I’m a little late this month, but here it is, my monthly update! April has begun, so that means the start of camp NaNoWriMo and Autism Awareness Month, and the right moment to reflect on my writing progression for the past month.

It won’t be the first time that I’m doing NaNo, but it’ll be the first time I’ll have some fun while doing it. I’ve joined a nice group of people, feel supported, and came prepared. If you’re interested in knowing more, follow this link for a post I wrote specifically for this event.

Now, it’s also Autism Awareness Month, so although I haven’t planned to do much, I might mention something along the way. Don’t forget DON’T light it blue, REDinstead!

So that leaves the writing progress update. I feel very happy with the progress I’ve made, even though I was about 2000 words short of meeting the my previous month’s wordcount (which was my goal for this month). It’s still a nice number though: 17.361!

 

The specifics: my WIPs

Last month I worked on Salandrine, Enchantress, and some flash fiction and short stories (Hellfire, Tempted, and some unfinished ones).

In preparation to camp NaNoWriMo and returning to Salandrine after a couple of month’s long break, I wrote the most of Salandrine (10.490 words). There were some things in the plot that needed fixing though, so I also worked on the outline and added/changed some important plot elements. Including more recent changes, there’s a second magic system I’ll scatter hints towards in Salandrine, and which will be addressed in full during its sequels. I’m also aware of how I completely forgot about the amulet Salandrine steals at the beginning, so will be fixing that as well xD

I also added 3.412 words to Enchantress. This wasn’t intended as a serious WIP, so when it turned out to be pretty decent I had to go back and work on a proper outline. The draft is a complete mess, but that’s what first drafts are for, right? I’ll fix it during revisions.

The rest of the words (3.449) were for short stories and flash fiction. I’m really getting into the paranormal romance, and am planning on bundling them into a nice collection. There’s also another horror, so seems like that genre’s sticking as well. A bit of a surprise if you know me, haha xD Both Hellfire and Tempted follow the same protagonist, who is a church grim.

 

 

Some lines from SALANDRINE:

“You girls finally leave the house and here you are, completely glued together.” Dilek marched over with a small group of friends, some of them still half dancing and bopping along to the music when they arrived. “How are you?” Greetings transpired, a confusing mixture of cheek kisses, hugs, shoulder pats, and handshakes. Salandrine felt lost, not knowing who to greet how, but she went with it and no one cared enough to mention her awkwardness and occasional bumping of body parts.

“We’re fine,” Amal said.

“Yes you are!” One of the friends blurted out and together with another hooted at each other, laughing.

“How about some dancing?” A long haired scaly friend asked.

Amal grinned from ear to ear, then beamed at Salandrine. “What do you think? Dance?”

“I’m a horrible dancer,” Salandrine stuttered.

“Girl, no one cares. As long as you’re having fun it’s fine.” Dilek said and cheered her on, raising their arms. “Let yourself go. Don’t care who’s watching. No one’s here to judge you.”

“I-I don’t know.”

“Look, your girlfriend really wants to.”

Salandrine and Amal both shot them a surprised glance, but neither said anything. She’d almost blurted that they weren’t a couple, but Salandrine shut her mouth just in time. It wasn’t an unwelcome mistake. It was just… they hadn’t really talked about what they were to each other in such official terms. She’d thought about it, fantasized about it, and the least she wanted to do now was have Amal misunderstand any corrections as objection to being girlfriends.

“Ohooohhhhh-” Dilek waved their hand in front of their face and watched them, mischief sparkling in their eyes. They turned to their friends. “Hey, why don’t you take our new friend here to the bonfires for some good natured fun. We’ll follow soon enough.”

 

April goals

So since I’m starting a new parttime job (yay!) this month I’ll have less time to write, meaning I’ll adjust my wordcount to half. My nano goal is 10.000 words, so I’m going to make it easy and say that’ll be my goal for April.