle-panel-on-award-winning-books-and-planning-for-afcc-2013/

She says that she didn’t get to attend the panel on multicultural books that she heard was ‘intense’. LOL. See? I told you it got spicy!

This is going to be a VERY interesting week!

Monday night I have the Prologue party, an end of year bash at my booking agency. It’s always nice to see fellow artists and swap war stories!

Tuesday night I’m going down to Yuk Yuk’s on a reconnaissance mission. Should be interesting. I won’t be trying out my routine, but I will get a taste of what’s in store.

I’m aiming to get up the week after.

Then Thursday’s a busy day too.

On Sunday, the 24th I’m back down to Kitchener for the Lattitudes Storytelling Festival. Been going steady every year for about six years (except for last year).

After this week, things might get a bit more calm. We’ll see.

I really hope so. Could use a break.