We made it! We’ve finished the drafts of our novels. In this, our last episode of our podcast, we share some excerpts from the novels we've talked so much about.

Hananya starts us off by reading a scene from her book set in the days of kingdoms, rebellious princesses, and age-old family drama.

Then, we shift gears to the 1980s with Shameem’s story where she reads an excerpt starring her narcissistic antagonist which leaves Hananya and Leslie ready for a fight.

Leslie’s tale captures the atmosphere and dialogue of The Great Depression while laying out a struggle between the protagonist and her domineering mother.

We talk about the use of vernacular in worldbuilding, and Leslie offers to read aloud to Hananya. And we all bask in the glow of having done what we set out to do. We all now have a finished draft of our novels that are ripe for editing.

We thank each of you for going on this journey with us!

As we move toward our publishing dreams Shameem & Leslie are embarking upon a different journey with a new podcast titled, Always the Other: Conversations about writing from the margins.

On this podcast they will chat with authors, writers, bloggers, documentarians, journalists, and others from non-mainstream communities about the importance, impact, challenges, and triumphs of telling their stories.

Stay tuned at the end of Amigas for Episode 0 of Always the Other!