January/February Writing Update

I wish I could say I got plenty of writing work done during these first two months, but that is not the case. I've been hitting a dry spell with creativity and focusing on work which is frustrating, to say the least.

But I have had some successes when it comes to writing.

First, I have completed the zero draft of the first book in my fantasy mystery buddy cop series, Project HF. This was the project that I started working on during NaNoWriMo 2022, and I'm just really proud that I have finished a draft. This is the second draft I've ever finished for original work, so it feels like a huge accomplishment.

I've already started rereading the draft, and I know I need to restructure the plot a lot. I also know that I need to add more mystery and fantasy elements. I intend for this series to be very fantastical, and you don't glean that from this first book. Throughout the series, I want eventually give the reader a wide view of the magical world I'm creating, and while we are not exploring the whole world in this first book, I still need it to feel more fantasy-like than it does now.

For now, I intend to continue working on the subsequent books in this series before going back and fixing this draft. Since I intend on self-publishing my books, I'm taking advantage of the fact that I can write the whole series before I begin publishing. The second book is well on its way to completion as I have started every chapter that I intend to have so far, but I still have a lot of chapters to finish before this zero draft is done.

I am also continuously working on my Cinderella retelling, which I'm very excited about as Cinderella is my favorite fairytale, and I'm excited to put my spin on it. This book is in a very similar spot where I have all the chapters I intend to have so far started. My main goal in March is to finish all the zero draft chapters to complete the book.

My biggest problem with finishing this draft is that I have been getting more and more ideas for this particular story, and I think all of them would help flesh out the plot. But I don't want to work on adding them into my zero drafts because that would make it so I would have to start over now, and I've had a problem in the past of constantly restarting my original stories but never finishing them. So my focus right now is to finish the draft I've started but write down the ideas I have to flesh out the story.

Finally, I've been getting more and more ideas for other book ideas, and all of them seem promising. Many of them are in the fantasy genre, which I find weird because I haven't been reading tons of fantasy books lately, but regardless, I'm excited about them. Most of them are not fleshed out enough to start writing them yet, but I'm enjoying making Pinterest boards and playlists for them for now.

So in March, my main goal is to finish the zero draft of my Cinderella retelling. The quicker I finish this draft, the quicker I can get to adding in the new ideas I have for it.

Tell me if you want me to make more in-depth dives into my works in progress in the future. I'm excited for all these stories to come to life.