Between the Pages 2025: Second Edition

June 2025 | Quarterly Update

Prologue

Welcome, readers, to the second edition of 2025’s quarterly updates!

For those who are new, this blog update is intended to highlight my recent writing projects and what I’m planning for the next quarter. While I tend to focus primarily on the writing aspect of things, I also highlight some of the non-writing activities I’ve been up to.

Without further adieu, lets get into things.

On the Page: A Progress Report

Sometime mid-March, I realized I missed working on my long-time project, which is currently under the working name of Phoenix. So, after not touching it since sometime last summer or fall, I opened up a fresh document and started in on a new draft. I’m somewhere around 65k, with a goal of 90k by the end of the draft. I’ve really cut back on some of the extraneous plot threads and even removed a few of the side characters to make the story tighter, so to speak.

I mostly feel good about the changes I’ve made thus far, but I have found myself struggling to write in general on some days. Which does happen. Some weeks, I have excellent writing sessions where i walk away having written around 2,000 words. Others I’m struggling to get a couple hundred in the same amount of time sitting in front of the computer screen. It happens, and while I know its almost always fleeting, those days where I struggle the most to get something down always leave me feeling a certain way.

I’ve started, on occasion, to have a ‘random side project’ session for writing in the afternoons. I do most of my writing for my main project (in this case, Phoenix) in the morning. Sometimes, however, inspiration or a new idea strikes at midday and I add in a second session in the afternoon to write a few scenes of whatever came to mind. I like keeping that time on a as-it-comes basis right now rather than enforcing a stricter schedule like with my morning sessions. So far, I’ve easily gotten several thousand additional words written in that manner, on various projects that I may continue or return to at a later time.

On the Page: Upcoming Projects

For June, my plan is to continuing to work on Phoenix. Even with motivation coming and going as it has, I should be able to wrap the draft up by the end of the month. And then I need to sit on it for a while, and let it simmer.

While that happens, I really, truly want to get back to the second draft of Bunnies, Beds & Breakfast (cozy romantasy with D&D vibes). I started working on the second draft earlier this spring, though I cannot remember what happened that I pivoted away from it again. Some part of me feels that the first draft I wrote in an insanely short amount of time last year was excellent, so I think I’m worried about making it worse with a new draft, even though that is not at all how that works. I hope that coming back around after time away will allow me to tackle the bigger changes I know I want to make.

Other side projects that I’ve been playing around with in my head the last few months, that I might devote more time to, include a viking-inspired romantasy (working title: In the Shadow of the Mountain), an academia-adjacent story about dragon riders (current working title: Eden), and a more contemporary romance (working title: Desiderium). Working on anything with romance as a central pillar has been strange for me, even when I first drafted BB&B last summer. I’ve been reading more books in the romantasy subgenre and a few in the romance/romcom genre, I have found myself inspired and a little influenced.

A note on publishing and AI

I don’t talk about publishing my work much, because I don’t feel that I’m in a position to have anything published yet. I have queried the previous version of what is now Phoenix, with no luck (which is a major factor in why I am going at it again with a new version). I do think that, when BB&B is ready, I will approach indie publishing for that specific story.

I hesitate about it, though. And I hesitate with sharing too much about my writing in specifics, especially with the broad and as-of-yet unregulated use of Generative AI.

Artificial Intelligence has its uses and its places in the world. I strongly believe, however, that Generative AI is extremely harmful both to creators – writers, artists – and the environment. I don’t touch it with a fifty-yard stick. I never will (if something in my writing seems off, it is entirely due to human error and I am not afraid to admit such). I do my best to not interact with it when it comes across my feed on socials, going so far as to block specific keywords in an effort to reduce its presence and to phrase Google searches with “-ai” at the end to try and get rid of their automatic AI summary at the top of the search results.

I have a worry for the publication industry as a whole, due to recent revelations of authors coming forth and admitting their usage of Generative AI in their works (specifically, I am referencing one of the June 2025 Book of the Month authors, who has not only admitted to using it in his work but proudly doing so).

As someone who has not yet published anything, I am at once relieved and heartbroken over my future in publishing the books I have poured hours, weeks, and months into writing. Relieved, because as of yet my work has not been scraped by the AI machines. And heartbroken, because it feels that as soon as something I have written is published it will be stolen and used by those who simply do not care for anything more than themselves and their own gain.

That’s my two-cents on the topic and I probably won’t bring it up again because it brings me grief. You are free to agree or disagree with me, but I know I am not alone in despising Generative AI in the creative sphere.

Off the Page: Books, Music & Games

The Bookshelf

I’ve already read somewhere around 60 books this year (which is a lot, even for me), so below I’ll list my top reads of the last few months rather than list out every single title I’ve read. If you’d be interested more specifically in the books I’m reading, you can also check out my StoryGraph page.

In terms of music, I’ve spent the last few weeks listening to Sleep Token’s new album, Even In Arcadia, on repeat during some of my writing sessions. I’ve listened to some of their music before, but very casually.

In video game news, I spent a weekend playing Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla for the first time in about a year. I’ve not had time to pick it back up since, but I was reminded how much I love such large open-world type games. I read a rumor that some of the more recent Assassin’s Creed games might be coming out with the Switch 2, in which case I would absolutely be more

For television, my husband and I have gotten through all of Abbott Elementary in the last few months. We also watched Skeleton Crew, the Star Wars series that reminds me a lot of The Goonies (I watched this a ton with my siblings growing up, despite having been born a decade after it was released). Additionally, since it returned for season two this year, we’ve been keeping up with The Apothecary Diaries every week. We’ve also been enjoying a newer anime series, Witch Watch, and while continuing our dive into the Star Wars live-action shows, have started Andor.

Off the Page: “Extracurricular”

As always, I’d like to report some of the non-book and media related activities I’ve partaken in as my life admittedly doesn’t revolve entirely around books.

For our second wedding anniversary, Husband and I took a trip to Mackinac Island for a long weekend. We went at the end of April, right as the Island was opening up, so while we didn’t get to experience all that it has to offer, we were able to have a quiet trip that wasn’t bogged down by crowds.

I’ve also been very consistent with my running, seeing as I just ran a half marathon (my third best time in that distance!) and I’m training for a full marathon later this year.

Furthermore, with spring and warmer weather I’ve been exercising my green thumb. I’ve been doing a small vegetable garden every year since we moved into our house, and I feel like I’ve really gotten into it this year. In the past, I’ve stuck mostly with lettuce and herbs that our rabbit will eat, but I’ve gone ahead with peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and beets as well this year. I started a mini container berry garden, too, with strawberries and raspberries, and the squirrels have already discovered the former as they ripen. I’ve also expanded the herbs I’m growing from parsley and cilantro to include basil and rosemary.

Additionally, I’m attempting to do more flowers around our house. We have a decent sized patio out back that, for the majority of the time we’ve lived here, has only had a few hydrangeas that were there when we moved in as well as weeds and more weeds growing up through the mulch. After having a couple of chamomile plants self-sow over half of the space last year plus a few half-wild lavender plants I’ve transplanted in, I’ve decided its time to try and grow more flowers around the patio. So, I’m attempting to grow pansies, nasturtiums, poppies, asters, and more. Unfortunately (but also fortunately?) we have a family of curious rabbits in the yard that like to taste test some of the flowers, so I’ve already lost my cosmo seedlings as well as half the nasturtiums.

As with much in life, in gardening you win some and you lose some.

Ending the Chapter

I think that about covers everything for the second of my 2025 quarterly updates. Continue to follow along for occasional posts and updates on my socials (linked in the website header), or check back in September for the next edition!

If you have any questions, want to talk books or writing, or if there is something you want to see in the updates here, feel free to send me a DM on one of my socials!

Kennedy