2018 has ended and we’ve entered 2019! Happy new year if I haven’t said so before. May 2019 be a great year for all of us! So many things to look forward to and to reflect on.
Keeping it to writing oriented, 2018 has been one heck of a year! I feel proud of myself and the milestones I’ve met. All the hard work I’ve managed to do and all the bad things I haven’t let me drag me down.
Before this past year, even during the early months, I’ve had so many days and weeks that I didn’t write at all. Now I’ve had writing streaks of 14 days and wrote about 226.600 words total, with a monthly average (including months I didn’t write) of about 18.900 words.
Finished works
My main project has been SALANDRINE a high fantasy repping a black princess and ownvoices for an autistic protagonist. It’s got a trans woman love interest, lots of magic, magic-tech, rich worldbuilding, and takes place in a north african inspired setting. Expect themes of abuse, mental health, disability in Salandrine’s personal arc which runs alongside the plot surrounding the mysterious drought that threatens the paradisiacal desert queendom.
When stuck on SALANDRINE I’ve worked on multiple smaller projects. There’s my dark fic LIGHT THE FLAME TO DAWN ANOTHER DAY (working title: BURNING SOULS) dealing with domestic abuse and my ghost story DARKER THAN SHADOWS. I’ve got some fantasy/paranormal romances like the sort of steamy witch and magic story ENCHANTRESS (m/f), my cutesy church grim shifter story TEMPTED (f/f), and the cute herbalist and witch short that’s LOVE POTION (f/f), for which I got a silver honorable mention for the last in the Writers of the Future contest. My silly fantasy story CHAOS WITCH. And I’ve got some horror/dark fantasy going on in FROM ASHES TO ASHES which prequels TEMPTED and IF ONLY MEMORIES BREATHED (working title: SAMHAIN) about a mother dealing (badly) with the depression following the loss of her child.
There’s some which I’m thinking of expanding (ENCHANTED, FROM ASHES TO ASHES) or writing sequels for (LIGHT THE FLAME…) but we’ll have to see. I’m already swamped by all the book ideas and WIPs as it is.
Works in progress
Of course those are the short stories I finished. None of these have official titles yet except. There’s more which are still WIPs, like DEMONOLOGY 1 & 2 about health, budding magical abilities, secret witches, and a religious group with ulterior motives. It’ll have a paranormal spin off too. There’s HEAT which is a sequel to LIGHT THE FLAME… and SAVANNA which takes place in a historic Mnaluria (setting of SALANDRINE).
Then there’s some which I’ve still drafting or have only outlined. Expect stories with dream magic, empaths, more queer, autistic, black and biracial main characters, and more.
I’m really happy with my progress. Hopefully it’ll only continue to get better in 2019!