Hello again, lovely people! It's been ages since I last updated my site and blog.
You might have seen me write about this on social media but if you haven't, I have some pretty big news: we've had another baby! Our second son was born on September 1st and now our sons share a birthday. Yep, they were both born on the same day (the older one just turned two). As you can imagine, life has been hectic and sleepless and wonderful. I'll probably never sleep for eight hours straight ever again - at least that's what it feels like - but I'm happy, I really am. Parenting is a strange experience.
That said, you can imagine that writing has taken a back seat for now. I am sad to report that my #writechain has been broken and I'll have to start again soon. It was such an immense help - I wrote an entire novel because I psyched myself into writing every day. I definitely want to repeat that, it was the most wonderful feeling when writing became a habit. I miss it a lot.
I'm also suffering from a bit of a writer's block. I'm toying with several ideas for my NaNoWriMo project and I can't seem to decide which one I want to write the most. I've been trying to plot at least one of them but the characters seem elusive and I can't nail even the major plot points, which is a bad sign. I don't want to go into NaNo without a plan because I'll just write myself into a dead end and fail the challenge. Which one of these would you rather read?
- A contemporary adult romance set in Scotland.
- A paranormal adult romance about shifters set in NYC.
- A paranormal new adult romance set in Faerie.
(I tried to write longer descriptions but they just sounded awful. Romance plots always sound awful. Why is that?! Why am I even writing romance? I'm in a weird place, writing-wise, as you can probably tell.)
I write romance because I like writing kissing scenes. I like reading romances. I love the thought of every person finding their happily ever after. And I'm sure I'll get back on track as soon as the fog lifts and my characters stop acting out like hormonal teenagers and actually start listening to me. *glowers at sulky characters*
I've been writing in my notebook a lot, I feel like it's a nice change of pace from typing. Sometimes it helps to switch things up a little. I've also been using Pinterest (my profile's here if you're curious) to find inspiration for characters, settings, and story kernels. And yes, I'm calling it research. It definitely counts.
I'm in the editing stage of my first novel, Here to Stay. I've put on my big girl pants and sent the manuscript to two critique partners and the feedback I got so far is great. It's hard to let your precious story out there in the world, let alone read the comments that aren't all that flattering sometimes. But they're real and true and necessary, so I'll be doing some serious rewriting soon.
There are so many things I want to do, writing-wise, but I know I have to keep my goals reasonable so I won't fail them outright. Keeping in mind that having a baby and a toddler is hard and that I also have to work a bit on my translation, these are the two goals I want to accomplish by the end of the year:
- Finish the second round of edits for Here to Stay, taking into account the CP feedback and my own notes.
- Plot my NaNo project and then write at least 30k words during NaNo - this is my soft goal so I don't get overwhelmed, I'm just not sure I can reasonably force myself to go for the full 50k.
If you're also participating in NaNoWriMo, my username is "Zoe Ashwood" (shocking, I know). I'd love to be your writing buddy.
What are you hoping to write by the end of the year?
What are you working on right now? Are you participating in NaNoWriMo?
I'd love to hear from you!
