And I'm Back in the Game...

I've officially started the process of plotting my second novel. Hold your applause, please. After a bit of a break, I am excited to get back into the swing of writing again. After recently finishing what I hoped would be the last revision of my first novel, I was a little fried, to be honest. I thought I'd spend some time in research mode: reading more books, learning more about the publishing industry and finding other writers out there who were in the same sort of "limbo" that I am.

(Side note: If you are one of them, please hit me up! I'm anxious to hear about your journey and if you are having any luck getting published!)

I've also been sending queries to literary agents. Searching for the right agent seems to be a full time job in and of itself, but I'm still hopeful that I will connect with an agent when the time is right.

Anyway, I decided to take a break from my "break" and get back into writing. :) I'm very excited about the premise of this one, so stay tuned!

I'm still putting in the time to do research and query, but I decided to take stress and anxiety out of the equation. Regardless of publication, my first novel will always be my baby and I don't think it hurts to let her (yep, she's a lady) take a breather after all the work she's been putting in lately.

Ultimately, I can't predict what's going to happen or how. All I can do is continue to put in the work. Lucky for me, the job is AWESOME.

Comments

#AuthorToolBoxBlogHop 15 Critical Questions to Ask Your Beta Readers

Happy blog hop day, everyone! I hope that your writing has been both fun and inspired. While I missed last month's hop, I have been in the thick of what will (hopefully) be my final round of revisions before querying my current novel. Hooray! In case you missed my video recapping my first beta reader experience , my novel has undergone a couple of major changes these past few months due to the feedback I received. It was an incredible learning opportunity for me. I truly believe that, thanks to my beta readers, I was able to resolve issues that would almost certainly have come back to bite me during the querying process. Whether I was saved from agent rejections remains to be seen, however, through this process I learned things about my writing and this story specifically, that I would not have otherwise. And for this reason, I highly recommend reaching out to beta readers before considering querying agents. That being said, I wanted to gather my thoughts into a post that co

#Authortoolboxbloghop Create More Time to Write in 2020: 20+ Ideas to Reclaim Your Schedule

The new year is officially here and like many, I have committed myself to several new goals I want to accomplish in my life and writing career. And while I think goal-setting is admirable, setting achievable goals with a specific, direct path to success is even better. The link between time-management and writing might not be an obvious one, however I find that so often it is the obstacles in my daily personal life that prevent me from advancing in my writing. There have been many lessons I've learned in the past few years that have helped me take control over my schedule and carve out time not only for writing, but related activities that have propelled my writing to the next level. I've compiled a list of time-saving ideas that can reduce time spent on the mundane activities of everyday life. Hopefully some of these will inspire some changes to help you master your schedule this year and spend more time on what you love. Photo by Samantha Gades on Unsplash Simp

#AuthorToolBoxBlogHop New Favorite Writing Resources - Setting, Word Choice, Revision (oh my!)

Happy June, Writers! This month has been huge for me in the way of craft. In the midst of my revision, I decided to take some dedicated time to focus on a few of my weaker areas in terms of craft. These were areas I had identified during my read-through or areas in which I simply lacked confidence. I decided for this month's blog hop to share my list of resources that have been helping me these past couple of months with the hope that they will prove useful to some other writers out there. #1 Setting The Rural Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglish ( click for Amazon page ) The Urban Setting Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman & Becca Puglish ( click for Amazon page ) What's so great about them: Written in incredible detail, these two books showcase a vast majority of possible setting locations throughout your novel. It pinpoints the exact sights, smells, sounds, tastes, textures, sources of potential conflict, and more. Le

Christy Shuler

Search This Blog