This Past Month: January

And it suddenly occurred to me that I've only written one monthly wrap-up post so far because I started blogging late October and had an end of the year wrap-up in December.

So....

Let's wrap up this month of January.

(a.k.a. a-bit-too-quick quick-start to the new year)

(Pictures from Pinterest. To be totally honest, I was going to spam you with snowflakes, BUT THERE ARE NONE WHERE I AM URGHHH)

 Writing

Well...

...

To put it simply, that didn't quite go as I expected! XD Most of January was talking about writing and thinking about writing but not actually writing enough.

If you've checked my "Works In Progress" page lately, you might have noticed that Found is being alpha-read and I'm currently writing Outcast. Both have been quite tricky.

Who is reading my novel that currently lacks a synopsis? My lovely mother is reading it :) She's been great at finding all the incredibly embarrassing mistakes I made. You know, such as a villain's line that is supposed to be "Have it your way" and I said "How it your way."

We laugh a little. Just a little.

And then there's the novel I'm actually writing. *groans* Usually, when I write my novels, I go all-out for about twenty-days and get down some high word-counts. For this novel, it's taken me way too long and I feel so out of it. I'm dragging myself through it like my protagonist must feel like her life is being dragged around. I'm hoping to finish it up next month though :D

On a happier note, I've been spending a bit of time over at Kingdom Pen. (btw, if you have not heard of this place go check it out and meet all the awesome people!). I'm picking up some good pointers and currently working on mastering theme.

(Yes, I finally shared my own photography with my messy handwriting and messy bullet journal XD)

 Living

I'm not quite sure how to define life in general for this past month. Where I live, there's been a lot of pouring rain that's kept us all inside. Like, downpours.

This past month has felt like that.

Aside from letting someone else read my novel for the first time, I signed up for a program that involves public speaking. *cue horrified scream* Standing up and talking in front of people isn't really my forte, but hopefully I'll get better at it through this. I can't be so much of a writer that I can't talk to a dozen people at once without stumbling over my words ;-)

As other random ambitious plans kept coming, my mom commented how bold I was being this month and how great that was.

Great? I thought. This is not great! I feel like someone's pushing me into a swimming pool every three seconds!

All the more reason to spend more quiet time writing XD

(For those of you sinking in snow right now, enjoy those beautiful raindrops and the unfocused palm trees in the background)

Blogging

I haven't been up to any extreme blogging stuff . Just the usual stalking other peoples' blogs, fangirling over their posts, and commenting. However, this series I'm doing has been a lot of fun, and I'm thinking of doing another one in the future :D

Here are my posts of this month (in case you missed any) 

A Word For The Year

Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 1: Meeting Your Characters

Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 2: Embodying Your Characters

Getting To The Heart Of Your Story Part 3: Creating Your Plot

+ a random announcement

Guys....

I'm almost ready for beta readers.

After my mom finishes her alpha-read, I'm going to make some adjustments, do a read-through aloud, then pass it on to some beta readers who are going to scrutinize every bit of it and tell me about plot holes and character problems and what I need to do better.


Want to be part of that? On February 11th, I'm going to have a post about my novel, with a hopefully better synopsis and other details, and a sign-up sheet

Interested? Check back on the 11th for the official post!

And did I mention I'm excited to talk about theme on Saturday?!?!?! ;-)

<3

- Audrey Caylin

 How has everyone's month been? Did the new year start off too fast for you as well? Can you believe it's February tomorrow?!?!