Between the Pages: Second Edition

June 2024 | Quarterly Updates

Prologue

Welcome, readers. It’s good to have you here for this second edition of the quarterly update. It’s been a few months, and quite a bit has happened in the interim.

For those who are new, this update is intended to summarize my recent writing projects, what I’ve been up to, and what I’m planning for the next quarter – both with writing and non-writing related activities.

Without further adieu, lets get into things.

On the Page: A Progress Report

Followers from Instagram will be familiar with some of what’s in this segment, but I like to present it all nicely in one place for the purposes of this newsletter.

Since March, I’ve done a full round of revising on Heir of the Phoenix, my main ongoing project. Following revisions, I released the manuscript to a group of beta readers and received some really good feedback on the story. I’ve spent the last several weeks on two additional revision passes. In the first, I addressed minor issues and changes based on commentary from the readers, while making note of some bigger changes that were needed. During the second pass, I’ve worked on those bigger, structural changes, which included smoothing out the timeline and adding a couple of scenes that beta readers suggested might be beneficial to the story.

While the manuscript was with my beta readers, I took about a month to write the first draft of what I have called Project Which Witch. It is very much an early draft. I made it to around 50k words of following vibes and letting words just sort of happen before I recognized what story I truly wanted to be writing. From there, I managed about 20k additional words toward the story I wanted it to be before I hit my self-imposed thirty-day deadline.

Other writing I have partaken in over the last few months is journaling. I’ve kept a journal for as long as I can remember, though my habit lapsed through college. I picked it back up sometime during the first year I was dating my now-husband and was an infrequent journaler for several years. Over the last few months, I’ve tried to do it more often. The last several weeks, I’ve managed to journal almost every day. I’ve found that, aside from being a good way to think about and overview my day, it helps loosen some of the stress or anxiety I have both related and unrelated to my other writing. Almost like a little warmup session!

On the Page: Upcoming Projects

For the next several months, I’m planning to go back to querying Heir of the Phoenix. I feel that the story has improved significantly with my last few rounds of revisions, and while I am nervous and anxious about the prospect of querying, I’m ready to get back to it. I’ve already begun the preliminary work of researching agents and making my lists, tweaking my query letter, getting the synopsis smoothed out, and adjusting the pitch. While not all submissions require a blurb, I still want to get that written and polished as well.

While querying, I’m tentatively going to return to drafting a sequel to Heir of the Phoenix. While revising, I’ve figured out how I want the story to continue and, based on the previous draft of it I had written, I have a fairly good starting point. I’m really looking forward to returning (yet again) to this world I’ve created.

Off the Page: Books, Music, Games & TV

Let’s start first with my recent reads.

For music, I’ve recently returned to listening to the Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla soundtrack while writing and editing. I’d like to note that I listened to this album on loop last summer when drafting the initial current version of Heir of the Phoenix, so its got a special place in my headspace. I’ve also taken a dip into Taylor Swift’s newest album, with some of her songs making it onto a few of my writing and character playlists on Spotify.

In terms of video games, my Animal Crossing kick has continued for the last several months though I think its beginning to taper off. I am also getting into a bit of a Minecraft phase, which can last from a week to several months long. Lastly, I am getting back into the Assassin’s Creed games (especially Valhalla) ahead of the newest one coming out this fall.

I’ve admittedly not been watching TV much the last few months, since both of my favorite animes Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End and The Apothecary Diaries concluded their first season a while back. We’ll see if anything piques my interest in the next couple of months, and I’ll report back ;).

Off the Page: “Extracurricular”

Before closing, I’d like to report some of the non-book and media related activities I’ve partaken in.

I’ve slowly been returning to running after having to take a break for about a month due to an injury. I’ve just recently wrapped up physical therapy in association with said injury. While it doesn’t always feel 100%, it is significantly improved from when I first went to the doctor about it in April. I had previously entered to run a half marathon on June 2 (tomorrow!) and ended up switching to a 10k instead because of my injury and its slow recovery. We’ll see how it goes, though, as I’m trying to approach it as a “fun run” rather than trying to get a specific time.

In April, my husband and I celebrated our first marriage anniversary with a trip to Marine City on Michigan’s Thumb Coast. We stayed at an old Victorian Bed and Breakfast, the Heather House, which was originally built in 1885. In addition to roaming Marine City, we made our way up to St. Clair where we walked along the boardwalk, had a really good dinner at a little Italian restaurant, and watched a local production of The Wizard of Oz.

We were also among the many fortunate folk across the country (and the world!) who had the chance to see the Northern Lights on May 10th. Having wanted to see them for a long time now, I was thrilled at the chance to not only see them but to do so from our own backyard!

Ending the Chapter

Well. I think that about covers everything for this edition of the updated. Continue to follow along for more regular updates on my Instagram (@kennedycutlerwrites). If you have any questions or anything you want to see here in future updates (and until I get the “contact me” page set up on my website), feel free to send me a DM on Instagram!

Until September,

Kennedy