Why, hello!
I took a short break from Through a Crooked Door, because I’ve been buried beneath an avalanche of tiny food. November-December is the busy season at my day job, The Mouse Market, and I’ve been sculpting dollhouse food like an absolute fiend.
Before we get to the writing stuff, here’s a little peek at a miniature pastry case that I made.
Aside from a two-week pause, I’ve been steadily revising my next book, though I did release myself from all other Twin Flames to-dos, postponing our next Creative Season until…right now. 😉
So, what’s on the agenda this season? *gleefully rubs hands together*
All the Writing Shit I’ve Learned Since My First Novel
At the time of this writing, I’m embarking on Draft 6 of The Magician and the Labyrinth of Yesterdays (Twin Flames: Book 1), which I plan to release this spring/early summer. Throughout the writing + drafting process, I’ve been thinking a great deal about what I’ve learned since releasing The Fool & the Threads of Time (Book 0).
I know at least some of you are writers as well as readers, so I thought it might be fun (and, not gonna lie, useful for me) to organize all of my lessons learned, giving you a peek at what I’ve done differently with Book 1, so that will be our focus this Season.
Update: I wrote the first six emails in this series with an ever-increasing sense that something was off, but I couldn’t put my finger on what. I was excited about the topic, the territory of each essay felt juicy, but things didn’t have that magic spark. 🧐
I took a few days away, and that’s when it dawned on me: there was an aspect of the project not fully aligned with my values.
One of the challenges in writing these essays was finding illustrative examples. I didn’t want to use The Fool & the Threads of Time as that would mean divulging oodles of spoilers. Same issue with using my upcoming book, The Magician and the Labyrinth of Yesterdays.
My initial solution was to use other authors’ works, but as it turns out, that nagging feeling came from picking apart someone else’s book. It simply didn’t feel good! 👎
So, I went back to the drawing board. With the exception of one positive example (shout out to Louisa May Alcott), I developed my examples from scratch. This let me flex my story-telling muscles without pooh-poohing someone else’s hard work.
My 2025 Writing Goals
Last year, I set two overarching writing goals, and I still have the post-it note to prove it!
I read a boatload of craft books on pacing and tension, took a handful of writing courses, and early on in the process, I used the writing of Falling Phoenix, a companion short story to The Fool & the Threads of Time to practice what I was learning. (You can read it for free!)
Over the coming weeks, we’ll explore techniques for improving pacing and tension, and we’ll also look at how I streamlined my outlining and revision process, what I learned about crafting group dynamics and skillfully weaving subplots, and more writing nerdery.
If this sounds like your cup of tea ☕️ I’ll see you next week for the first installment of All the Writing Shit I’ve Learned Since My First Novel.
