November Reading Wrap-Up

I am pretty impressed with myself.

Why? I hear you ask

Because I'm a slow reader that's not why I'm impressed hear me out

I'm not one of those people who can read 10+ books in a month. BUT...in November I read six books.....yes SIX BOOKS...which is amazing for me! 

Before we get into all the books I read this month, I have a few pieces of news. Little snippets, if you will...

November Writing Update - AKA Prepare to be Extremely Underwhelmed at my Progress

So to be honest...the month of November was the best of a bad bunch when it comes to writing this Autumn. I knew this would happen. Over the summer I was on break from uni and so had writing time in abundance! I finished my first draft and made a good dent in my edits. 

Yeeeeeah...not so much anymore

I started back at uni in October, and the workload this semester is fairly heavy - at least compared to exactly zero work in the summer - and it's taken me a while to get back into the swing of things. 

honestly though...goals

Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR

I used to participate in Top Ten Tuesday all the time back when I ran my old book blog and I've decided that I want to hop back in over here too. If you don't know - Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week there is a new bookish topic to compile a list about. 

And who doesn't love lists? 

This week's topic is: 

Top Ten Books On My Winter TBR

So let's jump right in...

There are a few books that I know I definitely want to read over the coming months, but this list isn't concrete. I'm always changing my mind when it comes to what I'm reading next so this could aaaaaallll change in ze future. That being said, here are some of the books I plan to read in December, January and February

(P.S. I'm not a 'seasonal' reader like some bloggers, so don't expect lots of Christmassy/Wintery/Valentines Day-ey books on this list. I just read whatever I want whenever I want. Oh the freedom!!) 

A Writing Crisis

I'm having a moment.

I'm pretty sure that I'm not the only one who has ever had this moment.

So I'm sharing the moment - mainly for self-cathartic reasons.

So I've been working on my book Prince of Blades since last August. The novel is the first in an YA/adult crossover fantasy series and it is my sweet baby cinnamon roll. I have lived and breathed this novel since I first got the idea for it. I'm honestly in love with the characters, the world and the story, and like I mentioned in my last post - I'm currently 70k words through the first draft.

To explain my 'moment'...I need to take a little step back in time to when I first conceived the idea for Prince of Blades.

Come with me if you will...

AuthorTube Work In Progress Tag

I'm not actually on YouTube. I would absolutely love to have a BookTube/AuthorTube channel but I just don't know if I will ever actually set one up. Maybe in the future, who knows? This tag was originally created by Jessi from LifeOfATeenageWriter, I saw it on Lainey's channel (gingerreadslainey) and decided that I wanted to do it here on my blog...so here we are. 

There are ten questions in this tag to help you get to know my current project better, so let's just jump right in with...

My Drafting Process

So, did I mention that I finished my first draft of Prince of Blades?

Let's celebrate again....

Okay, got that out of my system. Moving on...

This was the first time for me actually writing a full novel from start to finish, and my drafting process changed as I plodded along. I found a way of writing that really works for me, keeps me productive, and ensures that I never get stuck along the way. I wanted to share my process with you in this post.

NOTE: This is just MY way of doing things. Every writer is different and this isn't going to work for everybody, but it works for me. Take my words with a pinch of salt, I am not Author God, but if you have found yourself stuck in your own drafting process, or you're simply reluctant to start because writing a book feels waaaay too daunting - then try my way and just see how it goes.

NOTE 2: I am an outliner. It's the way I do things, and my method is very structured. For all you pantsers out there, this may not be the best method for you, but feel free to tweak away and try and make it work.

I've got the sand!

It's been quite the while since I last blogged. I could come up with all kinds of excuses, but truth is there isn't one. I've been neglectful.

In all honestly, I didn't blog because their wasn't much in the way of updates going on. The final semester of university was pretty full-on. I was so up to my eyeballs in essays and scripts that there was just no time to work on my own creative projects. I have finished now until September when it aaaallll begins again, and I've finally had chance to crack on with my writing.

So I guess the biggest news to share is....

I finally finished the first draft of Prince of Blades !!!