Battery Problems...

Hello! How are you today?

Well, the last week of August is turning out to be a bit of a weird one. I mean, it's cool that the weather is mellowing out a bit. It's also nice that the sun doesn't fully set until just before six. And I'm glad the rain finally stopped, but something just felt... off. Of course, it could be the change in my husband's roster, or maybe because we didn't get enough sleep several times this week.

Either way, I'm not sure why winter is ending on such a shitty note, but I'm glad it's almost over. Can't wait for spring.

Oh, you know what else happened? My phone started acting weird. The battery decided to do percentage countdowns out of nowhere before clonking out completely. So I looked into it and according to several places, the Pixel is known for battery swelling. Um... WHAT? Since when?? And after more research, I thought: at least mine isn't doing that. Except, after taking the case off to make sure, it WAS SWOLLEN! The whole right side of the screen was popping up. 😳

And according to the internet, it wasn't safe to use it for more than a couple of days before facing the risk of your phone combusting. WTF?! Man, that scared the hell out of me. I mean, how did this happen? No one knows the exact reason, btw.

We've had our Pixel 6 (we both got one at the same time) for about three-and-a-half years. IMO, electronic devices die too quickly. No doubt, a feature that's purposely done to make us upgrade. Ugh.

So, I now have a new phone. Yay. A snazzy lilac Motorola Moto g86 Power. No more Pixels for me, thanks. I spent the majority of Friday night customising and adding stuff to it. I've had it for twenty-four hours and really like it.

What an unexpected ordeal! Yikes.

Luckily, before my phone died, I completed another short story. Another one that turned out longer than I expected, and a lot sadder too. Tragic, even.

Total word count: 3,104.

Here's the new vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and fourteen short stories. At this stage, the total word count has passed 51k, so we're looking at an entire volume of stories from a variety of secondary characters. And that makes me very happy because I'm enjoying myself.

I LOVE telling stories. It's such a wonderful feeling.

Anyway, I started another shortie too. Now that my phone is ready to use, hopefully I'll get back to it. But first, I've got to finish tidying up my desk. That's my next spring cleaning project.

I guess that's about it for this week. Had to deal with some unexpected stuff, and we also went to the dentist for our six-moth cleaning/check up appointment.

Have an awesome weekend!!

Rainy Words & Books

Hey! How are you today?

Well, the weekend is here and the sun finally decided to make a comeback after FIVE DAYS of NON-STOP RAIN. 😱

Seriously, it was unbearable. Especially for someone who doesn't like rainy days at the best of times. It was so bad that it got in the way of my daily walks. Too much rain sucks and because I walk around the river, the puddles are huge. I really hope that it's done for a while.🤞

Asides from putting up with all this shitty weather, I've been really busy spring cleaning/reorganising. I have a lot of books and stationery so I'm determined to trim the fat while going through everything. The worst thing about doing this is finding books that I love (I'm a bibliophile, after all) that are riddled with foxing. 😫

It sucks and I just don't understand why this happens.

Anyway, I also completed the final read-thru of the short story I wrote last weekend. After the first draft, I suspected the word count would go up to 2k, but it ended up even longer.

Total word count: 3,159.

I was actually surprised that this tale turned out this long, but after some very handy feedback from my husband, I added and rewrote the ending. Very happy with how it turned out.

Here's the new vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and thirteen short stories.

BUT! As expected, as soon as that story was finished, I started a new one. The words came to me in a rush after I woke up on Thursday morning and boy, it felt so good to get this one finally written because it's lived in my brain for a while now. 

I'm up to third draft and the word count has reached: 2,994. I'm looking forward to revising and completing this one.

Tonight we finished watching REVIVAL S1 and OMFG, this show is amazing!! I enjoyed the hell out of it and that ending was: 😳!!

Well, that's about it for now.

Hope you have an awesome weekend!!

Telling More Stories...

How are you today? I hope you had a great week!

I spent this week doing a bunch of things, while hoping that the rain would go away. We've been having too much rain lately and it's bugging the hell out of me because I like to bitch about shitty weather. 😫

I just want more than one sunny day during the week. Is that too much to ask? At least spring is around the corner. Two more weeks of winter left. Can't wait because I'm done with the cold.

So, my main goal was to get another short story (that I wrote last weekend) finished. This one turned out to be quite a sad tale, and a lot longer than I thought it would be. It broke my heart, though.
 

Total word count: 5,848.

And here's my vampire world update: two novels, one novelette, and twelve short stories. Very cool.

