More words?

Yep!

So, how are ya on this fine Friday the 13th? I didn't think I'd be writing a blog post this week because December is supposed to be my mental break month.

I mean, it's the end of the year and I'm usually exhausted by this point, so I prefer to spend my time reading and spring cleaning. Thinking about new ideas...

Yet, in typical 2024-style, that's not what happened.

Instead of sitting back and taking it easy after finishing the first draft of a novel last month, I ended up spending the beginning of this month making additions to that story. I also updated my research and inspirational pics last weekend. Hell, I even wrote a bunch of backstory notes and figured out several timelines on my phone.

When I said this story was eating my brain, I wasn't kidding. At the beginning of the week, after I made the latest lot of changes and additions, the word count jumped to 88k. Yikes.

Then THIS happened. 😳

Yep. You read that right. I ended up starting another story. And here's how it went:

• Tuesday: 1,968w
• Wednesday: 5,500w (+3,532w)
• Thursday: 9,503w (+4,003w)
• Friday: 14,376 (+4,873w)

As you can see, I ended up writing quite a few new words. I honestly didn't plan to start another project so late in the year, but the words just came out of nowhere on Tuesday. So, I typed them out on my phone and thought that would be it, but the character didn't stop. The next day I woke up with more of the story and everything started coming together, and I went with it.

And now, well, you can see how the word count is going.

The thing about this story is that it's not something new that came out of nowhere. It's directly related to the WIP I worked on last month. It's got the same characters and setting. Pretty much takes place at the same time, but it's from the POV of a different character. One who wouldn't shut up. This guy wanted his story told weeks ago, but I just thought it was a funny/cute thought. I honestly didn't think I would actually start writing it.

But hey, I'm not going to fight my muse. Like I mentioned above, 2024 has played by its own rules since the beginning. In some awful ways, it hasn't been a very kind year in regards to my writing... yet, a lot of cool stuff DID happen.

Anyway, there you have it. I started a new WIP that is a direct companion to the novel I wrote during November. I've never done this before while a story was still in first draft status. And I honestly don't think I'll finish this first draft by the end of the year. I still don't even know if this will be a novella or novel. *shrug*

Asides from the above, I also read a very cool ARC.

Well, that's it for today.

Have a great weekend!

TROG by Zachary Ashford

Trog by Zachary Ashford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Firstly, I want to thank Zachary for sending me an ARC of his upcoming novella.

After a traumatic ordeal in the city, Aisha's parents decide to relocate to a property in the middle of nowhere to keep her out of danger. What they don't know is that something is imprisoned beneath their new house, and that danger isn't limited to the city...

Wow. This novella is an action-packed, chaotic creature feature full of interesting characters, terrifying situations, human monsters, and a Yowie with a taste for human meat.

I had a total blast reading this bloody tale about a teenage girl trying to get over a terrible incident that almost ruined her life. Sometimes a fresh start isn't the answer, but you'll have a great time finding out all the things that can go wrong in the sticks.

I know Trog is a wild, feral creature hellbent on destruction, but I did feel for the beast. Humans have a tendency to make everything worse.

Anyway, this is a great and very cool novella!


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Thinking & Adding

Hey, how's it going? 

December is here and for us, that means that the temperature is heating up. That's right, our festive season is in the middle of summer, so we've been having some super hot days this week. And that leads to a bunch of storms. It's actually raining today and when we went to bed, a thunderstorm was raging outside.

I don't mind thunderstorms and rainstorms. Unless I get caught in the downpour, which happened to me last Friday. 😖

Well, this week turned out to be a bit wobbly, which always happens when I finish writing a first draft. I mean, it's also a thing during revision, but after a first draft the story is still so fresh in my mind, and it's all I've been thinking about all month, that there's bound to be some leftover thoughts.

A hangover, really.

Last (long) weekend I started a Revision List that ended up including a lot of extra stuff. So, I decided to tackle some of the more involved changes/additions on Tuesday. I even updated my research/inspirational pic folders, and reshuffled my Playlist. There are 31 songs from the 80s on this awesome Playlist that I've been listening to all week.

Anyway, after that, I thought I was done with the story until the second draft. So I spent a few days hanging out with hubby before work, going for walks, daydreaming about other stories, and I read the latest Stephanie Plum book.

Then Friday hit and I woke up from a dream about my characters, and several songs from the Playlist were actually playing in these dreams like a soundtrack. So, I opened up the doc again and spent last night making a few more changes/additions.

This is the new word count: 87,148.

I have no doubt that part of the reason why so many thoughts were circling my brain had something to do with watching THE LOST BOYS last weekend. I mean, I've seen this movie a thousand times but never get sick of it. Actually, I love it more each time. And the fact that it's one of the inspirations for my WIP, well... it was bound to affect me.

BTW, both THE LOST BOYS and NOW OR NEVER were my rewards for finishing the draft. 😁

Now that I've made these changes I need to take a break from the story. I usually like to take one or two months away to get some distance. Either way, I won't be revising until next year.

Writing this novel has been a LOT of fun, and that means a lot to me. In many ways, this year hasn't been kind in regards to publishing and I didn't get a chance to write anything new. Until now. And that makes me very happy.

That's it for now. Just wanted to spill some of my muddled thoughts.

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

NOW OR NEVER by Janet Evanovich

Now or Never by Janet Evanovich
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A few weeks ago, we went to K-Mart and my husband found this book on the shelf. I was so excited and couldn't wait to get stuck into it, but I was busy writing a book of my own during November and decided this would be my reward.

Stephanie has managed to say yes to the two men in her life, and still can't decide which one she's going to marry. Luckily, she's got a lot on her plate at the moment. There's an influencer, a YouTube star, a wholesale criminal, and a vampire. That's before considering the new man trying to insert himself into her life...

OMG. As usual, I had a blast with Stephanie's latest adventure. In typical Plum style, the hilarious situations and zany characters are balanced out by some pretty serious and dangerous situations. And everything fits together seamlessly.

This instalment also had an added mystery that you don't find out until the very end: who does she choose as her husband? Is it the hot and dangerous Ranger? Or the hot and irresistible Morelli? Hard choice. No wonder she said yes to both. 😅

Anyway, Lula, Grandma Mazur, Connie, Bob, and Steph's family go along for the ride. Like I said before, SO MUCH FUN!!

One last thing: it was great to meet Mr. Big because you can never have too many cool doggies in the mix.

Can't wait for the next book!


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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!! 😃