November 2024 writing goals – the one where it’s time to begin, isn’t it?

Happy November, friends, and welcome to another writing update! It’s finally time to put my money where my mouth is and start actually writing the story that’s been in my head for months, and I’m really enjoying the process so far. Hope you enjoy!

11,000 word in so far!!

I’m really, really enjoying the process of writing so far. I set an average goal of 2,500 words a day, which leaves me room to write less on Wednesdays (church night) and take the day off here and there.

I’m super glad I have two POV characters, since Esme, the Female Main Character, is kind of going through a lot, and will be for a while. I realized recently that the villain character, Zarish, is like the extreme version of my ex-boyfriend, which means I’ll have to access some of the memories I don’t really like to think about in order to write this story. I’ve been kinda feeling like this might be a good thing to do, though, so it will be worth it in the long run, both for me and for whomever might decide to read this story one day.

That being said, Edan, the Male Main Character, is a lot of fun to write. Without giving too much away, he’s basically travelling with a kid who reminds me of Aang (from Avatar: the Last Airbender), and his childhood cat who’s like 849,397,324 years old, so you can kind of imagine what that’s like.

Coming up this month

This month is focused entirely on Writing A Novel in Thirty Days, but there are a few other things happening:

I’m working on getting more of my blog posts transformed into podcast episodes, starting with the Finding God in the Hunger Games devotional that I’ll be working through for the next couple of months. You can look forward to the first four episodes of that series, as well as the intro to the series, in the next few weeks.

You can follow me on instagram for daily updates on how the writing process is going for me, as well as daily word count totals.

I’m still working on my short story that’s GETTING PUBLISHED IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS, and theoretically, I’ll be submitting the final draft on the 30th of this month, so you can look forward to lots of virtual squealing and jumping up and down when that happens!!! In the meantime, though, there’s lots of editing to be done XD

Real Life is a thing too, you know?

I read an author newsletter from Siri Hutton that shared a few of the general bookish details of her life, and I really enjoyed it, so here are a few from me:

• favorite book recently: The Princess Will Save You by Sarah Hennings is a YA fantasy series that calls itself “a tribute to The Princess Bride.” I love how the author includes all the archetypes – Sycilian + Giant + Spaniard swordsmaster, evil king/prince, brave princess, etc. – without simply recreating the classic. It’s super well-done, and I’m very excited to read the next two books in the trilogy!
• another favorite book: Rebel Skies by Ann Sei Lynn is a super creative fantasy series! The main character can make paper figures come to life, and there’s a whole ancient society that were made out of paper themselves! It’s super cool, and the twist at the end had me SHOOK! I devoured book one in one sitting almost, and can’t wait to read the next one in the series!
• real-life things: Even as I’m having to think about my ex in order to formulate the villain in my book, my real-life MMC (significant other) and I are doing really well… like, “he’s already bought a ring and asked my dad” well 🥹 When I tell you this is the IRL second-chance romance I never saw coming… Suffice it to say, I’m blessed beyond measure and am looking forward to what comes next!

Conclusion

Thank you so much for hanging out with me for a bit! I hope you were encouraged or inspired by my goals to pursue your own. I really appreciate all of you guys who want to hear/read my thoughts and follow along with my journey.

Do you have any projects you’d like to share? I’d love to know!

Have a great day!