<–The State of the Writer: 1/23/22         The State of the Writer: 2/20/22–>

A post updated every other Sunday discussing my current writing projects and any completed the prior two weeks.

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Finished Projects: 1

• Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn – 1/30/21

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Project: Story
Working Title: The High Archon
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Original
Length: Novel
Current Word Count: 10,684
Prior Word Count: 10,530
Word Difference: +154
Status: Adding line edits from notes
Progress: Chapter 2

I wasn’t planning on adding more words to the draft, but as I was working on fitting in the line edits it just happened.  I was adding something near the end of where I’d stopped, and since I usually try to stop with a question, dialogue, or in the midst of some kind of action, it’s easy to prime my brain for what comes next.  It also doesn’t help that I love the sassy dialogue between my MC and her BFF.

The funny thing is it wasn’t even the line edit I was going to add that spurred this on; it was more of a macro edit.  I split the additions into line and macro edits with the latter being more general to the chapter as opposed to specific areas e.g. the time progression.  That’s not just a one off correction; I need to change the whole mien of the chapter as they’re walking to town to reflect a more realistic one.

I have two more line edits to do and then the macro edits will occur during an edit.  Of course everything color coded because it’s just so much easier to know where I should be looking.

Project: Story
Title: The Threads of Sorrow
Genre: Paranormal Romance/Fairytale Retelling
Type: Original
Length: Short Story
Current Word Count: 7360
Status: Editing/Revising
Progress: Received first round of edits

No picture for this one (yet).  Hopefully soon.  I’m planning on asking Bethany Funnell, the illustrator who’s doing the artwork for The Broken Rose, for a commission.  I love her aesthetic and I know exactly what I want for the cover.

One day I’ll stop writing about these characters, but today is not that day lol.  I love Uriel and Maya, and this story is another part of The Truth Seeker Chronicles.  They’re just palette swapped Aeriseph, but you could say that about most creative works (being palette swapped something…I should update that piece I wrote on fanfiction and fanart).  I used to be self-conscious about my fanfiction writing/inspiration, but getting older and giving less fucks paired with better meds leaves you with this bitch right here.

So this is the short I plan to self-pub.  I figured I should start throwing it on here (or at least say something about it this time), since I submitted it to Katherine McIntyre for editing, which is vital especially for self-published works (link goes to her editing contact page if you’re looking for one!).  I actually sent the story in before going over it myself, which is new for me.  I usually don’t let people see anything I’ve written before finely combing it, and it’s been years since I’ve touched this one, but I figured I’d just get that part out of the way i.e. started.  I’m probably going to edit it myself before looking at what was sent, so that I can compare notes but not be potentially biased, if that makes sense?  I know the story is rough, but just like The Serpent’s Tale, it has good bones, which is exactly what Kat said, too o.O

This is the reason why I want to get my author’s page made and set up.  I’ll have an actual story to put on there, and I also want to talk about my planned essay collections.  I…think I’m going to start working towards writing some by concentrating on specific things to research.  I’ll have to figure some things out of course.

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Project: Story Audio Recording
Title: Northern Lights
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Type: Fanfiction
Length: Novel
Fandom: Final Fantasy VII
Status: Editing
Progress: Adding in sound effects

I hit a bit of a snag where I couldn’t find the sound I was looking for on Epidemic Sound where I have a subscription.  It’s like…okay so you know how you know what something should sound like, but you can’t describe it in words that humans will understand?  I needed a sort of shimmery, cold, but beautiful like the way you’d imagine the northern lights themselves would sound.  When I look at pictures of videos of them I can actually *hear* that.  It sort of sounds like when someone makes that shivery sound on a cymbal.  I did manage to find it on Pond5, which is a pay per download site.  The ones I saved are like $3 a pop, but it’s worth it.

Oh, the other problem is I have a similar effect not even a few seconds before, but I must have a sound in both places.  *sigh*  It just be like that sometimes lol.  I can’t leave either place without a sound effect so I’ll have to figure it out.

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In Progress

• Game Reviews: Final Fantasy VI – I’m on the third edit of the World of Ruin summary.
• Book Reviews: The Book of the Unnamed Midwife by Meg Elison (Road to Nowhere) (DNF) – I’m pretty much finished writing it; I just need to edit/proofread.
• Yearly Posts: The Books of 2021 – I wanted to post this before the review of Elison’s novel.  I have most of the selections notated in OneNote, and I even added a few more categories.  I should have it out before next week’s update.

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Whew…this was a longer update than usual, and I even said they’d been getting shorter last week lol.  I guess because I made more progress this time around.  I think I’ve written enough so I’m going to leave it at this 🙂

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<–The State of the Writer: 1/23/22         The State of the Writer: 2/20/22–>