Monthly Roundup: August 2024

Welcome to the Monthly Roundup: August 2024 edition! 

Where I provide an up-to-date summary of all my current projects 😊

Creative Project(s):

In a complete 180 degree flip from last month, I have been feeling more and more confident since I changed to working on my project, Sanctuary on Severn. 

If you haven't seen my other posts on here or on Instagram, Sanctuary-on-Severn is an alternative historical, post-apocalyptic novel set in medieval England right after the Black Death plague. It follows Maven, a determined maid hoping to escape servitude, the spoilt and childish lady she serves, as well as the many characters and challenges they meet along the way in their quest to find safety in a changed and dangerous world.

I originally wrote this story for my undergraduate and masters degree dissertations and received wonderful feedback on this from both lecturers and fellow students. I had a lot of fun planning, writing, and doing research for this story when I first wrote it. 

Now, as I edit the manuscript, I am having fun immersing myself in the story and characters once again.

For the edit of this novel, I am again following Jessica Brody's Writing Mastery Complete Novel Revision Course. The course includes a list of 18 things to check and really helps the process feel organised and focused. 

The first item on the list is to check whether the story has a solid structure. I have been working on structural edits following an updated outline I created. This week, I have now reached the 30% mark for both my word count goal as well as for the total number of scenes I need to revise/rewrite/write from scratch. This is the most progress I have ever made with editing a novel! 🥳

My goal is to finish this round of edits before October 31st 2024.

In the coming weeks, I will posting a couple of more in-depth posts about this project as well as my editing process on this blog. There will be an announcement on my Instagram when these have been posted so you don't miss them

To follow my progress on this project, you can also follow my My Week as a Writer posts on Instagram and/or read my next Monthly Roundup here in September!

Current Read:

I am currently reading Valour by John Gwynne - the second book in his 'The Faithful and The Fallen' series.  

I have read quite a bit more since my last monthly update and am now on page 459. The book is a fantastic sequel to the first book, Malice (one of my favourite books). It follows characters from the first book as well as new characters and drives the overarching plot forwards in brilliant and engaging ways. 

Would definitely recommend this series based on what I have read so far. I will be doing a full review in the future. 

Other projects:

I currently have no concrete plans to work on my other writing projects and this is unlikely to change for a little while. I did get an idea for a new story the other day - the first time I have been able to do this in years! - but I was good and just jotted down some notes before putting the idea away.

I am determined to not let other stories get in the way of me editing  Sanctuary on Severn, especially considering how long it has taken me to get to the point I am at with it today. 

Recently, I have been making time to attend webinars about writing and editing. This includes ProWritingAid's Edit to Excellence webinar series with NaNoWriMo (which finishes next week) and Savannah Gilbo's Your Start to Finish Book Blueprint masterclass (scheduled for next week).

The rest of my time is mostly occupied with planning and organising things for mine and my partner's wedding. We will be getting married in October 2025 and, although this is still a year away, there is so much that needs to be done, or at least thought about and planned, this far in advance. We can't wait until the day when all of our planning and hard work pays off and we finally get to say 'I do'. 🥰

So, there you have it, an up-to-date roundup of all my current projects. My confidence has improved, I am finally making great progress with editing, I'm reading a great book, and exciting things are ahead 🙂