My WIP is done!

Hi! How are you? I'm pretty good. Even if I got caught in a downpour and got drenched during my walk.

So, my right side/lat muscle prob is still there but it feels like it might be getting a bit better. It's hard to tell because every day is different. But I've got my fingers crossed and hope that being patient helps. We did a yoga workout the other day that seemed to help, so that's cool.

Anyway, enough about that. Let's talk about writing.

At he beginning of the week I decided that getting to the end of the first draft I've been working on this month would be great. For several reasons: I wanted to finish by the end of this month, and my husband has an RDO on Monday so we have a long weekend together. Awesome!

So, how did I do? Here's how it went:

• Monday: 65,135 (+6,612w)
• Tuesday: 70.543 (+5,408w)
• Wednesday: 77,843 (+7,300w)
• Thursday: 83,063 (+5,220w)
• Friday: 85,411 (+2,348w)

The first draft is done & I'm SO excited! ☺️🎉

As you can see from the daily word count numbers, it really wasn't that hard to write the rest of this novel because this story has been eating my brain. All week, it's been waking me up. I've also been dreaming about the characters. And taking lots of notes as everything came to me while sleeping, walking, or just talking about it with my husband.

I've really talked his ear off during the writing of this book. He's also been very helpful. Sometimes just knowing that he was listening to my endless chatter about everything helped me. A lot.

Yeah, he's awesome. 😍

The idea for this story hit me back in April while listening to one of my favourite songs ever, Boys of Summer by Don Henley, and thinking about my fave movie ever, The Lost Boys. So yeah, it's been scratching at my brain for months, which might explain why it pretty much poured out of me.

Funny thing is, that as much as I knew about the story and what would happen, what I ended up writing was full of surprises. Of things I hadn't expected. Twists and turns that actually made everything even darker and better.

I love this vampire tale. It's dark. It's sexy. It's got some twisty stuff going on. And every moment I spent in this world with these characters made me happy. 🦇

Like I've said many times, writing is magical and I love every minute of it. And this story in particular is special to me because it's the first full-length draft I've written after a year full of publishing disappointments. And like Only Darkness, this book helped me deal with everything and find my way back to what really matters to me the most: telling stories.

Well, that's about it. I'm going to take a mental break and to celebrate, we're going to watch the 4K Ultra HD version of The Lost Boys. Can't wait.

Have a good one!! 😃

The Writing Continues...

Hey, how are you today? I hope you all had a great week. What did you get up to? Can you believe we're halfway through November?! OMG. How? 😳

Last week I mentioned that we got routine blood tests done, and we got the results, which were good. So I'm glad about that. I also finished taking the capsules the doctor prescribed and I don't actually know if it made much of a difference. My right side/lat muscle still hurts when I go uphill and sit a certain way, but it might be getting a bit duller. I don't know. I need to keep avoiding really steep inclines and keep an eye on it. I know that muscle/nerve strains take a while to heal, so I think I just need to be patient.

Hopefully it will clear away soon.🤞

So, I've been writing up a storm.

Here's my WIP progress:

• Monday: 41,064 (+5,585w) 
• Tuesday: 45,422 (+4,458w)
• Wednesday: 50,372 (+4,850w)
• Thursday: 54,215 (+3,843w)
• Friday: 58,523 (+4,308w)

Not bad, right? ☺️

When I first started writing this story, I wasn't sure if it was going to be a novella or a novel, but since I crossed the 50k mark... I guess that means I've entered novel-length territory. Yay.

Progress this week has been pretty constant because every time I sat down with my laptop, the words poured out of me in such a rush that I had to backtrack the next time because I had to add things that got lost in the whirlwind. LOL.

The coolest thing happened the other night, too. I reached that part of the story where the rest of the novel revealed itself and the road to the end is starting to become clearer. Now it's time to make my way to the end, which is going to be fun. 

Well, for me. Not necessarily for all the characters.

This story is really eating my brain. So much that it keeps waking me up at night. Or too early. I even dream about it because the characters won't STFU, which is actually awesome.

Anyway, that's about it for now. I'm going to take a two-day mental break away from the novel and spend some time with my husband.

There'll probably be some note-taking and brainstorming, but that's it.

Have a great weekend!!

A Week Full of Words

Hi, how are you today? What did you get up to?

This week my husband and I went to get our annual blood tests. I also have to take an anti-inflammatory capsule for a week because I somehow hurt my right side/lat muscle. The weird thing is that I don't know how it happened. I mean, it could've been all the walking, or a particular exercise. Hell, maybe I hurt myself while sleeping. All I know is that I can't do the last bit of my daily walk for two weeks because the steep uphill incline triggers the pain plus pins and needles down my arm. Very, very strange. The doctor suspects it might be related to the nerves/muscle running across my lat and the back of my shoulder. 😫

Anyway. We'll see how it goes.

The other thing I did today was... I finally left Twitter. That's right. After 15 years, I deactivated my account. My husband deactivated his at the beginning of the week and to be honest, I was determined to stick around for a while. Even toyed with locking my account to private and only disconnecting temporarily. But the new AI bullshit was added, plus I'm over all the gross fascist crap that's going on over there.

