August 2021 Writing Update and News

August 2021 Writing Update & News

August is coming to a close, and as I've been MIA once again for what feels like a couple of weeks, I've decided to share a bit about where I've been, what has made me miss the last couple of weeks' chapter releases for The Beast of Ildenwood (I'll be releasing Chapters 7 and 8 this weekend, so hopefully we'll still be right on track!), and where I am writing-wise.

Writing the Murder Mystery

As you may already know, I've been working on a murder mystery novel. I'm very close to finishing the manuscript, and very excited to complete this project! I've been working on Marie/Elise for a long time now (around 6 years on and off) and it's long overdue for completion. I want to get this project off my plate before I continue on with my fantasy novel, The Pirates of Sissa, which will be given a re-write. 

I've written 11,041 words for Marie/Elise in August. It's not nearly what I'd been hoping to write, but I will admit that towards the end I was side-tracked because I wanted to change up the POV, and that was an experiment that needed a bit of re-planning. Still, it's over half of that I wanted to accomplish, and 11K more than what I had going into August, so that's still awesome!

Serial Fiction: The Beast of Ildenwood

I'm quite excited for this week's release. I've been trying to up the stakes and danger factor for my characters after realizing that I was holding back quite a bit - something I definitely don't do with my other characters in other books, so I was quite surprised at myself with this particular project. Nevertheless, it's been a bit difficult because The Beast of Ildenwood is a project I'm completely winging. I have a general idea of where I want it to go, but I really don't know the details about how I'm going to get it there. 

I understand that there are other authors that approach serial fiction differently: they'll have their story completed well before they decide to start uploading and sharing the chapters on a regular basis. The Beast of Ildenwood was a project I started on a spur of the moment, and I always told myself that I was going to take it easy with this project and just enjoy myself. In many ways, it's a project I'm using as an excuse to practice my artistic skills (which need a lot of work), while at the same time trying out different writing techniques and tropes that I don't use much. 

Because I have some other projects on my plate - some of them not writing-related - I did get a bit sidetracked for a while there and didn't get a chance to upload my weekly chapters. I'll try to make sure that doesn't happen again, but life has a way of changing up your plans, so no promises there. You can look forward to Chapter 7 and 8 this weekend, and - if I can get it ready in time - Chapter 9, too!

In Other News...

I've taken down my author website and everything on my store! It was a decision that I'd been mulling over for a while, and at the end of August decided to go through with it. Because I am pursuing professional authorship, I would rather have a website with my own domain and incorporate my store into my future website. As a result, none of my books or works will be available for sale until that happens. It might take a while, though, so if you're really, really, really interested in getting a copy of Apartment, let me know.

Thank you for your understanding! I will keep you updated in case anything changes on that front.

And that's all I have for this month's update!