I’m so glad my writing buddy talked me into Camp NaNoWriMo. (Thanks Dustin – You’ll get to meet him this Sunday on my Creator Spotlight.) Because my Pod People are coming out to play! They like going to camp, and now I know this is the place to be for spinoff stories that I’ve got stacked up from my series, The Starlight Chronicles.
So many people are doing writing sprints and I keep wanting to jump on, but I never catch them in time. Still, just knowing so many of my writing peeps are getting those words in this month is phenomenal and ever so motivating.
Are you doing Camp? Let me know your thoughts about it in the comments. And buddy up with me there. My project is so cool because the MC is my coolest side character ever! So glad he’s getting his own story.
This month, I will be chatting with two phenomenal writing buddies I met through separate community platforms who happen to both love Sci Fi, one along the lines of fantasy, the other space opera. It was fun inviting the two of them for April and establishing this theme because not only will the format of our conversations be a bit different where the conversations happened first then the questions followed to tie them together, but through the process of producing my two blog interviews, they became writing buddies as well. I love it when that happens!
Graphic Artwork by D. L. LewellynGraphic Artwork by D. L. Lewellyn
Dustin is working on what he refers to as one MASSIVE manuscript he’s structuring into three parts. We’ve been motivating each other this month at Camp NaNo and he’s made phenomenal progress. He’s still deciding on whether to go the traditional publishing route, or self. I have to say, what he’s shared with me about the world building so far has me chomping at the bit!
Nicolas is working on his first novel, Seven Drifts, an epic space opera story featuring a drifting city spaceship, a wannabe sleuth and murders, a brewing rebellion and an antique wooden treasure chest. We are helping each other stay on track on our respective publication goals and after reading his sneak peek short story, Cradle, I can’t wait for his novel to release! You can learn more about it and get your copy here.
Still adjusting to my strange new world. Which includes writing of course. Back to my series. Meanwhile follow this to an excerpt of Book One, Ursus Borealis!
APRIL! Better weather – NaNoWriMo Camp Month – Retirement entered, full-time writing commences… Can’t wait to finish book three of The Starlight Chronicles! I’m simultaneously writing a spin-off story that continues where book three leaves off, which is helping me write my closing scenes. I love how this stuff works!
Oh! And check out this precious pen from my workmates as a send off today. They even inscribed it with my pen name.
Book One – polishing… nearly done… Click image for an excerpt!
Turns out, I’m not very good at wallowing. I can only do it for so long before it starts to annoy me. Which meant it would only be a matter of time before I picked up Draft #2 to see what might be salvageable.
The first step was to figure out exactly what was there. I took the printed pages and a notebook, and I began to map out the sections. I assigned a number to each section, and in the notebook, I scribbled a brief description. Occasionally, I made a note in the manuscript itself, most often “nec?” to ask if the section was actually necessary. Turns out, there’s a fair bit of pointless rambling and redundancy in the book at the moment, but at least I know where it is.
I’m not technically there yet. Still 14 months to go. But I did it! I made the hard call to the boss Thursday.
The day job was really wearing me down, like to the point of fearing I might not make it to the finish line. The thought of commuting through another hard winter was wearing me down. Not being able to focus more on my passion was wearing me down.
So… I retired early!! I need to shout it out and celebrate! Going out before my pension kicks in is still retirement, right? Even if it is scarier?
Lot’s of changes in our lifestyle ahead, which means… It’s Time to Simplify!
I’m already going through my accumulated junk (aka, treasures). Here are a few precious things I’m memorializing before I toss them out.
Living in the same place for 25 years can make anyone a hoarder, right? (That’s my excuse, and I’m sticking to it.) We’ve purged things every time we made a big move, but this is the longest stretch between bouts of purging. One of those moves included living in a travel trailer for half a year, which meant I really had to purge. Still, I managed to hold onto things from my childhood, high school, starting out in life…
Each decade in this home I became obsessed with a new hobby. My craft room is brimming with stuff from my mixed media art days, knitting and crochet days, scrapbooking days, journaling days, and cross stitching days. Did I really think I would use up all that stuff? I never gave a thought to what I would do if I had to clean it out. It’s oddly both exhilarating and deflating.
Getting rid of favorite books and LPs, hordes of yarn, and other precious stashes is really hard. The labor to sort through it all (without loosening precarious piles on top of my head or flooding my floor space) is hard.
After a summer of all that bittersweet labor, you might find me like this by next winter.
By D. L. Lewellyn 