hello! i am alive! sorry for the unexpected hiatus (again). i’m going to try to get better about weekly posts, or at least monthly. maybe it will help motivate me to write more often, too.
since september, i have finished another 2 semesters of grad school (!!). i’m 1.5 years into a 3 year program. it’s going so quickly! i need to start looking into what’s next. i’m really leaning towards a phd program, but it all depends on how the next semester or two goes. i’m really enjoying my classes, and starting to develop a specific area of study interest, so that’s exciting!
i did start querying SHADOW OF THE NECROPOLIS in october. i still haven’t sent many queries, but i haven’t gotten any interest from agents yet. i think i need to revisit my first few pages and maybe my query letter before sending any more.
i also started drafting my space fantasy, tentatively titled FAIR PHANTOM in april! it was meant to be a camp nanowrimo project, but of course class got in the way, so i only managed about 10,000 words. i’m still slowly drafting. i’m hoping to be finished with the first draft around mid-june. this is actually my third time drafting this particular story from scratch, which is weird (i first got the idea for it in 2013!), but i think it’s getting better each time. obviously, as a first draft, it still needs lots of work once i’m done, but i’m surprised at how much i love where the story is taking me. i did do quite a bit of pre-work before drafting, as usual, but i’m kind of deviating from the outline, which is new for me! i’m enjoying the discovery.
it’s been probably two years of this weird writing slump for me, where i second-guess everything and feel like i have no ideas for what to write next, but i think i’m FINALLY coming out of it. now i feel like i have too many ideas, and i’m anxious to finish drafting my space fantasy so i can get to work on whatever’s next! i’m hoping i’m close to signing with an agent, but even if i’m not, i love my stories and working on them whenever i have a chance. 🙂
Post-Script: Books I’ve Read Since my Last Post
A Reaper at the Gates by Sabaa Tahir
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake (**audio**)
Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
Benito Cereno by Herman Melville
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
One Dark Throne by Kendare Blake (**audio**)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Ken Kesey
The Runner by David Samuels
King Lear by William Shakespeare
Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows
Blood Will Out by Walter Kirn
Othello by William Shakespeare
Macbeth by William Shakespeare
Wintersong by S. Jae-Jones
Yes Please by Amy Poehler (**audio**)
Shadowsong by S. Jae-Jones
Home and Away by Candice Montgomery
Archenemies by Marissa Meyer
A Very Large Expanse of Sea by Tahereh Mafi
As She Ascends by Jodi Meadows
We Set the Dark on Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia
Circle of Shadows by Evelyn Skye
Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer
Elevation by Stephen King
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo (**audio**)
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry by Neil deGrasse Tyson (**audio**)
The Late Age of Print by Ted Striphas
Unfu*k Yourself by Gary John Bishop (**audio**)
King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
The Fork, the Witch, and the Worm by Christopher Paolini
The Cruel Prince by Holly Black
Merchants of Culture by John B. Thompson
The Wicked King by Holly Black
Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher (**audio**)
Girl, Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis (**audio**)
An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
Participatory Composition by Sarah J. Arroyo
The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi
Keep Moving by Dick Van Dyke (**audio**)
Art Matters by Neil Gaiman
Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman
Be a Writing Machine by M.L. Ronn (**audio**)
Doctor Who: Eleven Doctors, Eleven Stories by Eoin Colfer, et al
The World Made Meme by Ryan M. Milner
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (**audio**)
Finale by Stephanie Garber
Currently Reading
The Strain by Guillermo del Toro & Chuck Hogan (**audio**)
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas
