Hi, everyone! I hope this finds y’all well.
This week went fairly well for me, even though it didn’t quite go the way I had hope for certain things. The writing went well, as did several other things. My attempt for February Album Writing Month (FAWM) did not go as well as I would have liked, but I am now getting things set up for the summer session of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) called Camp NaNoWriMo. The first Camp NaNo takes place in April, and I’m looking forward to what it will bring.
Writing (And Camp NaNoWriMo)
Book 11 is coming along nicely. I’ve gotten some good words down this week, and I am that much closer to the end of the book. I do have a few more things to figure out, but I’ve been able to get a bit more of that plotted. Some of that plotting time has also helped me refine a few things for Book 12, the final book of the series. I definitely have more to do on that front, but I’m pleased with the progress I’ve been making. Other than that, I’ve been doing some worldbuilding, particularly since I have quite a few things I set aside until the end of the series. Now that I’m close to the end of the series, it seems like a good time to try to put a dent in some of that.
As for Camp NaNoWriMo, my plans have been fairly flexible. That is in large part due to the fact that Book 11 is taking longer to draft than I was expecting. However, my current goal for Camp NaNo (beyond the plan to write 50,000 words), is to hopefully finish Book 11 and start Book 12. A good bit of that depends on how the rest of March goes, but I feel fairly confident that that goal should be doable. Now, if I can finish Book 11 sometime before the start of April, that would also be nice. So, my plan for this month is mostly to write as much of Book 11 as I can and plot as much of Book 12 as I can.
Here’s hoping that that goes well.
Reading
For reading this week, I’ve paused Terry Pratchett’s The Color of Magic, though I’m hoping to read more of that in a bit. I have instead been reading Tom Felton’s memoir Beyond the Wand: The Magic and Mayhem of Growing Up a Wizard. It’s actually the first memoir I’ve read, but overall it has been interesting. I’m about a third of the way through. It’s been a bit of a nice break from my hunt for another fantasy read. I also read the last two volumes of Dr. STONE, written by Riichiro Inagaki and illustrated by Boichi. With that, I only have three volumes left until I finish the manga… Unforunately, that will have to wait a few more months since the last two volumes aren’t out in English yet. Still, I am definitely excited to see how it ends.
Art
This has actually been a bit of a light week for me with regard to art. I have done a little bit of work with regard to gesture drawing, but it isn’t as much as I would have liked. Time has a tendency to slip by, particularly when it comes to things I’m not used to doing on any kind of regular basis. That said, I am pleased with what I’ve been able to do so far. I think that one of the things I need to figure out is how to get a good balance between doing the ‘serious’ stuff (like actively practicing assorted skills) and the ‘fun’ stuff (like just drawing something without worrying about how it turns out. I definitely think there is a way to balance those two elements, but I don’t quite know what that is.
February Album Writing Month (FAWM)
My last two days of FAWM this year did not quite go as I had hoped. Admittedly, part of me would have liked to be able to draft the lyrics for the ten remaining songs I needed. Alas, that didn’t happen. I did figure out a few more in-world topics for my books that I would like to write songs about, but I did not get the chance to actually write them. That said, I do plan to continue working on that particular project throughout the year.
Next Week…
For this upcoming week, I have a couple key things that I would like to do. Ideally, I will be able to draft a chapter or two of Book 11. That would get me mostly on track to finish Book 11 this month. I’d also like to read a bit more. I’m currently thinking that it will be a combination of The Color of Magic and Beyond the Wand. Other than that, I’m thinking I might try my hand at learning to crochet… So far, that hasn’t worked well for me, but I recently gained some additional motivation in the form of a Doomslug pattern that is currently free on Brandon Sanderson’s website under the “Secret Projects” page as part of the “Year of Sanderson” (you can find it the pattern here, just look under March and click the button that says “March Free Download”). We’ll have to see if this attempt takes.
Also, Camp NaNoWriMo is coming up in April. Feel free to add me as a writing buddy on the NaNoWriMo website. My name on the site is Theresa Seanchai, and you can find my profile here.
I think that’s all I have for this update! Thanks for reading!
~ Theresa
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