The Road to Book Two--Part 3

It's certainly been a while since I've talked at length about Book Two! That's partly because I've had other projects to work on, and I want to give the Sky Forest Press projects proper attention. But it's also because I get embarrassed to talk about my slow writing pace. Though it sounds so silly when I write it down, it seems like other people churn out multiple books a year while it takes me at least two years to write one epic fantasy. That sometimes makes me feel like I'm less of a writer, which I know I'm not! As Baymax said, "I am not fast." That's all there is to it.

Now for the news: Book Two is almost done! Getting close to the end means it's easier to see the end result, and I'm happy to report that I'm proud of this book. I hope readers will enjoy reading it!

Check under the cut for a look at the cover, designed by me and my friend Erica Hogan. She also created a map of the world, which is incredible and something I've been asked about often. I'm excited for you guys to see it. If you're interested in connecting with her for her map-making skillz, you can find her on Twitter.

Writing Update, NaNoWriMo

NaNoWriMo is one of my favorite times of the year. That's partly because it's fall, and I love the excuse to wear soft sweatshirts and drink steaming cups of tea while I write. And partly because it's a challenge. In a small way (a very small way!), I miss the deadlines of grad school, and NaNo is kind of a supersized deadline.

As much as I love it, this year, I won't be participating--at least not in the traditional sense. Instead of 50,000 words, my personal goal is to finish the current draft of book two of my epic fantasy trilogy. To get into the spirit of NaNo, though, I made myself a revision calendar. This is the rough draft. It's very messy.

I'll probably still be logging a few words on the NaNo website, so if you want to friend me, feel free. I could always use more writing buddies! My name there is pancakes16.

If, like me, you enjoy instrumental music while you write and are looking for something new, I made a writing playlist on Spotify.

Happy NaNoing!

Writing Update, June

Toward the beginning of June, I "finished" a draft of book two in my epic fantasy series. It's not quite done because there are some missing pieces and still some details I haven't decided on, like if I should add certain characters to certain scenes. But it's getting there! I was able to send it to a couple beta readers, and hopefully, they'll have some productive feedback for me relatively soon.

I have a few projects that I need to pick up again--a science fiction novel about sisters, a YA apocalypse novel, and some manuscripts that are in the very beginning stages. But I decided to go in a different direction. I took a screenwriting class in college, and every once in a while, I try to stretch those muscles. So, to do that and to cleanse my writing palate, I'm working on a screenplay for a fantasy movie. I have no idea if I'll finish it or even if it'll be any good, but I'm having fun doing it, and I might even be able to turn it into a novel one day.

I also finished and submitted a short story to an anthology. We'll see what happens with it.

The Road to Book Two--Part 2

I'm back with an update on Book Two, tentatively titled The Shadow of the Endless Night! If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen that I posted a picture of the complete first draft. Here it is in all its glory, which isn't very much, to be honest! Right now, it stands at about 96,000 words, which is on par with what the first draft of Book One looked like. For reference, the final version of Book One is around 129,000 words.

The Road to Book Two--Part 1

I've gotten a number of questions, especially in the past week, about the release date for The Heartfriends Book Two, so I'm starting a multi-part blog series to talk about updates! This will be semi-regular and discuss how close to finishing a draft I am, what goes into finishing drafts, and my writing process in general.