July brings lovely summer weather and a renewed sense of joy. As I write today, it is the 1st (Canada Day, for us Canucks) the sun shines, there is a wonderful breeze, and I am resting on my deck.
I have finished some writing goals over the last while which included completing Lessons 5 & 6 of HTRYN (how to revise your novel @ https://www.hollyswritingclasses.com/) which was a big achievement for me. While I have been upfront that I am editing Book 1 of my trilogy, I am not sure if I have yet mentioned is that this is actually Book 1 and 2. Getting through a lesson is not easy. This means I am doing the triage on both books, though they will split eventually. I have two more lessons in the triage section: Lesson 7 may not be a quick one, but it may have just had a steep learning curve. That said, I am motivated to try to have the first book edited and ready for beta readers by the end of year. In order to get there, I just have to keep going, one page at a time.
Another goal I have been working towards lately and am nearly done now, is planning a prequel story to this trilogy. The story will be told in a journal-style following a man who is changing, and the challenges that he faces. I am nearly done doing some high-level planning on the different entries. The chocolate sauce on the ice-cream is the worldbuilding definition I get out of this writing. The sprinkles on the chocolate sauce on the ice-cream is that Lesson 7 is about world building. All my little plans are coming together.
New goals for the summer:
Write a flash fiction story that is Halloween related. The submission deadline of August 15th, so there is some time to write and polish 500 words. I have some research to do before I can write it, but I think it’s a spooky story and should be fun to write. I will share the link to the anthology when it comes out later this year. If my writing didn’t make it in, I will share the story around Halloween!
I will finish Lesson 7 by the end of July and Triage by the end of August. The prequel has no defined due date yet, but the worldbuilding should help it all come together. Plus it gives me the added bonus of writing new words, which is a nice change of pace when editing.
Now, I just need to get over the cold that is wearing me down, not have a writing room hotter than Hell’s kitchen, and I’ll be set!
Cheers,
MJ