It's funny how this keeps happening. I finish a story, decide to take a break and figure that it'll take at least a few days before I get started on a new one, but then I go for a walk and start drafting the next one in my head. LOL. It's really amazing, but these characters are loud, and I can't ignore them.

Another awesome thing I'm enjoying is the way I'm toying with different styles and formats to tell these tales.

Anyway, the first draft of the next story is done at: 1,758. I suspect the next draft will probably push it over the 2k mark, but I'm glad I wrote another one to add to the collection. 😊

Well, aside from the writing and revision, I read another novella. I also got a bunch of spring cleaning done and reorganised my bookshelves. It was a lot of work and I felt sore the next day, but it was great.

One last thing, if you're interested in checking out my debut short story collection, MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS, you can grab a Kindle copy for 99c! Sale ends on Monday.

Okay. Hope you all have an awesome week!

It's August!

Hey! Can you believe how fast the year is going?! Yikes. 😳

So, how are you? I hope you're having a cool week. Here, in Sydney, the weather took a turn for the miserable on Wednesday. And it's been raining since. It's also freaking cold. I dislike being cold. At least it's the last month of winter.

After a week full of editing, I wanted to take a mental break. You know, a bit of reading and sorting. Maybe taking story notes. Instead, I started writing a new short story on Sunday night and kept adding words. A few days later, the first draft was done. Then, I did the second draft, and... To cut a long story short, I completed the final read-thru tonight.

Total word count: 5,781.

So much for a break, right? 😅 But if a story hounds me, I'm not going to ignore the words. Especially since everything about this tale was so vivid in my mind, and I couldn't wait to write it. Before you ask, yes, it's another story set in my vampire world. 

That's 2 novels, 1 novelette, and 10 short stories. So far. Because I'm not done yet. I'm very excited about all of these characters, their world, and I can't stop writing about them. Which is awesome. Writing these stories make me happy.

As for the reading side of things, it didn't start well. I got stuck into Rose Madder on Monday, but had to put it down the next day because I couldn't get into it. I found the beginning intriguing but lost interest fast. Here are my thoughts.

Instead, I started reading some Carniepunk short stories. I've read four so far and they're awesome. Very impressed with the quality of these dark tales. Looking forward to reading more. You can check out my reviews below.

Okay. That's about it. I'm excited about the weekend.

Hope you have an awesome time!

Watching, Revising & Reading

Hey, how's it going? I hope you're having a great day.

This week turned out to be great, as far as my writing goals and spending time with my husband, but it was the worst for dealing with people. I seriously hate that the general population doesn't seem to understand common courtesy anymore, or manners. Even customer service appears to be a forgotten thing. And I hate how most people don't understand the concept of criticism. Too many thin-skinned assholes out there who like to act like rotten bastards and don't want to be called out on it. And don't even get me started on companies who advertise about offering an easy way to transfer different currencies and then end up stealing all your money.

Like I said, it was the week of motherfuckers.

But onto other better things.

I finished watching the rest of DAISY JONES & THE SIX and really enjoyed it! The 70s aesthetics were as perfect as the music, and the ending hit as hard as the book. Overall, they did a great job at capturing the essence of the book and the characters. It was a trip to watch the band perform songs that could've easily fit into the 70s. Cool show! 😊🎶

Glad I finally watched it. 

The other great thing I did was complete the novelette I finished writing last week. I had a great time writing and revising this story, and everything that happened surprised me in many ways, but also made total sense.

Total word count: 13,001.

This is actually the tenth story I've written in this (vampire) world this year. And that doesn't include the two novels (90k each) that started all of this. Plus I still have a list of other characters waiting to tell their tale, LOL.

I also read a very cool novella, CRANBERRY COVE by Hailey Piper, and got started on the final proofing of my upcoming novel from Brigids Gate Press, FALLEN DESTINY, which I'll get stuck into on Monday.

Yeah, got lots of things to do. 😊

Have an awesome weekend!

Sorta Break

Hi, how are you today?

I hope everything is okay in your corner of the world. I know it's hard at the moment because there are so many crappy things going on all the time, but that's why it's important to find happiness.

So, after spending last week doing an intense round of edits, I enjoyed a nice mental break. Which is actually a good thing because not only was I mentally exhausted, but the weather has been so shit lately that I caught a cold. I felt pretty shitty most of this week. 🤧

And yes, I was sickish on my birthday. Ugh.

