Writing WIP Update

Hi friends!

It's been a while since I've updated you about all my writing projects and other creative endeavors. Here's what I've been up to!

The Last Firstborn

In this post, I shared my editing progress. I completed Draft 3 in July 2024. In August, I began querying.

Friends, I got zero (0) agent interest in this project. To be fair, I only sent it out to like twenty agents, which is not a lot compared to most querying authors, but dang. Zero. I'm confident in my writing. I keep getting really positive beta feedback. So what this says to me is that my query package was really not working to support the writing that I submitted AND that this piece is still too long at 128k words.

Right now, I'm having a new beta reader go through it and plan to do another edit pass this spring. My aim will be to streamline the story and get it down to the ~110-115k range.

In the meantime...

The Firstborn's Legacy

I know, I know. You shouldn't write the sequel until you know the first one is getting published. But as my beta reader has been going through LFB, I've been unable to stop thinking about how the story continues. I'm just loosely plotting this out right now, jotting down ideas, and daydreaming about character arcs. Right now, I'm envisioning this as a duology.

Lorem Ipsum (working title)

In this post, I shared that'd I'd completed the zero draft of Lorem. It's still resting at about 94k words. I'm not sure what my plans for it are right now because...

Publish and Thrive

I'm taking a self-publishing course from the lovely Sarra Cannon, who also created the HB90 planning strategy that I use.

After querying LFB and getting no hits on it whatsoever, I was feeling very discouraged. Even knowing that there were lots of things I could have done to revise my querying strategy, like getting my query package professionally edited, finding better comps, and just generally sending out more queries. I still couldn't help but feel like maybe trad publishing wasn't going to be for me. The odds are not in my favor.

But was self-publishing the right path? Self-publishing has always seemed SO daunting to me because marketing myself is scary. Because of my professional experience, I know how much work goes into the marketing and logistics side of running a business and it's a LOT. But I didn't know exactly what goes into self-publishing and I was finding it very difficult to make a logical choice about which path to pursue: continue querying LFB? Or pivot to the indie world? I didn't have enough information to decide! So, I signed up to take this course in order to learn more about what goes into being an indie author.

More info about P&T

Publish and Thrive is a six-week course that's mostly pre-recorded, but does have weekly live meetings as well. It's been a great resource so far and I definitely recommend it if you're also trying to figure out which publishing path you want to pursue.

Project Decay

Still brainstorming and zero-drafting this with my dear friend Didi. This has been such fun! It truly is a just-for-fun creative project and it's so nice to work on a story without all the weight of wanting to publish it eventually.

Plus, the characters and the setting of this story are absolute fire and I love them so much.

Contest Judging

In this post, I shared my experience with helping to judge a short story contest hosted by the Rogue Writers group. This month they're hosting the Winter 2025 edition and I'm on the judging panel again! We received seven submissions this time and judging discussions are currently ongoing.

A new project...

Geralt of Rivia, looking unsure and drinking a tankard of ale

I've been craving a fun, adventure story in a unique setting recently. I shouldn't be starting to brainstorm a new project, but I just can't stop myself. It's so weird, I'm normally not a multi-project kind of writer. I stick to one book until I'm finished with a draft. But right now, I'm bouncing between three!

This new story is a little Witcher, a little Fallout, a little bit fae courts, and a little alternate history. I'm still in the brainstorming phase with this one, but I'd love to see it turn into a trilogy, or maybe even more! I could see this being one of those ongoing adventure stories where the characters are constantly getting into new trouble and the tale never ends.

I'm stupidly excited about this world right now, even though this should unequivocally NOT be my priority.