Work in Progress Update: Aug. 28

The first blog on my website! And also the first more extended WIP update compared to my usual social media posts.

All in all, I have been busy getting The Fallen Rise ready for developmental editing. Part of the feedback I received was to flesh out the characters more. For so long I worried about the overall story being good that I didn’t really think that the more meat and potatoes of it needed some more work. After I received beta feedback that the bones of the story are great, that finally removed the wool over my eyes to not worry about the overall story anymore. Now is the time to worry about details, characters, and how they incorporate to the overall story. It was a breath I needed to take and I have been really hitting the ground running this week. I have sort of hit a flow state and a nice routine with balancing writing along with my hobbies and everything else.

Essentially, after I get off of work, I leave about an hour to play video games, I am currently replaying The Walking Dead: The Game, eat dinner, shower, and then I write for about an hour. Most days this is the routine but sometimes if I have something planned like dinner out with family, well then I may not write that day. Normally, I’d beat myself up, but honestly it’s been good to take breaks. The balance finding is making sure I don’t make excuses versus having reasons to not write. An excuse would be, to me, my depression getting in the way. A reason would be having something planned that evening. It may not make sense to everyone but it certainly does me.

Regardless, this routine has been very balanced and I’m glad it’s working. Things might get weird with football season starting, but I’m sure I’ll find that balance again.

I am not sure what the timeline is like for developmental edits, but I plan to continue to work on my fantasy book during that duration. Pretty much anytime I am away from The Fallen Rise, means time working on the fantasy book. I can’t wait to share more about it, but the vibe I am going for is a mix of Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, The Odyssey, and that feel of old Dungeons & Dragons campaigns. I really want to lean into old school fantasy but mix in my interpretations of fantasy creatures and create new ones. Anyway, before I say any more I can’t wait to work on that more. It is still in the brainstorming stage, but I’d like to get the rough draft going since they are by nature bigger books, so it’ll take me a bit longer to finish it. That being said, after finishing The Fallen Rise, my confidence has gotten better about finishing writing books. Even the editing and revising. Honestly, being told that I wrote a good story in a broad sense was a major boost to my confidence. For the longest, I thought The Fallen Rise was terrible and that the first non-family member to read it would rip it apart. Of course, that’s not reality, and the reality is that it needs some work, and the famous saying of “it takes a village.”

I plan on getting the newsletters going shortly. Alongside book stuff, I might have little reviews and current things I am watching/playing. I want to have potential readers also get to know more about me as a person while also receiving news about books from me. It’s probably not a new concept, but I need to have some other content until I got enough books to talk about.

Hope everyone had a good week, and take care of yourselves!