unhinged drafting (finally)
August is the month I finally for real really drafted a WIP I’ve been struggling with since March. the state of the WIP folder on my desktop is indicative of my mental state as I spent months wrestling to get past about the 25k mark, rewriting the same chapters again and again and never satisfied with them.
but author Leta Patton ran a individualizable writing challenge called #AllYouCanWriteAugust over on Instagram from August 1 through August 15. I said “fuck it, I’m adding 30k to this bitch,” spent a week replotting (again)(again again)(again again again), spent another day revising that existing 20k to fit (more or less) with my new vision, and barrelled into August with all cylinders firing.
in the end, I smashed through my 30k goal to add more than 38,000 words to the manuscript in two weeks.
more importantly, drafting feels like drafting again. mostly, with this WIP—despite the fact that I’ve had it rolling around in my brain for the last two years—it’s felt like pulling teeth. I think it was a combination of sophomore slump (but with my potential third book instead of my second), drafting on deadline for the first time ever, and whatever tf caused my mental crash in June (aside from, you know, the general terribleness of everything).
this month, drafting has felt like glorying in the dumpsterfire of it all. like, yeah, I know the book sucks, but it’s fine that it sucks! it’s even good that it sucks! it gives me the freedom to drop plot points that aren’t serving the story, add new ones as I think them up, and lean hard into scenes that are ridiculous and might need to be scrapped later but are fun to write—like the many scenes torn from the pages of 1980s bodice-rippers and monsterfucker romances.
(the MC loves romance novels, and now he has stumbled into one very thinly veiled as a fantasy novel. he also has no idea he’s gay, which makes the scenes very fun for me but extremely frustrating for his LI lmao.)
I’ve also had lots of ideas for the second draft while writing the first, which is also something that normally happens but did not happen during the past few months. instead of leaving comments for myself like I often do—because comments would destroy the aesthetic of the document—I’ve been leaving footnotes.
the footnotes add an extra level of chaos, but I’m loving them so far. maybe I’ll do this all the time.
upcoming events
note: all times are in EST (as one might expect, since all the events are in Ohio)
A Realm of Tomes & Tales - multi-author fantasy event that includes signings. click here for details: link to event information
August 24, 12:00-2:00p.m., Pan Yan Books in Tiffin, Ohio
Local Author Fair - multi-author, multi-genre event that includes signings and readings. click here for details: link to event information
August 31, 2:00-5:00p.m., Ritter Public Library, Vermilion, Ohio
Parking Lot Party & Author Fair - multi-author, multi-genre event that includes signings, food trucks, games, and more. Benefits the 2025 Northwest Ohio Teen Book Festival. click here for details: link to event information
September 15, 10:00a.m.-4:00p.m., outside Gathering Volumes, Perrysburg, Ohio
click here for a full list of upcoming events: link to events page on my website
queer your kindle
The Remarkable Retirement of Edna Fisher is part of this year’s Year of Queer Lit Stuff Your Kindle Day! on August 26, the ebook will be just $0.99 on Amazon. be sure to check out other books from Midnight Meadow Publishing as well—many of their authors are participating in this sale!
click here to see Year of Queer Lit’s website for updates and details: link to Year of Queer Lit (dot) com
odds & ends
recent reads:
Gabriella Buba’s Saints of Storms & Sorrow, a Filipino-inspired standalone adult fantasy with an audiobook narrated in part by Dante Basco (!!!)
recent listens:
mostly “Look for the Light” from Only Murders in the Building (S3), since I’m performing a pole solo to this song in the upcoming student showcase at my studio!
recent watches:
rewatching The Good Place (again) to remind myself that what we do still matters, even if it seems like everything is unavoidably terrible
recent birds:
managed to catch a glimpse of (and identify) an eastern kingbird from the car on my way to work one morning! I don’t see them often, so this was exciting. also, they’re pretty (and very noticeable, for a flycatcher)
until next time!
