Author Journey Archives

Camp Nano and Updates

I won Camp Nano! Kinda… April did NOT go as planned (When does it ever?) due to quarantine homeschooling. Teachers, parents, and students were kept busy working out an entirely new system of education and, naturally, there was a learning curve. I barely wrote anything for a couple of weeks because I was focused on helping my son with his work. My Camp goal was only 20,000 words, which would normally be a breeze, but it seemed like an insurmountable feat given how little time I actually had to write.

2020 Vision

Who else is excited that we’re not only starting a new year, but also a new decade? The 2010s definitely taught me a lot, but I feel like they were more about laying the foundation for my future and 2020 is where it all starts coming together. I made significant progress toward my goals over the last year, so I’ve decided that my focus word for this one is going to be VISION. My 2020 vision is all about publishing my debut novel and finally achieving a life goal that I started 19 years ago.

Starting the Editing Process

I’m two weeks into editing my first draft and I can definitively say that I prefer editing to drafting. It feels a hundred times easier to work with something already written than to try to make something appear on a blank page. That being said, there have still been some places where I’ve had to write something entirely new and my brain does NOT like to switch back to draft mode.

I Finished My First Draft!

After nearly 17 years of lost manuscripts, and another full year of dedicated writing, I can finally say that I have a finished first draft of my novel! I ended at 97,363 words, and typing “The End” left my body literally shaking! I had no idea the weight that would lift off my shoulders when I got to the end of the draft! (For now, I’m pretending I don’t see the weight of editing from the corner of my eye!)

My Goals for 2019

How are we already a month into 2019?! December flew by faster than I would have thought possible and now January is almost over! I’ve been busy planning out my year, breaking down my goals into manageable tasks, and building habits in preparation for everything that I need to do. I may have added more to my list than I’ll be able to accomplish but I’m dreaming big this year. However it turns out, here are the goals that I’m going to be prioritizing in 2019.

NaNoWriMo 2018

It’s December, which means that NaNoWriMo is over! (Two weeks ago by now but, hey, life got a little busy.) So how did I do? Well, we had to visit the doctor for a small accident on the 1st and it took a couple days for things to get back to normal, setting my word count back a little bit. I had initially planned on writing 2,000 words per day, with one day a week for a break, and I figured there would be a few days where I didn’t hit my goals. I wasn’t too worried about a little hiccup at the start. At least, not until I got sick in the second week and fell even further behind.

My 2018 Camp Nano Experience

November is officially here and I am participating in NaNoWriMo for the first time. This is not to be confused with Camp Nano, which I did for the first time this summer. (And won!) In July, I set a personal goal of 30k words and nearly finished the first draft of my novel. This month, I’m joining thousands of other writers in the goal of writing 50k words and, ideally, finishing an entire draft of a new novel.