A Bit of a Writing Rant

Mood: Mixed Emotions

Song of the Day: The Greatest Show, PANIC! at the Disco version

Hallo, my lovlies! How are you? I hope March is kicking off well for you. Today's post is all about my new project plans and also a bit of a rant. No, I'm not going to be starting any "new" new writing projects. I currently have, give or take, 15 open projects that I really want to work on and get finished. First draft wise. Let's hop to it.

This is just a filler cover.
I will be sharing my NEW
cover art soon!!

Firstly, with first draft of TBBW complete, my mind is thinking of beta-readers and editing/revising. I did want to jump right into getting Book 2 started, but that might not be the best decision. I am actually looking for videos on authors who talk about this. If you happen to know of any informative videos regarding this subject, drop me a link. However, my reason for wanting to jump straight into Book 2 is because I have Regina and Xiphis on the brain. I want to keep up the momentum I've had since Christmas 2019. You read that correctly. CHRISTMAS.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, the start of the New Year was very rough on me, but writing TBBW is what kept me going. That and Netflix. xD Anyway, writing TBBW was what I looked forward to every evening. I didn't have very much time to truly put a lot of work into writing during January. But in February, once everything started getting back to normal, I was on a serious roll. I have this momentum and I want to ride it out until it's done.

Needless to say, I have those 15 unfinished projects that I really do intend upon completing. Such projects include the second stand-alone fantasy adventure romance in my Æmienix Chronicles, Anerathian Promise(which is only got 2% but still started). I also have a few shorter stories within this series that I started but haven't gone back to in about a year. The Starships Trilogy, FIREFLY, GIDEON, and 2 spin-off novellas. Kingdom of Courage, which it about 60% completed. I have a wolf shifter duet that I need to complete; I started the second book a while ago but I need to get it at least finished for Wattpad. I have 2 books in my Dept. of the Unnatural series, started, that need to get moving; Heaven's Door is 50% complete but I'm struggling to find that flow between past and present chapters. Celestial behaves like a sequel, so I need Heaven's Door done before I move on.

In addition to all that I've just mentioned, I write under a romance pen-name on Wattpad, as well. I won't get into all that. I might need to update that blog in the future and mixing it here doesn't feel like an option for me. The cherry on the fudge sundae is that I am also TRYING to finish a book I started for a co-written Wattpad-exclusive series. It's about an island. That's all I'm gonna say. I don't even know if 

Another book I would like to get back into is Spirit Warrior, my Christian fantasy short story/novella (whichever length it ends up being). I met my best friend through this story. It holds so much importance to both of us. And I know it would mean the world to them if I finally finished it.

Let me not forget to mention the untitled paranormal-mystery I have sitting around, or the Children of Magic stories. I have a chapter or 2 written in all of these. I recently scrapped everything I had written for a book I intended for the Æmienix Chronicles, which ended up becoming the first book in a spin-off series for the next generation of Anerathians, which will follow the daughter of Aleia from Anerathian Princess, as well as many other next generations characters. Shall I keep going?

While this is definitely not an unfinished project, I have other books that I want to write, just haven't gotten to them yet.

I actually feel so GUILTY about mentioning these unfinished projects. I've been watching a lot of Natalia Leigh's videos and one of them kinda struck a chord for me. The video had nothing to do with this actual topic, but she touched it to make a point in the topic she was addressing. Basically, she mentioned how indie authors need to keep a steady publishing flow so their readers don't lose interest. Granted, I'm merely "publishing" my stories on Wattpad. But I don't want people to drop like flies every time my life goes haywire and I can't keep a posting schedule.

This doesn't feel like a proper excuse for some people, but that's the honest truth of the matter. I put out a very cool and collected portrait of myself and what goes on in my life, without actually explaining the depth of the subject. 1) My private life is MY private life, 2) I don't need to offer excuses for pressing the "Pause" button, and 3) I have always put my RL ABOVE my Wattpad life. That's just how the scale tips.

I have thought and considered myself to be a "plantser" (planner who drops the ball and flies by the seat of their pants) when it comes to writing. I always have a basic idea of where a story will go, but then I throw it out the window and see where it goes without an outline/plan. For a long time, this worked for me. However, as I have decided to follow a very strict outline for TBBW, I have noticed how much more effective PLANNING my books is for my writing, I am beginning to wonder if I was doing it wrong. I wasn't doing anything wrong. It was what worked for me. I recently watched a whole video on the topic, which you can find HERE. It really helped me and opened my eyes to defining the kind of writer I am.

I take a brief second to apologize for the lengthiness of this post. I did warn you that it would be a rant.

The final topic I wish to touch base on involves the coming Watty Awards of 2020. Wattpad recently started releasing their podcast, The Road to the Wattys, and I found their introduction episode so helpful and informative of the changes that will be coming. To this point, I have entered every year, since 2015 or 2016. The reason? To give me a goal to reach for. To say "I entered!" to my mom. To give me the push to get a book finished. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. The last four years of entering have not given me a chance to really get far in the awards/contest. Here's the reason I keep trying.

Back in 2012, my writing was horrible. I did not have a handle on polishing my work.  I wrote only fanfictions because they seemed to get me more readers than the five original works I had (which were very short, but they were finished!). I stayed away from original fiction because I was so not confident in that areas of my writing for a long time. I entered the worst of these fan fiction into the 2012 Wattys. Guess what, with the way the awards were handled back then, my book was a finalist in the fan-fiction category. To this day, I still hope to reach a point where I get recognized in the awards. Yes, I have been on Wattpad for so long, I remember when the awards were run by public reader voting. I also remember when everything was orange and the public chat forums were more accessible. There was a Google-run chatbox for PMs. I even remember when "Followers" were called "Fans".

I know my writing has grown and improved since 2011 (which is the year I decided to seriously work on writing). I've been an avid Wattpad since July 2010, but I didn't really WRITE full stories until the following year. If you would like me to do a post on how I started writing, leave me a comment below.

I am going to end this post here. It is becoming quite long and I don't want to keep you any longer than I need to. I think I've gone off the track enough.

Thank you so much for dropping by. I hope you have a fantabulous day. See you in the funny papers!