writing progress

atthequillsmercy

August 2023 Writing Update

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I am picking at the edits for the next Go Away Girls book that I’ve decided to settle on calling “Vanished” (unless I hit on something better in the editing process). There’s a bunch of stuff I put in the outline that didn’t make it into the first rough draft that I feel will make the story much better so, I’m working on ironing out what I did get down before I start including that stuff.

“Vanished” will be the third book in the series. You can check out the first one here or here (contains adult material, be 18+ to read), or check out a different one of my lesbian fantasy stories here, here, here, or here.

Hope you’ll check them out and I’ll hopefully be updating again soon!

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atthequillsmercy

Camp NaNoWriMo Day 18 and Workouts

As you can see, I am still behind and I’m ok with that. See, over the weekend, I went to have dinner with friends and people kept asking me if I was ok. Earlier last week, I had a coworker ask me if they’d done something to make me mad since I was so quiet. When I looked at myself closely in the mirror, I looked dead on my feet; just tired and sullen.

I need to take better care of myself. I’ve been up very late and not getting enough sleep. I haven’t even been cooking much because cooking takes writing time.

I did manage to make a few things but mostly, I’ve been living on snacks and leftovers. I look angry all the time and yeeeaaahhh, that’s not good.

So, this week I’m writing at a leisurely pace and stopping at a decent hour to get some sleep. I don’t even think I’ll hit 50k words just because the story doesn’t need it. I’m gonna chill the hell out and enjoy this process.

I took a walk to get some broccoli to make a real dinner and did my desk peddler. Once I got home, I used all my workout apps; including the sleepytime stretching to wind down and sleep soundly. Today I feel more normal but breaking the grindset mode is gonna take a while.

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atthequillsmercy

NaNoWriMo Day 3

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Yes, that picture is fuzzy. I’m tired and don’t care.

At this point, I’m actually a little bit ahead of my daily word goal! I had a few stalls; mostly forgetting some new character names that I made up while I was writing. But, I think this is coming along nicely and unlike any other time I’ve ever attempted NaNoWriMo, I don’t feel like this draft will need so much editing that speed-writing was more of a detriment than an asset.

However, even with the limited functions of the Freewrite, I still find myself doing what I can to go back and fix obvious typos that I discover. I just can’t seem to let most of them go. I’m sure once the days go by and the manuscript gets longer, I’ll have no choice and I’ll just have to tell that OCD feeling to shut up and let me work.

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atthequillsmercy

Writing Update: Yeah, remember? I write books.

It’s been a while since I’ve done an update but I have been working. I haven’t published since Djinn 2 and Fruit of the Dead 2, but I have been hard at work re-writing and expanding a short story I wrote in college called “Dahlia.” Instead of a couple-page drabble, I’m going to turn it into either a full novel or a multi-part series. I have to see how the writing goes.

As you can see from the picture, I’m 7k deep and the story is progressing nicely. I hesitate to give a timeline because that totally depends on if I hit a roadblock or have a particularly productive streak of days. I do already have a cover for it but I’ll hold off on posting it until the story is close to being published. I’ll probably have to tweak the design a bit once more of the story is done.

Hopefully I’ll have a release date soon!

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Writing Update: More ‘Fruit of the Dead!’

I have been working on more stories and while I had to put my longer-form stuff aside for a bit, I have been working on some shorter material! And what I’ll be publishing next is part two of Fruit of the Dead! It’s been a while and I needed to get back to working on this series and get some more parts in before I start outlining the next Go Away Girls book.

Yeah, I’m outlining now. I’m usually a pantser, but this is helping me get to my goal of publishing more often. And if I’m able to write faster, I’ll have time to read more and finally get my Kindle to stop showing that error message…

I have more reviews to post but I’ll keep everyone updated on the new releases and my progress!

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Writing Update and Recovery Update

Obviously, since I’m in recovery, I’ve been “blessed” with ample time to write. I have a short story that’s been giving me WAY more trouble than it should be and editing on Lost Brother to do. Other than trying to keep as active as I can (as the advice on this site said to do), there is no excuse not to do it.

I really am grateful for that recovery link because I was NOT informed to leave the steri-strips on my stitches until they come off on their own. Of course, I haven’t touched them but I did wonder what the heck I was supposed to do about them. Other than keeping the wounds dry and clean, I have not been messing with them.

It’s also good to know that there will still be some residual pain in my left shoulder as the air that’s left behind moves around and eventually goes away. For a second there, I was freaked out there was another hole and I’d have to go back.

I’m a week out from the surgery now and I’m back to some solid food. Ice cream and really soft pasta stayed down without any problems and I’m able to walk decent distances before I feel like my stitches are pulling.

To me, that’s the worst part of this; the helplessness. I’m so used to doing everything myself and being laid up and unable to walk at more than a snail’s pace, is KILLING ME.

And the itching. Gods, do the healing wounds ever itch.

Why am I posting about this? Well, there was a lot of information I had to dig out of forums and medical sites that I didn’t learn directly from the doctor or nurses. Of course recovering from surgeries like this is very individualistic but the things I find out may benefit someone else.

I will try not to be too gross about what I find out.

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