Words & Wonders (40)

Welcome to Words & Wonders, a weekly journal of writing updates, links I've found useful or interesting, and book recommendations. I hope W&W will prove to be useful to you writers out there as well as offering an insight into my writing progress for my readers. Don't forget to leave a comment with your own writing progress!

One of these weeks, I'll remember to post on time, I swear.

In the Writing Cave, this week:

- I continued adding the second draft changes to my PERSEYUA manuscript (because I 2nd on paper...) I've added 146 pages of edits, cut considerable sections (including a sweet rowboat that rowed itself. Alas, it had to go) and rearranged A LOT of the first 150 pages.

 - I revived a very old short WIP with 700 words. Hoping to work on this more in the next month. It's called THE CLONE BRIDE.

In my life:

- Another February sickness, this one worse than the first. Bleh.

-  I really like this colourful photo of my books:

On the internet, this week I found useful:

- This beautifully written and heart-wrenching post about the all-white state of fantasy. I cried, I raged at the injustice, and I felt stupidly lucky to have grown up with white privilege, to always have been included in books and been able to see myself in them.

- This epic post on skinny authors writing fat characters. Minnie, one of the POV characters in POWERS is fat and while I don't consider myself skinny, some would, so I thought I'd give the post a read, and found the blog thoroughly useful. The source section alone is worth reading it but if you're a writer (of ANY kind of character) please read the whole post!

- This post on ableism and disability by Kody Keplinger, which gave me a great deal to think about.


A Book I've Loved Lately:

Don't even get me started. 
Epic world. Unforgettable characters. Give me the next book immediately!!

What have you written this week?
~Saruuh

Words & Wonders (39)

Welcome to Words & Wonders, a weekly journal of writing updates, links I've found useful or interesting, and book recommendations. I hope W&W will prove to be useful to you writers out there as well as offering an insight into my writing progress for my readers. Don't forget to leave a comment with your own writing progress!

In the Writing Cave, this week:

- I continued with my second draft of PERSEYUA. This week I did 51 pages AND FINISHED. 

- But UGHHH it's no longer a stand alone. There's another alt ending that would make the book SO much stronger, and a second book that would be SO GOOD and offer so much growth in Perseyua, and I really want to write it ... without actually having time/schedule to write it. Oh darn. Still ... stronger ending it is. PERSEYUA is now a first in series. Imagine me grumbling about it.

- I'm now adding the second draft changes to my PERSEYUA manuscript (because I 2nd on paper...) I've written 2K and added around 10 pages of edits.

In my life:

-  Nothing to report. Constantly working.

On the internet, this week I found useful:

- Another post on filler words
- This epically important article about white publishing and #ownvoices

What have you written this week?
~Saruuh

Words & Wonders (38)

Welcome to Words & Wonders, a weekly journal of writing updates, links I've found useful or interesting, and book recommendations. I hope W&W will prove to be useful to you writers out there as well as offering an insight into my writing progress for my readers. Don't forget to leave a comment with your own writing progress!

Crap, crap, crap, sorry this is late. I scheduled it and totally didn't hit publish. D:

In the Writing Cave, this week:

- I learned I am really impulsive re: pitching contests even though my MS is only 75% done. I have banned myself from them until mid March, when PERSEYUA's mass changes have been implemented. At. The. Earliest.

- Semi related: I've been working on my query, going over and over it. I think I'm at the point where I can't make it any better, so it might be time for someone else to look at it.

- I continued with my second draft of PERSEYUA. This week I did 98 pages, which is a crappy week for me :(

- I planned Le Contemp~ finally. The good news: it's now going to be 2000% better. The bad news: a character has to die and the 10K I've written has to be scrapped D:

In my life:

-  The dreaded February Sickness hit so I missed three days of work and I'm officially behind my deadline :(

-I found 2 new bands, both female fronted. PVRIS and Against The Current. I really like both but I'm leaning towards ATC (literally ALL their songs are strong but check out Fireproof, my current favourite song.)

On the internet, this week I found useful:

- This post on twitter pitches, which saved me from making a fool of myself. Authors partaking - READ THE FIRST POINT.
- Synopsis Tips From An Expert
- Questions to Ask a Prospective Agent!!!!!

What have you written this week?
~Saruuh

Words & Wonders (37)

Welcome to Words & Wonders, a weekly journal of writing updates, links I've found useful or interesting, and book recommendations. I hope W&W will prove to be useful to you writers out there as well as offering an insight into my writing progress for my readers. Don't forget to leave a comment with your own writing progress!

In the Writing Cave, this week:

- I continued with my second draft of PERSEYUA. This week I did 139 pages.

- Wrote around 1K of Le Contemp. I'm pantsing this so far and I've run out of direction, so I'll probably draft a plan soon. I'm nothing without a proper outline.

- I also wrote a couple of flash fiction pieces for the hell of it, just trying out concepts and genres.

In my life:

- My instagram feed is more active this month. I'm taking part in a challenge called #AuthorLifeMonth so you might be interested in that :)

 Click images to enlarge :)

On the internet, this week I found useful:

- Eight Things To Do While You're Waiting
- Fifty Plot Twist Ideas

What have you written this week?
~Saruuh

Words & Wonders(36)

Welcome to Words & Wonders, a weekly journal of writing updates, links I've found useful or interesting, and book recommendations. I hope W&W will prove to be useful to you writers out there as well as offering an insight into my writing progress for my readers. Don't forget to leave a comment with your own writing progress!

In the Writing Cave, this week:

- I continued with my second draft of PERSEYUA. This week I read 134 pages and honestly it's kinda draining.

- I'm working on the Lux Guardians redesign. These won't be revealed until the end of the year, but the whole series is getting a revamp along with the cover reveal of the last 2 books (which will coincide with the release.) This won't be one of those redesigns that has the last book not match the rest - there'll just be two series of designs, one paperback and one digital!

In my life:

- I discovered Enya??? Only about 20 years late...

- Planning some instagram challenges for Feb to get my feed looking clean and matchy matchy. One of these will be #AuthorLifeMonth so be sure to follow me!

On the internet, this week I found useful:

- Moving Beyond Rejection

A Book I've Loved Recently:

The Diviners series is exquisitely detailed, thoughtful, and evocative. I was happily absorbed in the roaring twenties and I fell so hard in love with the characters. (Jericho is my fave, precious Jericho, and Henry, my smol gay son.) There's also pretty decent representation, with people of colour, disability, and sexuality all among the main characters.

What have you written this week?
~Saruuh