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November Newsletter
Welcome to the November AND very first Author’s Note Newsletter!
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Grab some coffee (or tea) and enjoy 🫶
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Hello friend 👋
There’s some catching up we need to do and like most stories, this one will make better sense if I start at the beginning.
I started writing stories when I was a little girl. I knew for sure, even then, that my future beheld writing is some shape or form. In middle school I planned on taking journalism and joining the high school newspaper but then we moved to a much smaller community which lacked such programs. Still, I managed to push myself and excel in my Honors English classes and so I started making plans to study English in college. But as it goes, I began receiving advice from well-meaning adults in my life.
“That degree is pointless.”
“You’ll never make any money.”
“You should pursue something you can do anywhere. And for a long time.”
So I turned to education, a second love of mine, only to be told just before graduation (by a teacher no less) that it was a terrible idea and I would hate it.
Okaaaaaay, I guess I’ll study nursing then, I thought.
This indecisiveness, confusion and fear would eventually play a significant part in me changing my major five times, none of which included English. I even went on to get my Masters, but a MAE, not a MFA.
I didn’t write for a long time, not for fun or for the love of it anyways. That is until 2020 when a story was put on my heart and I began drafting my very first novel.
I didn’t make it very far before I got stuck. Nothing seemed *right* to me. I couldn’t make it work. So I walked away with the thought, I’ll pick it up some other time, even though deep down I feared I never would.
Fast forward to September 26, 2023. I had recently finished Tana French’s The Likeness. I was also 2 months pregnant.
As far as my writing goes I know these two things may seem random but trust me, they’re related.
I don’t know what it is about pregnancy but it causes me to have extremely vivid dreams. I’m a vivid dreamer anyways but pregnancy takes it to another level (early in my first pregnancy I literally leapt from my bed because in my dream I was leaping over a chasm like Indiana Jones to avoid a pit of snakes. True story.)
In the second month of my second pregnancy I had yet another extremely vivid dream largely inspired by The Likeness. The characters—some of whom were inspired by people I have known personally and some I have no idea how my mind conjured up—were so real I woke up at 4 in the morning with a clear understanding of who each of them were. By 5am I had created an entire story where they all fit and lived and by 7am I had plotted everything and had written detailed character and setting descriptions.
This experience was so vastly different from three years ago when I had sat down to write my first novel that, well, needless to say I was fueled by it. I woke up at 6-6:30 every morning (with the exception of a handful of days) and would write for 3 to 4 hours straight (I am blessed with children who sleep. Especially my first born. She would sleep until 10, 10:30. I’m convinced that’s the only reason I was able to whip up a first draft so quickly).
Six weeks later my first draft was complete. I had done it.
I remember standing in the library holding the heavy stack of papers I had printed out and staring at the cover page. More specifically I remember staring at a number.
97,900.
That’s how many words made up my first draft. I can’t tell you how many times I would be reading a book I enjoyed and thinking, How?? How on earth do they do this? How do they come up with so many words and weave them together to form a story that is now in my hands?
By the grace of God I now finally understood.
And it made me appreciate every storyteller all the more.
After printing out my first draft in its entirety I took about two to three weeks to read through the entire thing, marking it up with highlighter, ink pens and sticky notes. Then I began on my second draft.
On January 17 of this year I compiled my second draft into an ebook and sent it off to my beta readers. Shortly before the arrival of my son my betas came back with some clever and much-appreciated insight as well as constructive feedback. I took notes, made plans and then let it all sit for 8 months.
Earlier this month I greeted my old friends and said at last, Let’s finish this. Appropriate timing I thought considering this time last year I had finished the first draft and was beginning work on the second. It all feels circular in a way, which for reasons I can’t really explain is quite comforting.
My process this time around is literally to read and revise small chunk by small chunk. The prologue alone took me two days because I kept rereading the same sentences over and over again knowing I can make them better but struggling to just get there. I felt like a wheel turning in the mud. But alas, on my birthday of all days I had a breakthrough and since then I have been trying to stay on pace.
My goal is to have everything (manuscript, query, synopsis) complete by December 23. It’s an ambitious goal I know but that’s generally how I perform best. You’d think it’d be the opposite for someone who has anxiety but fortunately that’s not the case with me. I like to push myself. When I feel pressure I’m somehow able to rise to the challenge. It fuels me!
I will say though: this draft is by far the most challenging.
The first was fun.
The second was fun but also work.
This draft though is serious business and a lot of stinking work, but still fun thankfully.
Am I intimidated by the super ambitious goal I’ve set for myself? You bet I am. I’m so far off track from my original schedule it’s scary. I continually have to update my plan. A few weeks ago I was meant to have a full Saturday of “binge-writing” as Courtney Maum calls it in Before and After the Book Deal. I briefly mentioned on Instagram that I would be cutting up scenes from part two of my book and creating them as memories/flashbacks, which will be sprinkled throughout the “Before” section of my book (I’ve decided to split my book into “Before” and “After” rather than three parts). I knew it would require a lot of work and rewriting which I was trying to accomplish in one day in order to stay on pace with my original chapter-a-day revision plan.
