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blank paper with pen and coffee cup on wood table

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Don’t worry, this isn’t a breakup letter.

Either with you, my esteemed reader, or with you, my valued but under prioritized blog.

Rather, this is my attempt at picking up my poor neglected blog and blowing some life back into it.

But really, at the risk of being cliche, it’s not any fault of my blog that I haven’t posted in so long. It’s me. No, seriously.

And it isn’t even that I haven’t had any motivation to write lately or been stuck in a massive case of writer’s block to rival all writer’s blocks. It’s more to do with the kind of writing I’ve been doing.

Because I’ve actually been writing. A lot.

~~~

In the past couple of months, and particularly during the month of November, which is National Novel Writing Month, I have been buckling down and writing my first novel. To clarify, I have begun novels in the past, but this is the furthest and most inspired I’ve been so far.

I’ve recently surpassed 60,000 words in my Word document, which is crazy exciting for me. (For those of you who don’t know, 50k words is technically novel-length. Which IMO is kind of spurious to tout when the story isn’t even finished yet. But still. It’s cool.)

So yes, it’s crazy exciting for me. Crazy because I’ve never actually filled a Word document with that many words before, ever, in my life. With my own, original words that generated in my own brain. And exciting, because I’m actually doing what I’ve always dreamed of doing–writing a book. I’d “eek!” if I were the eeking sort of person.

My book is a young adult contemporary fiction novel and it’s all about the drama and excitement of being a teenager. Also, my main character is a total sci-fi nerd, so it gets all nerdy and geeky with multiple sci-fi/fantasy references, since I love that sort of thing.

woman lying on green grass while holding pencil

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As I’ve been writing this story, I’ve also collected so many ideas for other books after this one. I practically have a whole series planned out; each installment will follow a different individual in the circle of awesome nerdy friends that gets introduced in the first book.

So, I’ve been busy.

But regardless, I do apologize for not keeping up with the blog like I should have. I still plan to keep posting here, and I hope you’ll still check in with me every so often, but I just wanted to explain that my attentions are divided at this point.

And honestly, it’s a good thing for me right now.

~~~

Writing a novel has taught me so much about writing and inspiration and flow. Even though I’m still a novice at it, I feel like I could tell you so many helpful lessons I’ve learned throughout the journey.

Gene Wolfe said something like, 

“You never learn how to write a novel, you just learn how to write the novel that you’re writing.”

I might be in the process of finishing my first novel ever, but I have been writing in some capacity or other for most of my life, and I still see the truth in that.

No matter how long you’ve been writing, there will always be a new plot, new characters, new experiences in life that you write about for the first time. No two stories are exactly alike. You will always learn something new about where you are.

And let me tell you, writing a long fiction story (aka novel) is much different from writing shorter pieces on a blog. I’ve been stretching and exercising my writing skills and discovering figurative muscles that I never knew existed. The process is different, and in some ways more difficult; but in a way it’s also more thrilling and satisfying, driving my writing experiences to new heights that I wouldn’t have reached without taking a few risks and pushing myself now and then.

I still have so much to learn. About writing, about life, about how to translate my experiences and ideas into language and words that are halfway comprehensible.

But at least I’m writing. I’m so thankful that I was blessed with the ability and passion for it that I have. And I’m glad that I haven’t given into any of my fears and worries that tell me I’m no good, that nothing I write will ever be worth reading.

Or let me amend that: I haven’t given in to those fears for long. So far, I’ve kept going and getting back up every time I feel like quitting. And I’ve learned a lot in the process.

So, I hope to post here more in the near future about some of those tidbits and lessons I’ve picked up lately.

And I hope to see you here next time!

Thanks so much for reading.

~~~

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