A Year Later: My Ukrainian Daughter Book Update

Jenya, Egor and Maksym (2025)

One year ago, I used this blog space to make my big announcement - my manuscript entitled “My Ukrainian Daughter” was 98% complete and I was ready to take the next step.  That next step would be seeking representation by an esteemed and successful literary agent who could use all of their skills and talents to engage publishers.  The publishers in turn would compete to outbid each other for publication rights, each offering large sums of money.  That money would be used to fund the defense and rebuilding of Ukraine.  In my mind, all of this would happen in time to ensure the book was in bookstores and on digital platforms for the holidays.  Aim for the stars is my motto.  

Since then, I occasionally get asked “how’s the book project going?”  Obviously, the initial goals proved to be a little optimistic, but I’m happy to say that the project is still alive and a great deal of progress has been made.  Last summer, I made a major effort to attract a literary agent and, along the way, received some useful feedback.  For starters, I learned that the traditional publishing process is a marathon, not a sprint. For most books, a realistic timeline from manuscript to publication is one to two years after a publisher agrees to publish the book. Given the nature and context of the wartime events at the heart of the story, some details would certainly be outdated by the time of publication.  

I also learned that 40,000 words isn’t enough for most agents to get excited about.  I need to write another 30,000 or 40,000 words to get where it needs to be.  Fortunately, there is a lot more of the story to tell.  Despite the war, life goes on for Jenya, Egor and Maksym.   

Egor's Journey Continues

Egor will soon be 11 years old and is very much a high achiever.  He is killing it in school and recently joined the robotics team.  They design and build robots and compete with other schools.  These aren’t toys - they are like miniature Lunar Landers or Mars Rovers.  Despite being several years younger than other kids on the team, he was chosen to be on the competition team because of his knowledge and leadership.  A missile or drone blew up the building that housed his robotics classes, but they just found another place and kept going.

Egor is also deeply involved in sports, and just yesterday, tested and achieved his purple belt in Taekwondo.  He takes English language classes and talking to him is just like talking to an American kid.  This summer, he’s taking guitar lessons and will no doubt be writing better songs than mine soon.  

Jenya's Resilience and Growth

When Jenya isn’t encouraging Egor to live his best life, she’s busy setting and achieving new goals for herself as a web designer and graphic artist.  She still works for 5Points Creative in Roanoke and from all accounts, wins the award for long distance telecommuting every day!  That’s in spite of frequent power outages from attacks on the Ukrainian power grid and frequent attacks on Zaporizhia City, where they live.  She is also teaching Maksym new computer skills, taking English lessons and above all, proudly supporting her country.

The Road Ahead

There is a lot to write about and the book project is very much alive.  I’ve had detailed discussions with a locally based publisher and, when the time is right, I’ll be proudly announcing that it is available for purchase!  Until then, please keep Jenya, Egor and Maksym in your prayers, along with the country and people of Ukraine.

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