Writing Update: Between Publications

Some time has passed since I posted anything about my latest stories. Two years have gone by since I released Last of the Memory Keepers, and it’s been a little over a year since I started querying Origami Swan. So what exactly am I working on?

I’m glad you asked!

I try to keep my Current Stories page updated, but I tend to include only the major projects I’ve announced. Here are just a few things I’ve been working on lately.

What happened to Origami Swan?

I’ve made it farther with this novel than I have with any previous queries. I reached over 100 rejections, not all of which received letters, though the ones I have received have been encouraging. My favorites are when the agent actually personalizes the letter and mention my main character by name.

That being said, I have had several manuscript requests. I’m excited to see which publishing route this novel will take!

Writing Slump (Summer 2018 – Spring ‘19)

Oh, it happens to the best of us. For nearly a year I was struggling to get through a middle grade magical realism/fantasy/what-is-this-even manuscript. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea to write out the entire story by hand—ha! never doing that again—and somewhere along the way, the plot jumped out the window and was never seen again.

That and I didn’t care for my job, which was so boring that I’d come home and just want to sleep or read or play video games. (I’m not usually a video game person, but I found I really enjoy Subnautica, an underwater sci-fi survival role play.) If anything, I found myself avoiding my story more and more. It wasn’t until after I finished the Camino that I decided I must finish my story before we moved.

So I did. It still ended up being terrible—most rough drafts usually are—but I was finished! Then I could finally move on to other projects.

All the Road Trip Poetry! (Summer ‘19)

Yeah, okay, so I wrote like three poems. But that’s quite a lot for a two-week period—for me anyway. You can check out two of them poems here:

Another poem I wrote was the result of an art/writing sprint I had with a friend. I gave her a poem, and she had to draw a picture. She gave me a picture, and I had to write a poem. I’m quite pleased with the results, but I’m debating whether I want to submit it for publication or post it here.

Also, since the start of this year, I’ve been adding audio and sometimes video versions of my poetry. Though I didn’t have time to record during my road trip, I have considered going back and adding audio versions. My recent poems could use some views as well, so check them out!

My Not-So-Secret Novel (Summer ’19 and on…)

I don’t typically talk about my novels until after they make it past the rough draft process. That way, I know whether I’m going to stick with them or not, and so much can change between the beginning outline and the final edits. But I will say that it’s a *whispers* adult sci-fi. *cough* I’ll be starting it next month for NaNoWriMo.

That’s all you get for now! Thanks for reading.

Let’s chat! Fellow writers, how are your projects coming along? Are you interested in audio versions of the poems I posted this summer? When was your last writing slump, and how did you escape it?

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