You know what I’ve realized though?
Plans change. It’s okay.
And most importantly my family comes first, always.
I have a husband who wholeheartedly supports me, my writing and my dreams. He is my biggest cheerleader and without him I would crumble.
My children fuel my imagination and breathe life into my spirit. Instead of spending that entire Saturday writing and revising I was at the park with them—soaking up the sun, laughing, playing and making memories.
And most of all there is Jesus, my Helper in all things, in all ways. Without Him I have no purpose.
I ended up spending the following day binge-revising. And then just last Saturday I spent nearly five hours revising 14,055 words and the beginning of my book. Basically I’ve come to realize that just given where I’m at in life right now with two little ones, writing and revising every day just isn’t realistic and that’s okay. Binging just very well may be my modus operandi this time around and that’s okay too!
If I hit my goal, wow, freaking awesome. If I don’t hit my goal, it’s going to be okay. Either way tonight I can breathe. I can rest. I know the book will get done. I know I can do this. One day at a time. I will continue to push myself. I will continue to challenge myself. I will see this through.
The girl of my childhood deserves that.
![]() Took some headshots & absolutely obsessed with the leaves | ![]() Celebrated another trip around the sun! |
![]() Rollin’ up my sleeves on this one | ![]() This month’s reads! |
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It should really be “guest” because this month was me.
Yes I interviewed myself 😂
However, going forward this feature of the monthly newsletter will contain the interview of another writer and/or author.
For now (and for the purpose of familiarity) enjoy the interview of November’s “Guest” (aka me)
What is your genre and how did you find yourself there?
My genre is thriller/crime. I am exploring dark academia as well!
Share the inspiration for your current/latest story. What inspired the plot, characters, setting, etc?
A dream inspired my novel, largely influenced by Tana French's The Likeness and pregnancy. Friends and Saved by the Bell inspired the setting (don’t want to give too much away here). As far as characters go, in my dream were either faces of people I know or fragments of my imagination but I molded their characters to fit the plot, which was inspired by a singular event in The Likeness (again, can’t give too much away here!). I am fascinated with behavioral psychology, sociology, and group dynamics so I tend to gravitate towards books and movies that include some element of these!
What does your writing process look like? What consistently works well for you?
I am very Type A so I thrive when I have a plan. I believe two things played a huge role in me being able to complete my first draft in six weeks and that is that I had a clear picture of my story, at least my "islands" as Dan Brown calls them, and the fact that my toddler is a wonderful sleeper. Having an idea of where my story was going--what my main events were (or islands) gave me direction. I sat down nearly every morning and would say, "Okay. I know I'm heading to this plot point, now how do I get there? How do I get from island to island?" And what happened as I built those bridges was extremely cool! I didn't know that our brains could do something like that and I am still amazed! I am also highly visual so I played everything like a movie in my head. I would ask myself, "If this were a movie, what would I enjoy seeing happen next?"
Are you published yet? If so, what was your experience like?
If not, what are your hopes around publishing?
Do you have any questions about the publishing process you want answered?
I definitely hope to be published! And gosh yes I have SO many questions about the publishing process I'd like answered. There's so much that I feel I just don't know and it's a little intimidating. That's why I'm reading Before and After the Book Deal by Courtney Maum. I'd also love to speak to someone with first-hand experience as well as someone who works within the publishing industry themselves!
Please share your top tips and advice for other writers. What has helped you most on your writing journey?
Be thinking about your story but don't overdo it. If you feel yourself getting exhausted or even finding other things to do than write, that might be a clue that your mind and body need a break. I thought about my story so much in the early days and I found that it zapped my creativity. When I gave myself an allotted time to write I threw everything I had into that time. When the time was up I shut my computer and I also shut down that part of my brain. Like I didn't allow myself to dwell on what I had written or think about what I might write the next day. Only if something were to just naturally come to me would I quickly jot it down and then move on. And make space for your story to surprise you. I didn't really understand what that meant until I would allow myself to get stuck or even write myself into a corner. That question, "What now?" is so powerful--harness it! Embrace your characters and let them tell you what happens. I vividly remember sitting down one morning to begin building a bridge to another island and not having a clue of how to get there but I told myself I'd type 500 words and then see what happens. Next thing I knew I had written 5,000, no joke. I had created an entire setting and scenes I didn't even see coming but they added so much depth to my story. That was really exciting.
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What is most important to you as a writer?
Which do you believe: do we look for stories or do stories find us?
Which author, writer, and/or book are you most thankful for?
Thank you for reading this month’s newsletter! I’ll see you next month! Until then…
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