Writing is a strange thing.

For months – sometimes years – you spend countless hours alone with imaginary people, wondering whether anyone else will ever care about them as much as you do.

Every chapter is rewritten.
Every sentence questioned.
Every scene doubted.

So there are moments during the publishing process that stop you in your tracks.

This week, my publisher has been editing Beneath the Ceiba Tree, and reading through his comments has been one of those moments.

Among his feedback were these words:

“I am very impressed with the standard of your writing.”

“The characters are strong, each with their own qualities.”

“I like that feeling of travelling – the whole package is really very good.”

“Very powerful writing.”

“Your chapter sizes work beautifully and the story continues to hold the attention very well indeed.”

As writers, we’re often our own harshest critics. We see every sentence we could improve and every scene we wish we’d written differently.

To have someone who reads manuscripts professionally recognise the very things you’ve hoped readers would feel is incredibly encouraging.

What pleased me most wasn’t simply hearing that the book works. It was hearing why it works.

The characters feel real. The settings transport the reader. The pacing keeps the pages turning.

Those are exactly the things I hoped to achieve when I first began writing Beneath the Ceiba Tree.

There is still editing to do, polishing to finish and plenty of work before publication day arrives. But moments like these remind me why I started this journey in the first place.

After all the hours spent wondering if the story was good enough, it’s a wonderful feeling to hear that someone else has stepped into its world… and wanted to keep reading.

The journey to publication continues, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with you.