Another Nathan Contest!

A novels are celebrated in this contest, and there couldn't be a better time for it, coming on the heels of Jen's celebration of YA on All The World's Our Page and her *hush hush* plans for world domination.
I entered a diary entry based on Rose's thoughts as she's sailing toward Constantinople, thinking of her family, and her "Uncle" Santiago's revelation that he's actually her father. A couple of weeks ago I was worried that taking Rose to Constantinople would make the novel longer and unwieldy, but I typed up 3/4 of my handwritten scenes (only 5 scenes left to type!) over the holidays, and I'm only at 25,000 words, which means I've got lots of room to expand on her tale and take her to all sorts of places!