I started working on my next book, a cozy, rivals-to-lovers book set at a witch academy. About 11k words in, I realized I really didn’t like my FMC. She was too whiny and too “woe is me,” asking why everything happened to her. So, I scrapped it. Mostly.

Draft 2 is now underway and I like my FMC world’s better now. I have been able to salvage pieces of draft 1 as well, which is nice.

In August, I listened to Stephen King’s On Writing and it was incredible! It really gave me a newfound love and appreciation for King, in addition to giving solid writing advice.

In that vein, I’m taking his advice and writing 1,000 words a day until I finish my first draft. Currently at 3,697 in draft two. I keep having to reframe from “that’s not great! You still have so far to go!” to “That’s 3,697 more than what’s on a blank document!” Progress, not perfection.

Anyway, I’m excited to see where his advice gets me! If all goes according to plan, I should have this first draft done by mid-November (the 18th, to be exact, at 65k words).

While I’m working on this new book, I also hired an editor to review my previous WIP. So excited to take that next step! The goal is to get it even more ready for agents AND prepare for self-publishing. One way or another, I plan to publish that book. It’s a book I would have loved to read as a kid, and also as an adult, and I know there are others out there who love epic fantasy as much as I do.

P.S. If you’re reading this, please note my blog posts are not indicative of my overall writing-style. These are mostly stream-of-conciousness, unedited babbling.