Happy September, friends, and welcome to a new series of posts! I recently began a journey to becoming a published writer, and since I’d really, really like people to actually read the things I write, I thought it might be a good idea to talk about them. Hope you enjoy!
my head is spinning…
In the last few months, I’ve gone from, “hey, that’s a cool anthology, wish I had a story to submit” to “here’s a story idea that I can’t get out of my head, I’mma write it and see what happens,” all the way to “OH MY GOODNESS I’M GETTING PUBLISHED THIS IS NOT A DRILL JFLAK;JFALPHIGORA[UORWA!!!!” So yeah, very good things, very exciting things. As far as what the story is about, think Avatar: The Last Airbender meets the Chronicles of Narnia. It’s a soft allegory with elemental powers and hopefully an epic storyline. The anthology is called Caught in the Flames, and it’s edited by Vanessa Thurgood. The proceeds are going to charity!
Part of the anthology publishing process includes:
- Meeting with the other authors (they’ve all published full-length books, gulp!) to talk about the details
- Getting feedback and developmental edits – one of the contributors, Sara Wright (whose book I got to read as an ARC a while back) has agreed to work with me, so cool!
- Aaaaaaand doing all the marketing and social media things, which is kinda frustrating since so far, next to nobody is seeing the things I share 🥲
One of the most challenging parts of this whole process has been figuring out how to build an email newsletter. I started out trying to work with MailerLite, as it was recommended to me as an easy platform. Which led to a week of struggling before I said, “Hey, I have an account with MailChimp, let me see about getting that one to work..” When I tell you it took five minutes to get this platform all set up and running 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️
Now that the whole thing has been sorted out, I’m super excited to start sending emails to anyone who feels like signing up! Speaking of which, here’s the form in case you feel like joining the Fangirl Fam:
September goals
- This month, I’m working on general worldbuilding, plotting, and character development for my full-length novel that I’m hoping to (eventually) write. I have the main events– I guess they’re called Story Beats– for an entire trilogy mostly mapped out in my head now!
- I have a meeting with Sara coming up soon (she said she’d be done with her initial read-through around the 7th) and will probably be working on the edits she suggests.
- Mostly I’m spending time here and there inside this world I’m trying to make, getting to know the characters and fleshing out the magic system and such.
- This is all super new to me, so I’m also reading as many Books About Writing Books as I can to try and help myself out as much as possible!
- Because I clearly have zero sanity or common sense, I’m also working on next year’s bullet journal themes, which may or may not include some BONUS short story/flash fiction available only to email subscribers! Just saying, you might want to join the fam now : )
Opportunities coming up
Part of the reason for starting up this whole Email List thing is to get the word out about the anthology, which is coming out in March. But BEFORE that, I’ve been informed that we (the other authors and I) will be looking for ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) readers around November or December of this year! Don’t quote me on that, as I don’t remember the exact timing, but it’s definitely a thing and it’s definitely coming up. I don’t know a whole lot about the other stories, but I will very soon, and their authors sound cool based on the Zoom meeting we all had a few weeks ago 😸
Sooooo all that to say, if you think you might be interested in an anthology featuring fire elemental powers in a range of genres–from sci fi all the way to epic fantasy– be sure to sign up for my email list! I’d love to have you, and I solemnly swear that I will send you no spam. Nobody has time for that 😜
Here it is again ICYMI:
Conclusion
Thanks for stopping by to hear about my September writing goals! It’s been so long since I’ve written anything that wasn’t commentary on someone else’s work, this is a whole new adventure for me. If you feel so inclined, please pray that I will remember Who I’m doing this for (like I said, my story is a Narnia-esque allegory), and have the right words to reach as many people as possible. I’ve been struggling a little with the fact that Instagram doesn’t seem to want to show anything I make to anybody, and need to remember that it is God who “establishes the work of my hands.” Psalm 90:17
Do you have any projects you’d like to share? I’d love to know!
Have a great day!
Kayslee | The Fangirl Fulfilled