Happy Preptober, friends, and welcome to another writing update! I realize that October is halfway over, but there’s no time like the present to update you guys on how my writing journey is currently going. Hope you enjoy!
How does one even?
I think I’ve gone through at least three different techniques of writing and outlining and worldbuilding for this new novel project, but I think I’ve finally landed on one that I like! It’s a platform called Obsidian, and while the initial learning curve was a little tough, and THERE IS NO BUILT-IN TUTORIAL, once I figured out some basic commands, it’s been working pretty well for me. I use Obsidian as my very own private Wikipedia, where each of my little plot threads and ideas and characters and themes can all be linked to each other. I’m super excited about this because, when I start actually writing next month, I’ll easily be able to look at the details I’ve already built into my world.
October writing goals
This month is called Preptober, which in as few words as possible means Getting Ready for NaNoWriMo Month. So here are my goals for this month:
- Get alllll of the future blog posts (because yes, I’m still working on other projects at the same time!) written and scheduled
- Hammer out the magic system, worldbuilding, characters, and as much of the plot for this novel as possible (there are characters whose only names at the moment are Earth Guy, Other Girl, Evil Guy, and Wise Elder, as well as a location called Town Whose Name Means Crossroads… lol)
- Figure out a plan for actually succeeding at NaNoWriMo, since I’ve never actually done this before. Part this is figuring out how many words I can write in half-hour sprints, and how many of those sprints I’ll need to do each day in order to reach my 50k word count goal.
- Use the series of short stories I’m writing to help me figure out my ideal sprint length! Because in addition to writing an entire full-length novel, AND editing the short story that’s getting PUBLISHED in a few short months, I’m also writing twelve whole one-shot style micro stories featuring Disney princesses in the nation of Panem from the Hunger Games series. You can find out more about this series here : ).
Other updates & thoughts
In my last post, I had let you guys know about the possibility of receiving an Advanced Reader Copy of the anthology I’m getting published in! Unfortunately, the Zoom meeting I was supposed to attend this past weekend to discuss such things never happened? So I have zero updates for you on that, other than sign-ups may become available in the next couple of months, and the ARCs will be sent out in January. I’m as excited as you are to let you know more!
In other news, I published one of my trademark Gospel According to posts this past Monday. It’s based on a Led Zeppelin song that I used to hear on the radio coming home from college with my dad. Truly the Word can speak to us in all kinds of ways! You can read that post here : ).
Finally, I’ve started reading and reflecting on this one devotional called Finding God in the Hunger Games, and there’s a new series of blog posts coming out with my thoughts on each one. Here’s the first one!
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!
P. S. If you’d like to get monthly writing updates and lots of FREE THINGS in your inbox every month, please join my email list below! I solemnly swear I will send you no spam : ).