October Weeks's Blog

I thought I was finished adding scenes to the Dark Academia book. As it turns out, I am not *sigh* I was about halfway through the “touching up” edit when the book made it known that I needed to add scenes, and they are not lengthy scenes as if I’m adding new chapters. They are shorter scenes. I took to the notebook and have already written out seven scenes, with a few more that need to be written.

I was so convinced I was on the last round of edits for this book, but sometimes this happens. For me, this is not common as I’ve been writing so long I have a good feel for when I’m nearing completion and the book is almost reading for the editor/submission. I was quite surprised by the additional scenes! So, with this book, I think it’s best I don’t say, “I’m on the last round!”.

For the other books I’m working on: Shards is nearly done and I expect to have that editor-ready by the end of the year, and the same goes for The Scrying House. Tuck 4 is still in-progress, and while I’m disappointed it’s slowed down once again, I am happy that the words are still coming (in paragraphs and sentences some days, but still coming) and haven’t stopped completely. I recently wrote another chapter in Sera’s second as well.

So, there is forward movement but not as much as I’d hoped at this point in the year, but that’s okay. The words flow how they want to flow.

A quick note to let you know that I’ve been scaling back my social media pages, and have deleted quite a few today. Now, other than here and the website, you can find me on Instagram and Youtube.

The main reason for this is because I was starting to feel as if I was focusing on what to post for content rather than the words I want to write. Scaling back allows me to focus on writing, and makes room for more creative flow. Most of my reader interactions are on Instagram and YouTube, so that is why I am keeping those

After much thought, I’ve decided to stop doing the podcast. Haunted October’s Paranormal Podcast was so much fun to do! I started it in 2020, and learned so much in the process of creating the episodes. But I haven’t recorded an episode in almost six months, and I cannot see myself going back it in a regular fashion.

Thank you all so much for listening to it! I’m not saying I’ll never go back, but for now, this is the best option for me

Apologies for the lack of updates. Since I finished revision and edit rounds, I’ve been in the resting phase, where I set the books aside and let them rest a bit before diving back in. This phase is important as it allows me to take a short break after each round, and when I pick the books back up for the next round I’m seeing everything with fresh, rested eyes.

As much as I love this revision/edit stage (in fact, it is my favorite), if I do back-to-back rounds without rest, I begin to miss small details. I skim over lines instead of read them with a critical eye.

As soon as I pick the books back up, which should be sometime in the next week, I will post more frequently.

I finished the latest round of revisions for The Scrying House (Eden Hollow, book two) a few days ago, and ended up adding about 2k words. Edits will be the focus when I pick the book up again, so no huge changes are being made forward going. I’m excited about this because it means I’m one step closer to sending The Scrying House to the editor! And because I’m so damn happy about being at this stage, I’m going to reshare the cover:

A short update on progress: the dark academia is still moving right along, as expected. I also started the next round of revisions on The Scrying House (Eden Hollow, book 2), as I mentioned in the last post, and am now four chapters into that. I should have them done by mid-July, if not sooner. It took me longer to dive back into the book than I expected, but this round of revisions should go quickly.

Sera’s second book is also flowing again, and I’m just starting the chapter that will close out the first quarter of the book. Poor Sera is not going to be pleased with me by the end of this chapter *sigh*

Since I last posted, I did a thorough read-through of the fantasy novel I’ve been working on between projects. I’m happy about this because I now have a clear vision of how the last quarter of this book will play out, which I’ve been struggling with for several months. I’ve also made big steps toward finishing the current round of revisions for the dark academia. This has included adding both short and long scenes to chapters which gives the story more depth and meaning.

I’ve also made some notes on the fourth Tuck book as well as both Sera’s and Elvira’s second books. I’m hoping to dig into the second Eden Hollow story this week and finish those revision within the next two weeks, which is quite doable.

I apologize for missing two weeks for the weekly updates I had been doing, but the stories had me and I felt the need to take a short break from posting. But I will be back at the weekly pace now that all the books are moving smoothly.

This week I finished the latest round of Shards revisions. I’m so happy with this round! Saint may not be thrilled, but I am. I am now focusing on the dark academia, and am already five chapters into this round of revisions. With the dark academia, I had recently added a lot of new scenes, so this round of revisions is refining the transitions between what was there and what was added. I also know that I will need to add words and shuffle a few things around because some of the new material I added is going to change other parts of the book (like one new scene at the end changes something in the 3rd chapter).

The second Eden Hollow book is also beginning to make some noise in my mind, alerting me that I’ve let it sit long enough since the last round of revisions. I’ve also added a good chunk of words to the second Elvira Monk book.

This week has been very productive!

A brief blog to report that I’ve finished the latest round of revisions for Shards, Saint’s second book. I ended up adding around 3.5k words, which includes an epilogue. I’m much happier with the ending now! Now, I’m going to let the book rest for a bit, maybe around a week, and then I’ll start the next round.

I was meant to be on vacation this past week, in Scotland, but my body had other ideas. I instead spent the week sick. For writing, I did get through more chapter revisions of Saint’s second book. I’m two chapters from the end of the book, but I need to fix a chapter before finishing. I knew the moment I began to read the chapter that it needed to be fixed, though it won’t change the remaining two chapters in terms of events. The words don’t flow well, so a chapter rewrite it is.

As of late, I’ve been called to write haikus and poem-spells (for my spiritual work) and I’m loving it. I haven’t written a haiku since high school! Both came out of the blue. But writing them is allowing my creativity to flow better, sparking so much joy.

Much like writing in a notebook helps me when I’m having trouble getting words on the page, and when I feel stuck with a scene, writing the haikus and poems is giving my creativity an extra boost. Reminding me of my passion for writing and why I love sharing stories.