Wow! I haven’t done a writing update/monthly recap post since October! Sorry!

Now, even though I haven’t an update on my blog, I have been keeping my newsletter subscribers up to date on my writing happenings. If you want to make sure you don’t miss out on any of my writing news, make sure you sign up for my newsletter!

So, because there is lot that happened between November and May, I’m splitting my update/recap into two posts. This post will focus on what has changed in relation to my writing, and the second part will talk about some reading related stuff (hint: I have an internship with a publishing house!).

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Writing Recap

Rowan’s story update

I finished drafting Rowan’s story back during NaNoWriMo! I finished it exactly halfway through November, on November 15th, and it is completed at 66,105 words. It’s the second shortest book I’ve written, with Fyrons Flames being the shortest.

Rowan’s story was definitely a challenge to write. I really struggled with motivation and discouragement while writing it. But it’s finished now.

I’m planning to do some basic edits to Rowan’s story at some point and evaluate if it is story that I think has possible publication potential. But I’m still letting it sit right now. Because I struggled so much with writing this story, I really want to distance myself from it before I go back and evaluate and edit it. I want to be look at it unbiased, so I need to give myself space from the story.

NaNoWriMo Update

As I said up above, I finished Rowan’s story during NaNoWriMo! After that, I wrote a couple of short stories until I reached 50,000 words during November.

One of the short stories was The Poisoning of Ethel Murdock. It was super fun to write and has a really fun tone. Maybe I’ll polish it up one day and share it with you all!

Le Fay update

I’m not sure I ever shared about Le Fay on the blog—I think it was only in my newsletter and on Instagram—but I’ll give you a quick recap about what happened with that story.

Back in July and August, right around when I started drafting Rowan’s story, I got the idea for an Arthurian reimagining that would be focused on Morgan le Fay. The initial story idea had a lot to do with redemption.

So, that story idea simmered in my brain while I wrote Rowan’s story. Once Rowan was complete, I started working on Le Fay, bringing it to critique in the Author program. However, as I worked on a synopsis and outline, I kept running into a lot of problems with misunderstandings about the magic system and the characters. Eventually, I came to the conclusion that there were just enough similarities that could be drawn between my idea and BCC’s Merlin that my instructors and peers were bringing in reader expectations from Merlin that I wasn’t meeting in my idea, nor did I want to meet.

After realizing that that was why I was running into so many misunderstandings and roadblocks, I decided to set that version of Le Fay aside and revamp it. I grounded the story a lot more in Howard Pyle’s The Story of King Arthur and His Knights and did my best to remove any similarities to Merlin. I changed the magic system and the characters.

The new idea was similar to my original Le Fay idea, but it was also pretty different. The focus and themes were different. But I still liked my revamped version.

However, as I worked more on my revamped version of Le Fay, I found myself getting creatively exhausted and burnt out. I had been working on concepts, outlines, and synopses for about four months. I needed to start writing a novel.

Also, I was still running into problems with my instructors having a different vision for the story than the vision I had. And that was making it really hard to work on Le Fay. I wasn’t really writing the story I wanted to write anymore.

After some thinking and evaluating, I realized that I needed to set Le Fay completely aside. I had no emotional attachment to the story, and I was burnt out on it.

So, King Arthur and his buddies have been set to the side right now. Someday, I might pick Le Fay up again. Maybe I’ll work on my original idea, or maybe I’ll work on the revamped idea. But for now, it’s been tucked aside in a Google Drive folder, collecting virtual dust.

Luck Streak update

What is this Luck Streak, you may ask yourself?

Luck Streak is my new WIP!

Luck Streak is a light fantasy reimagining of Jack and the Beanstalk. Since it is a reimagining, it follows the basic plot of Jack and the Beanstalk but gives me plenty of room to change things and make it my own.

I started drafting Luck Streak April 21, and I hope to finish it by June 22. Or at least, my goal is to hit 70,000 words by June 22. Right now, I’m nine chapters in and am at just under 28,000 words. While I am technically behind on my goal, I still think I’ll be able to write 70k by June 22.

Curious what Luck Streak is about? Here’s the synopsis!

Luck Streak. It’s a name well known in Hymel. After all, not everyone has enough luck to rival a leprechaun, enough wit to best a pixie, and enough charm to talk his way out of arrest if he were to get caught. Not that that’s happened yet.

Luck’s a runner for the Underground, a band of orphans and misfits run by Maia, who steal, gamble, and scrape by to survive. With his legendary luck, Luck’s become the top runner, pulling off heists that no one else would dare, and making and winning bets against odds that are far too long.

However, Luck has reached the point where he’s going to leave the Underground and do things on his own. He’ll keep the Underground’s secrets safe, but he’s leaving.

Until he isn’t.

Maia has a job for Luck. A job so outrageous and impossible, Luck doubts if he could even do it. If Luck refuses, Maia is going to send in a younger runner who’s like a little sister to Luck. She would doubtlessly get caught. All Luck has to do is this one last job, and Maia will keep everyone safe.

Unable to condemn the other runners to the impossible heist, Luck takes it upon himself. However, he can’t do the job alone. He’ll need a team to infiltrate the ruler’s, the Giant’s, layer, and pull off the heist of the ages.

But what if Luck’s luck has finally run out?

So far, Luck Streak has been really fun to write. I’m really enjoying writing Luck’s character voice. He’s very snarky, so that is fun. 😉

Author Program Update

A little over a year ago, at the end of last April, I joined the Young Writers Workshop Author Program, a mentoring program of sorts for aspiring authors. I decided to join Author as an alternative to going to college.

However, now that my first year in the program is up, I’ve decided to not renew for another year in the Author Program.

Now, I’m still writing and I still have the dream of being an author or having some other profession in the publishing industry. But I’ve decided that Author isn’t the best fit for me right now. There are a number of things that have brought me to this conclusion, but I’m not going to share them all here.

So what am I going to do now that I’m no longer in the Author Program?

There are so, so many writing resources in this age of the internet and technology. Online webinars, recorded classes, conferences, blogs, podcasts–you name it. So, I’m going to be using those resources, which are put together by industry professionals. These people know what they are teaching.

I am also currently in the process of contacting some authors that I know and admire and seeing if they would be interesting in one-on-one mentoring me. So we’ll see if that works out!

Other Writing News

I’m going to Realm Makers!!!

You may remember back in 2019 when I went to Realm Makers for the very first time. Last year, I also went to Realm Makers from the comforts of my home, the conference being virtual and all.

And I’m going to Realm Makers again! Realm Makers is doing a hybrid conference with both an in-person and virtual option, and I will be there in person. I am super excited for the conference! The line-up of speakers is amazing. Plus, Nadine Brandes, one of my all time favorite authors, is going to be there!

*cue fangirling*

Realm Makers is less than two months away, and I can’t wait for it!

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So, that’s pretty much everything about what’s going on in my writing world! Next week, I’ll post the other half of this recap/update. Keep an eye out for that post!

And like I mentioned at the beginning of this post, if you want to make sure that you don’t miss out on what is happening with my writing, and don’t want to have to wait several months for me to write up a blog post, make sure you sign up for my newsletter! I’ll only pop into your inbox once a month.

How has your writing been going? What is your WIP about?