My newest book, Nearly Canaan, is a thorough reworking of three earlier novels that now flow together as one.

Here are ten reasons the new version is new and improved.

1. The book now focuses on the question of what impact one person can make for lasting good in our world, especially in and through our closest relationships.
2. Jaya’s professional identity in her pioneering approach to nonprofits administration is quickly and more clearly established. Her career and its demands become a source of major conflict in the course of the story.
3. Her character now grows out of her role in Yoga Bootcamp, which provides further understanding of her motivations and inner direction.
4. The actions now show that the best intentions may have unanticipated negative consequences.
5. Jaya’s desire to find an appropriate way of personally expressing her spiritual experiences finally creates a unique artform.
6. Events are no longer left hanging at the end of what was the first novel. Life moves on in the aftermath of disaster.
7. The overall work is now structured within three large, overarching sections, each presented by a different teller. The first one, focusing on Jaya, is comprised of three telescoping parts that propel the action to the distinctive landscape where the second and third sections also take place. The second section is told by one of Jaya’s yoga students while the third is told by a young wife who’s been a close neighbor. Each of them reveals details unknown to most of the other characters in their social circle.
8. The story now has a short fourth section as a coda. I’m especially fond of it.
9. Once again, changing some of the names of characters makes a huge difference, especially when that leads to fond nicknames. Just see what happens to Jaya’s beau, especially.
10. I have far more sympathy for Jaya’s husband’s situation, even if it’s what he pressed so hard to find himself in.

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