It sucks, but I kept up with my daily walks around the river. Hell, I even managed to finish the first draft of the story I've been working on. The word count ended up being 10k, and I just completed the second draft about ten minutes ago.

It's now 12k. 🦇

I really didn't expect this particular character's story to end up past 10k, but I'm not surprised because it's really a tale that covers several changes between two different characters. Also, last night I came up with a very small tweak that made a huge difference to the second draft.

Love when that happens!

Oh, and I finally got a chance to read! I've been so busy with my own writing and organising my new bookshelves lately that I didn't get a chance to read for a while. I read two cool books: THE NIGHT GUEST by Hildur Knútsdótti and SUNBURN by Laura Lippman. Really enjoyed both of them, especially TNG.

Also started watching the DAISY JONES & THE SIX TV show and I'm enjoying it. A lot. I'm four episodes in and can't wait to see how it turns out. I read and absolutely LOVED the book last year, SO MUCH. The 70s vibes and music match the book so far, plus the aesthetics are beautiful. 🎶😍🎶

Also, the MURDERBOT S1 finale was awesome.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm looking forward to enjoying a nice and relaxing weekend with my husband.

Have a great time!

Busy Week Full of Words

Hey! How are you today? I hope you're well and finding some happiness and fun during the shittiest timeline ever. 🙄

Every single morning there's a new stupid and cruel thing happening. It's awful to watch. I wish people had paid proper attention and saw exactly what we did. But hate means more to some people than anything else. It's a shame.

See the lovely demon girl above? That's Destiny. She's the main character in my upcoming novel from Brigids Gate Press. Why am I talking about her? Well, I spent this week revisiting her story during an intense round of edits, which I completed early this morning.

It was nice to catch up with Destiny, Kenan, and all the other occultish characters. It's a stand-alone cozy/urban fantasy novel about a demon who is hired by a nun to find an angel. 

You know, Hellboy x Constantine. 😁

Oh, just a quick note about the graphic I posted here. I made this on a website called Picrew several years ago. Picrew is a doll maker website where human artists upload their art and users can make cute versions of themselves. Or as I like to do, my characters. This isn't AI. You all know how I feel about AI. I despise gen AI and don't use it for absolutely anything. Personally, I don't understand people's dependency on it, but that's a different story.

I just wanted to make it clear that the graphic I made isn't AI slop. It's from a cool doll maker website I've been using for years.

Anyway, let's get on with the rest of the post. LOL.

As I mentioned above, I spent all week working on edits. It's been a while since I last read this novel, so I paid special attention to everything. Really happy with the result and I'll keep you updated on the cover, release date, etc.

Although I spent most of my time editing, I also squeezed a bit of writing into the week because my two vampire boys are loud and demanded I keep telling their story. I added another 2k words, which brings the total to 5,600. Yeah, this one's going to be a much longer one.

I didn't get a chance to continue my Kallax organising, but my bookshelves are a WIP, so that's okay.

Well, that's about it for now. I'm kinda mentally and physically exhausted right now, so having a three-day weekend is going to be great. Yeah, my husband is taking Monday off because the 7th is my birthday. 😊

Have an awesome weekend!!

Writing, Watching, Reading...

Hey!

How are you today? What did you get up to this week?

We started ours with a public holiday, so that was great. What isn't great is how cold it is. As soon as June started, the temperature has dropped dramatically and I'm already over it.

Well, we finally watched SINNERS and absolutely LOVED IT. What an amazing movie. I'm a vampire fan from way back and never get tired of new vamp tales, and this one was original, gory and visually stunning. Not to mention the cool music.

We also finished watching S4 of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING. This is a show we started years after everyone else, but I'm SO glad we caught up because it's fantastic! Addictive and cozy. Has a great cast and twisty mysteries. Plus it's very funny. I miss it already.

In my last post, I mentioned that I slipped during a rainy walk last week and skinned my knee. Well, it's still scraped and the big band-aid has become a permanent fixture. I mean, it's definitely getting better, but the healing process is slow. Not to mention that the band-aid protecting the wound has kinda irritated the skin around it. 😫

Anyway, let's talk about writing.

Last weekend, while taking it easy on the couch with my husband, I wrote a new short story on my phone. I challenged myself to write it in a style I've never tried before, and had a lot of fun! I even revised it on my laptop on Tuesday, so it's done. Yay.

Final word count is: 1,834.

