Reading and writing… and reading and writing some more

This is mostly going to be about my writing, but I want to briefly touch on my reading so far in 2021. Over the last ~3 months, I have read 15 books, averaging about 500 pages a piece, with several being up in the 700-800+ range. I honestly feel like I’m back in high school or early college for how fast I’ve gone through these books, and how when I finish one it’s only a few days to a week before I pick up the next one.

From January 1st to February 28th, I wrote just over 55,000 words of a first draft of a new novel and worked on the plot for the only draft I’d intended to do this year outside of National Novel Writing Month that I’m going to start in May. So, you know, writing out an entire, almost entirely unplanned draft with little to no outline and plot to go off of is a huge feat for me, considering that this past November was the first time I wrote out an entire plotted draft from start to finish.

Again, mind you, while reading somewhere around 5,000 to 7,000 pages of fiction. I’m baffled. And so damn proud of myself for pulling that out of the back of my brain, somehow, while managing the rest of my life.

Now, I want to take a bit of time to talk about my writing, like in detail. Specifically about the projects I’m working on and planning to do over the next few months. I actually have several works in progress right now, which has honestly always been true to some degree but not in a sense that I’ve actually been dedicated to working on them consistently.

We’ll call my current main novel The Munising Mermaid (TMM), as that’s the one I’m getting ready to do another draft of in May (mermay anyone?). I’ve written out a full draft of it once and written out the full plot two or three additional times, trying to work out kinks in the storyline to get a general basis of what, exactly, is the story I’m trying to tell. As a brief overview, TMM about a young man living in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan near Pictured Rocks, and he works a lighthouse with his mother. There is, of course, at least one mermaid involved, who he saves the life of unintentionally the first time and then very intentionally several other times. She returns the favor on at least one occasion.

My favorite character from TMM is probably Jack, the main protagonist. He’s very much a casual hero type, where he doesn’t necessarily see himself as a hero but he wants to do good and help people, such as his mother and his neighbors and, of course, mermaids.

I first had the idea for TMM in the summer of 2018 after taking a trip up to Munising with my boyfriend and falling in love with Pictured Rocks. I’ve wanted to go back ever since, and we’re currently discussing another trip sometime next spring if things work out and we have time off available to do so.

There are a number of things that really excite me about TMM and working on it, including that it’s gotten really easy for me to piece it together and plot and draft and outline. I’ve gotten to the point where I really know what the story is about, where it starts and how it ends and all the little pieces that bring you from one to the other. Honestly, the most exciting part might be the fact that I’m about to do another draft of it and can see myself getting it published in a year or two. Whether it be traditionally or self published, I would love to see this one as a physical or digital book sometime in the semi-near future.

The other project I’ve been working on recently is The Ilyum Duology, which includes The Heir of Ilyum (THI) and The Empress of Ilyum (TEI). This one I wasn’t intending to do and just sort of happened when I sat down to write for funsies back in January (oops). It’s a pretty classic fantasy story, a little bit of magic, princesses, arranged marriages, and a young woman trying to protect her father’s throne while facing her own inner demons. Good stuff like that.

My favorite character from this duology is most definitely Seren. Seren didn’t originally exist when I was starting this story – instead it was Aurora, the quiet queen, back before this story even started to be about what it is now. But then Seren busted through the door with a very loud voice and decided that I was writing her story, not Aurora’s, and here we are. At her base, Seren is the heroine I needed during some of my low points in recent years.

Like I mentioned, I only started this project in January. I’d been kicking around the initial idea of The Quiet Queen (TQQ) for a year or two, but I sat down to write it and it wasn’t TQQ that came out, but the first part of the duology, THI. TQQ might be returned to in the future, but not for a while as I work through other projects that are more in the front of my mind.

The most exciting part about this project is that I literally pulled this story out of nowhere with little to no prep or plot work and wrote a 55k first draft of THI in under two months. And then still had ideas left over that I want to make a second part to it, TEI, later this year. I’m going to be working on the first bit of TEI during April, then pause to work on TMM before coming back and finishing the rest later this summer.

So, generally speaking, that’s where I’m at with my writing and personal projects. It’s been a while since I’ve been excited and motivated to sit down and write, though I have found that having a plan and a plot to at least follow helps me a significant amount. That all said, I am looking forward to my writing over the next few months.

Like with blog posting, I’m going to work on not putting pressure on myself if I don’t write everyday or don’t meet certain writing goals while I’m working on these projects. The fact is that I am doing it and that I want to do it and enjoy the process while I’m at it.