It’s been a long time since my last post, but the good news is, I’ve been busy writing! At least I can put much more effort into my craft than I do in writing a blog or maintaining a website. Writing ≠ blogging.
My first novel, Traverse, is officially on the shelf for the time being. Not forever, but for now. A writer sometimes needs time and distance from their project to look at it with fresh eyes. Taking time away from Traverse allowed me the time and focus to create my next novel. I’ve taken a detour from speculative fiction and found myself captured by an idea for women’s fiction. As a green writer, still somewhat new to the craft, I’ve found that change has implemented more growth. And this experience, this work, has been a non-stop pursuit of growth.
If you know me (maybe you do, maybe you don’t), you know that perpetual growth is my main philosophy. Why should my pursuit of publication lead me down any different path?
For my second novel, titled DISTRACTED, I’ve switched genres, but I’ve also switched to present tense (whereas Traverse was written in past tense). And with my next project, I likely intend to write in third person point of view. All tenses and POVs offer benefits and drawbacks, and as an author it’s important to determine which one is the best fit for the story you are intending to tell.
Distracted came at the perfect time, for me, and has helped me flesh out character depth that I felt I struggled with when writing Traverse.
So what is Distracted all about? I won’t share the premise just yet but can tell you all that my first draft is completed, and I’m progressing through the first full edit. When it’s complete, I’ll need Beta readers and will likely source out a manuscript review. If I’m lucky, I may be ready to pitch by the end of 2021.
To help keep my focus on editing Distracted (yes, pun intended), I’ve set up a progress tracker for my website. Scrivener has been great in tracking my word count when writing new content, but now I need something to similarly show my progress throughout editing. Something to keep motivated.
Stay tuned, and I hope to be able to share more about Distracted soon!
Cheers