Here's the thing: I've been working on the project for years. And each year that I didn't put my heart and soul into it, I pissed my friends off even more.
Do you remember this novel called, When You Come to Me? Read it yet? If not, stop reading this post now because I feel some spoilers coming on...
The novel itself is marked by major events between the couple that fall on Brandon's birthday (August 15th) each year. In the final chapter, Brandon is celebrating his 28th birthday, a year after he and Natalie tied the knot. They had a rocky first year of marriage, and are finally adjusting to their new life together once his birthday arrives. They've both realized over some time what caused their emotional disparity and have each decided what needs to be fixed without telling the other: Brandon impulsively quits his job while Natalie drops out of medical school. And there's another kicker: Natalie is pregnant.
See where the cliffhanger lies?
I started writing the sequel at the age of 21, but I didn't like it. It seemed juvenile. And who could blame me? At that point, I'd never been in a serious relationship nor was I married with a baby on the way. How could I know what it felt like to deal with such a thing? The desolate, fragile nature of Brandon and Natalie's relationship at the end of the first book deserved quite a bit of evocative language in the sequel, which is something that I had no clue of in my early twenties.
Now that I'm a little older and have experienced quite a bit of romantic pain in the past few months, I'm approaching this new sequel with a fresh mind.
So I present to you Skin Like Dawn in its early stages, based off of the poem "Passing Time" by Maya Angelou
Your skin like dawn Mine like musk
One paints the beginning of a certain end.
The other, the end of a sure beginning.
The book highlights a much bigger chapter in Brandon and Natalie's remarkable story, and those close to me who have read the outline of Skin cannot believe where the story is going to go. I can't either - but it's a realistic depiction of two young people fighting for love.
I'm excited about this one; because my own maturation needed to happen before Brandon and Natalie's did.