Today is officially the first day of autumn! I plan on celebrating with pumpkin spice candles and catching up on some long overdue reading. Pumpkin bread and some good Halloween movies might also be on the horizon. For now, however, I wanted to share some excited news! Two things, actually!
- After Death is all pretty and formatted and review/proof copies are on the way. I can’t wait to see it! Especially with the other two books! It’s going to look so pretty.
- I’ve been asked to participate in a series of NaNoWriMo meet-ups for one of the local libraries! I’ll be talking about my experience participating in NaNoWriMo and encouraging other writers on their journey. I am so excited! I’m a big fan of NaNoWriMo. I used to have this really rotten attitude about it. I though, “Psh… I don’t need a bunch of people telling me to write a novel in a month. I’ll write a novel whenever I damn well please!” But the thing about NaNoWriMo is that it challenges you to try something new, to maybe write a book you hadn’t planned on writing. And it’s SO much fun. It’s such a great way to open up your mind and take a chance on something that you previously hadn’t given much thought. If I hadn’t participated in NaNoWriMo, Boy Band wouldn’t exist. And guess what? It’s only been out a few months and it’s done better than my other two books put together. So yeah. I love NaNoWriMo and I’m really looking forward to meeting with other writers, sharing my experience, and encouraging them to keep writing!
As for my personal work, like I said, I finished formatting After Death yesterday and the proof copy is on its way. It still needs a final read-through and last minute edits, but for the most part, I’m feeling really good about this book. I’ve also found that the more I write, the easier the editing and formatting process gets. At first, it was so daunting and intimidating and to be honest, I was kind of terrified of the idea. But now, I actually look forward to it. It’s so much fun to see your manuscript become a real book. It’s also such a left-brained project. Sometimes it’s really nice to turn off the emotional, creative, la-de-da side of your brain and just rely on the driven, logic-based, task-oriented side. It’s not a side I consult very often, so whenever I do, it’s very efficient and eager to prove itself. And it rarely lets me down. My right brain is very talented, but it’s so easily distracted and it has to have like ten things to focus on at once or it gets bored and it’s very emotional and sometimes hard to work with. My right brain is basically Dory from Finding Nemo.
That being said, I think I’m going to head out. My dad is at the eye doctor again, this time for a consultation for cataract surgery. Good times. After that, however, I really want to try and make pumpkin spice muffins. I also need to get started on a new short story for the next Lurking anthology. Then I might just learn to crochet. See? That right brain is never fully satisfied.
A Platform of Sorts 