Giant Reading Lists, Writing Ideas, and Harlow Mystery series Book 3 info!
Hello, readers!
As of the time of this being sent, it's nearly halfway through February! This month has been a fairly productive writing month so far, brimming with new ideas and inspiration. I'm grateful for that. I hope to continue riding this wave of good inspiration and stay motivated with writing!
200 followers on Bluesky!
With Bluesky opening up to the public, I found out that I reached 200 followers last week! Thank you to everyone following my writing journey through there!
What time is it? NOMINATION TIME!
"Engagement To Die For" is eligible for the 2024 Indieverse Awards! This is another set of awards that celebrates indie authors and their books, similar to the Indie Ink Awards and the Queer Indie Awards.
The nomination period ends on Feb. 29th, 2024. You can nominate ETDF for up to five categories, so feel free to check out https://www.indieverseawards.com for more details! There are multiple categories that are already closed since Feb. 6th, 2024 due to the high number of submission. However, there are still more categories remaining that you can nominate ETDF, for if you think it fits those categories!
Thanks in advance for your support!
What Have I Been Writing Lately?
If you didn't read my monthly writing progress blog post back on February 1st, here's some fun news: I finished drafting Book 2 of my fantasy trilogy!
Currently, I'm taking a break from writing the trilogy before I focus on Book 3.
Meanwhile, I'm drafting more short stories and poems, and I think this might be one of my most productive months so far. Since the beginning of this month, I started using the time-blocking/calendar blocking technique to list out all the tasks on my to-do list, and then focus on each one at a time. This way, I actually make time for the things I want to get done!
Meanwhile, I'm also setting up "Bloody Fantasia," the third book in the Harlow Mystery series, for publication. This includes formatting the book and finalizing the cover!
At this point in time, I'm confident to confirm that "Bloody Fantasia" will be released in June 2024! An exact date will be given closer to the official release. The goal is that "Bloody Fantasia" will be released in time to celebrate the 2nd anniversary of "Winner Takes All" and the 1st anniversary of "Engagement To Die For!" "Winner Takes All" and "Engagement To Die For" were released on June 14th 2022 and June 20th 2023 respectively, so I think it'd be wonderful to release "Bloody Fantasia" in the same month as those two!
What Have I Been Reading Lately?
I recently did a count of how many books I have that I haven't read yet, and...that list is much bigger than I expected. Given that I often borrow books from libraries, use the library's e-catalogue, and also have accumulated receiving physical and e-books over the years, however, I'm not surprised. Now I'm taking time to shrink the to-be-read list at least a little bit.
However, I also recently discovered the joys of audiobooks thanks to doing some research on audiobooks for a different writing project. This resulted in me adding many more books to the to-be-read (TBR) list, and I look forward to checking them out! I've never really listened to audiobooks before, so it's a new way for me to experience reading.
In fact, starting with the next newsletter (Feb. 27th), I'm happy to share that I'll be giving audiobook and/or podcast recs! For those who want to listen to something new, I hope this provides you with something interesting to hear.
Recent reads include:
"The Cardboard Kingdom" by Chad Sell
"Seek" by Scott Shigeoka
"Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton
"Hurt, Healing, Healed" by Emma Mumford
Thank you for following my writing journey!
I hope you look forward to seeing more of my writing process and work. I also look forward to giving all of you more frequent updates as well, so stay tuned for more!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at clarislamauthor@gmail.com! I’ll respond within 48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).
Access the Freebie Library! (Password is "Buttondown")
Thank you for following my writing journey!
I hope you look forward to seeing more of my writing process and work. I also look forward to giving all of you more frequent updates as well, so stay tuned for more!
If you have any questions, feel free to email me at clarislamauthor@gmail.com! I’ll respond within 48 hours (except on weekends and holidays).