I'm back...sort of...soonish!

So..... *Awkward silence*
.....Pregnancy sucked all of the motivation and energy from me and gave it to the growing human.

Also, caring for said infant once topside is not like strolling through a field of daisies.
UNLESS that field is on fire, and your body feels like it's on fire, and the baby is babbling and cooing at 2 am for the sixth night in a row and you've slept a total of 12 hours in three days...

Just kidding.

But really.

Literally all of my creative energy came to a screeching halt within two months of carrying my son. And I am just now, at 7 months postpartum, getting back into the groove of writing almost everyday and staying on top of the house stuff and the care that goes into keeping a tiny human happy and healthy.

*cue cheers*
But I'm getting back on that horse! I've had the itch to blog again, now it will just be the task of finding the time and motivation to do so during my busy days.
My optimistic goals for this blog include:

Blog posts about writing, self publishing, and all things bookish on "Writerly Wednesdays".
A monthly review of a small press/self published book.
Possible guest posts, and author interviews.
Giveaways!

So in order to accomplish this I am going to spend the rest of the month of December setting things up, pre-writing and planning blog posts, reaching out to other authors for possible inclusion in the blog and giveaways, and continuing work on my own writing. Oh, and of course, keeping the tiny human alive and well.

Lots coming your way in January, so stay tuned!

PS If any other authors or writers are interested in being interviewed, guest posting, or doing giveaways please let me know! My email, and social media links, are all under the "Contact Tab" at the top of the page.

How I survived NaNoWriMo 2017

It is December, which means NaNoWriMo has once again come and gone. I once again took up the challenge. And a challenge it was! Last year being pregnant sucked all of the energy and brain power I had, making the year a "come from behind" win. This year I had a 6 month old bouncing baby boy that fills my days.

Nevertheless, I took up the challenge!

The month started out well. I decided to further two stories during the month. So the first to be worked on was book one in the Aarken Chronicles, no official title yet, the second was An Irish Christmas, the second in my Emerald Isle Trilogy.

Neither one had been plotted out, and I should know by now that for me that makes the writing process much more difficult. I am firmly in the "plotter" category as far as pre-writing goes.
Aarken ended up with a new total of 23,450 words. Before NaNoWriMo it sat at just about 8k. So I got a good chunk written and much more of the world building done. Somewhere in the middle of NaNo I was writing along when I realized I had done almost ZERO world building for Aarken. Sitting down with my notebook and some inspiring music, I did the leg work and now have much more of the plot for book one solidified, as well as more of the series overall figured out.

An Irish Christmas was sitting at roughly 5k before, and after NaNo is now at 11,761. So about double. Again, this was like pulling teeth for some of it. I'd be inspired, get through a scene or two, and then boom. Lost momentum since I didn't have the story better plotted out. About 3/4 of the way through NaNo I had to sit down and like Aarken, I had to plot out more of the story. With that done, I am hoping to finish the story by the end of January and be sending it off to Beta readers. I want to release An Irish Christmas either in late October, or early Novemeber next year. I better get a move on!

Now, as most of you know NaNoWriMo is all about hitting that glorious 50k, and if you can do math, you'll have noticed that those numbers listed above do not meet that 50k goal. In between writing in those two WIP's I also worked on editing. The story I chose was Wolf's Bite, the second in the Athruithe Trilogy. I had finished the initial first draft a few months prior and it needs some major rewrites/added scenes.

Though I didn't complete a full bright and shiny 50k first draft, I am still pleased with how much I accomplished. Especially since my entire family came down with a pretty nasty flu the week before Thanksgiving and we are still recovering!

How did NaNoWriMo go for those of you who took up the challenge?
You're a winner in my book if you wrote anything during November!
You can't edit a blank page, so any progress is worth celebrating.   :)