kind of thing I want to write

The past week has been a busy one! So much so that I haven’t been online or posting as much. But I’m back with some stories to tell!

This past Friday was the deadline for the first draft of the Adventure Worlds Press novellas – well, it was more of a soft “if you get it done by this day, great!” kind of deadline, but I decided to fully commit! The novella is for AWP’s tenth anniversary anthology, and is set in a shared world with three other authors. We decided on a basic premise, and struck out from there!

I spent the majority of last week getting the rest of my novella punched out – I had to restart at one point to reframe the POV character and switch to first person narration. On the final day, I think I typed out 4,000 words, which is a lot for me! The ending is rushed, there are a couple of loose ends, and the thing is going to need a massive editing overhaul, but I’m pretty happy with the shape of it overall.

The next step is for the four of us to read each other’s novellas and talk about ways we can make them feel more connected, and maybe brainstorm some crossover moments. From what I’ve read so far, even though the stories are very different, there are some interesting themes or elements that appear in them (underground areas, is one example!).

I wrote a lot of the novella out by hand before typing it. It felt good to get back to the physicality of putting words on the page. [Image description: A mug of coffee on a plate and napkin, a mostly empty french press, a page of looseleaf paper covered in writing, and a pen arranged on a wood table with chairs and light from a window in the background.]

This past week, I also attended the first installment of a four-week revision workshop! It was amazing to meet some other local authors and talk about writing for a couple of hours. I really like the instructor’s teaching style and am excited to get back into a weekly reading/feedback routine.

Besides that, I’m hoping to delve deep into revising either my space novel or body parts book. I think the workshop has put me in an editing frame of mind! And those two manuscripts have been scratching at my brain all winter. I think it’s about time I gave them some attention and really make an effort to get them ready to send out to agents/publishers again. I think reading more and getting a feel for what kinds of books other people are reading and talking about (thanks Booktok) has helped me hone my focus a little when it comes to what kind of thing I want to write.

So, with all of those things in the works, I’m going to go outside, return some library books, and see what this week brings.

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