It is time for my monthly writing update. January was a month of regaining momentum. After writing the first draft of a novel in November, I spent much of December mostly avoiding writing. With the new year I’ve been slowly easing back into my writing projects.
Writing Group
Earlier this month the writing critique group at Village Books here in Bellingham read the first chapter of my current novel in progress. I received some awesome feedback that I put into immediate action.Last month I’d mentioned another group I was going to check out. For now, I’ve decided against this. They sound like a wonderful group, but I only have so many days a month to devote to meeting with writing groups. The Village Books group meets twice a month, which means about 28,000 words of fiction I am reading and critiquing every month for others. This takes up a sizeable chunk of time and, thus, do not want to add another group I’d have to read for. At least for now.
Writing Projects
As noted above, my writing momentum is slowly building back up. I am still trudging away on my novel. Currently I’m writing chapter 12 while simultaneously going back and revising the early chapters for the Village Books critique group. Someday I will finish this book. It won’t be anytime soon, and I’m okay with that.I’m also attempting to brainstorm some new short story ideas. I’ve got a few cooking in the brain pan. I’m hoping to soon transition my Patreon content from chapters of a novel to different short stories or a long running serial. I’m still planning that out. Once I get those ducks in a row I want to do a new drive to collect a slew of patrons. The money I make on Patreon pretty much goes towards paying off student loans for the time being.
In other news, I’m thinking about setting up a newsletter for my monthly writerly updates. So be on the lookout for that. And, as always, if you like what you see here and would like to support my creative itch, be sure to support me on Patreon. For as little as $1 a month you can live the dream of supporting art in the making. For $2 or more you will get a brand spankin new chunk of fiction from me every month. For February it is Chapters 1 thru 6 of my current novel in progress: Shadows Beneath Us.