Either way, I'm done. I deactivated and uninstalled the app from my phone. It's better this way because there's nothing left over there. Twitter died a long time ago and we were all holding onto a very thin memory of the place.

Besides, I'm still active on Bluesky (which I'm enjoy more and more), Threads and IG.

So, let's talk about writing.

Here's how I did:

• Monday: 21,550w (added 4,015) 
• Tuesday: 25,450w (added (3,900)
• Wednesday: no new words
• Thursday: 29,247w (added 3,797)
• Friday: 35,479w (added 6,232)

As you can see, even though I missed a day, this week's total word count was great. The numbers are good but what's even better is how the story keeps eating my brain so much that I'm constantly thinking about it. I keep dreaming about the characters, and can't stop images and snippets (about what's going to happen next) from popping into my head.

Yeah, I've been taking a lot of notes and looking for more inspirational pics. I also talk to my husband about it all the time. LOL.

This particular idea has been with me for MONTHS, so I'm not surprised that the words are flowing. Every time I sit down, the characters take over and I find myself getting lost in the story. I love when that happens!

Last week I mentioned that I wasn't sure if this was going to be a novella or a novel, but now that I've passed 35k and know what's to come, I'm pretty sure the total word count will surpass the novella length.

Well, asides from all this writing I also finished reading an excellent and very creepy book. You can read my review of DIAVOLA below. (Or hit the title for the direct link.)

That's it for this week, I think.

It's time to weekend. Have a good one!

DIAVOLA by Jennifer Marie Thorne

Diavola by Jennifer Marie Thorne
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is another book that I've had my eye on for a while and finally decided to get stuck into the other day.

This year, Anna is going to Italy for the annual Pace family vacation. She's not looking forward to spending time with her dysfunctional family (twin brother, his boyfriend, older sister, brother-in-law, two nieces and parents) but she instantly likes the villa in the remote Tuscan town. Yet, there's something about this place that bothers her. And it's not just the locked tower door...

Fucking creepy. In the best way possible.

I really love it when a character's voice is so compelling and strong that I'm instantly hooked. I'm also a sucker if she's obviously flawed and definitely keeps secrets that slowly slip out. Add family complications, a spooky haunted house, plenty of unreliable situations to the mix, and my curiosity will keep me there during the duration of the book.

Seriously, I wanted to devour this story in one sitting but forced myself to slow down. To savour every creepy moment for as long as I could.

Everyone in the Pace family is annoying af, which only adds extra flavour to everything else that's going on. And there's a LOT. But mostly, I had a great time following Anna until she reached that very satisfying and unexpected unending.

Loved it. Great book!


View all my reviews

November is here!

How are you today?

Well, a new month is here and as far as the world goes, it hasn't started well. I still can't believe the news that came out of the US the other day. I find it devastating that so many people voted in favour of lies, hate and inequality. Instead of choosing a highly qualified candidate who stood for the right to choose, growth, and equality.

I'm saddened by these results. We live in a very disappointing world. I will never understand people, and somehow always manage to underestimate their capacity for cruelty. But I really shouldn't be surprised because I've had my fair share of shitty stuff thrown my way this year.

Anyway, the reason why I decided to post an update is because I started writing a new story this month. That's right! After a year full of editing, revision, rewriting, and having to deal with some pretty shitty stuff, I finally got stuck into a brand new WIP.

I used to take part in NaNoWriMo, but after the distasteful stuff that happened last year, I deleted my account. Yep. After sixteen years of participation, I vowed to never take part again and actually finished last year's novel on my own.

That I decided to get stuck into a first draft this month could be pure coincidence because I'm finally ready. Or it could be that muscle memory has drawn me back in. 😁

Either way, I got stuck into it this week:

• Monday: 2,342w 
• Tuesday: 6,146w (added 3,804)
• Wednesday: 10,378w (added 4,232)
• Thursday: 14,371w (added 3,993)
• Friday: 17,535w (added 3,164)

I think this is a great start. Not just because of the word count, but also because I really like how the main character's story is unfolding.

This idea has been renting space in my brain for months now! I've put together a Playlist, collected a bunch of inspirational pics, and have a document full of snippets and scenes that are ready to be written. And I can't wait for some of these scenes to come up because this story is sexy and raunchy, and full of horror. Did I mention it's a vampire book set in the late 80s? 🦇

Can't wait to see where these characters take me. I mean, I know where they're going but some of the getting there is still a mystery. LOL.

I'm also not sure if it's going to be a novella or a novel and don't have a total word count goal.

A week ago my first self-published book, ONLY DARKNESS, came out. This happens to be a re-release and it's a project that means a lot to me because rewriting/editing this, and turning two novellas plus a short story into one book, helped me deal with the shitty publishing stuff I went through earlier this year, so when I read the first review today, I was SO excited.

Oh, you know what I did last weekend? I binged AGATHA ALL ALONG & LOVED IT! I loved the witchy vibes and the little twists in the last half of the series were all very cool. I have to admit that I wasn't a fan of WANDAVISION, so I wasn't sure what to expect... but this was awesome! Much better. Even the different decade eps fit better, story wise.

Well, that's about it for this week.

Take care, take it easy, and have a great weekend!