I then spent a couple of days reading a book called SLAGS. You can read my review below, but spoiler: I really enjoyed it. ☺️

And on Thursday night, after I wrote and posted my review, I ended up writing another story on my phone. It's currently under 1,000 words. To be honest, it's more like a shortie told in verse. Not sure when I'll finalise this one, but I've already started revising and read it to my husband.

I know I've mentioned this before, but the stories keep coming so... Although VampNovel1 and VampNovel2 are done, the secondary characters who live in this world with the two main characters aren't done with me yet. They keep whispering in my ear, pound my brain with ideas, and the words keep coming.

I'm not complaining because I'm having a great time. Writing these tales is fun and exciting, plus I'm doing a lot of research about the twentieth century, which is actually very cool and insightful.

Okay, that's it for today. We've got a week off because my husband has annual leave, and I can't wait.

Have a great weekend!

My Version of a Week Off...

How's it going?

Well, Friday's finally here and when my husband gets home, the long weekend begins. And then, next week, we have another long weekend, followed by a week off. Can't wait! But first we're going to enjoy the next three days. 😁

This week turned out to be a little heavy. Hubby started work earlier than usual so it kinda threw our sleeping out a bit. It's tiring, but we got through it.

Of course, it doesn't help that I spent two nights making more tweaks/additions to VampNovel1 & VampNovel2, when I was supposed to be taking a mental break. LOL. But you see, I wrote a new short story set in this world, and it takes place during these two books. So, while going through the timeline to make sure everything matched, I found something that I had to alter. Nothing big, but minor details that needed to be fixed.

That's one of the coolest things about writing these short stories, they're enhancing the two novels. Tightening threads that I might have missed because on the surface, they don't seem to be important.

Oh, and the best thing? Tonight, I finished the final read-thru of this particular story on my Paperwhite. So it's done!!

Final word count is: 4,861.

This is the longest one (set in this world) so far.

Also, that's my eleventh short story this year.

OMG. On Wednesday, I was walking in the rain and slipped on the wet pavement. Fell on my left knee and ripped my leggings, plus scraped the hell out of the skin underneath. Ugh. So now, I'm walking around with a big band-aid because the skin is screwed up. Not to mention that it's starting to scab so I can feel the tightening of the skin. Your knee isn't the best place to have a giant scab. 😫

So, I did manage to read one book and watch one movie. I read THE VILLA by Rachel Hawkins and absolutely LOVED it! I can't believe this book didn't get more attention. Especially if you're a Mary Shelley fan, like me. And the movie I watched is, THE IDEA OF YOU, which I really enjoyed. It's faithful to the book, but also different. I think both are great!

This weekend I have no definite plans to write anything, but sometimes late at night when I'm checking out my phone... inspiration strikes and I end up starting something. 😅

I'll keep you posted.

Have an awesome day!!

The Revision is Done!

Hey! How are you today? I hope you all had a great week. Ours started with a long weekend (awesome) and the next four days turned out to be a blur of revision and rain.

Yeah, we've been having some shitty weather in NSW. I really hope the sun makes a comeback and sticks around for a while. Fingers crossed.

Well, as I mentioned above, I got stuck into the final read-thru of VampNovel2 this week. So, after listening to my Playlist during my daily afternoon walks (except for Thursday because it was pouring for most of the day), I grabbed my Paperwhite and some scrap paper. Then, I settled down to read the story, while taking note of any errors.

I cut a bunch of excess, but added quite a bit too. Something peculiar happened. Just before getting started on Tuesday, I decided to add a new subplot that fit the narrative and complicates things a little more. As well as changed a certain detail about a few characters. So that required a little extra work.

Anyway, after working really hard on this final draft, I finally reached The End! 

• New VampNovel1 final word count is: 90,348.

• New VampNovel2 final word count is: 90,746.

I'm SO excited! Not only did I finalise the second novel tonight, but because the two books are connected, I also had to update VampNovel1. Any changes/additions made to VampNovel2, directly affect VampNovel1. That meant a lot of extra tweaking. But I absolutely LOVED every single minute spent with these characters, so I didn't mind.

As I mentioned last month, the initial story idea came to me around this time last year. This 80s vampire story is a violent horrormance with plenty of complications.

I'm very happy because I set myself the personal goal of completing VampNovel1 in April, and VampNovel2 in May. As you can see, I did it. Yay!!

Oh, and one more thing. Do you watch Only Murders in the Building? We started watching it the other day and binged the whole first season very quickly. It's ADDICTIVE & I love it. Love cozy mysteries. They're very comfy and intriguing, with quite a bit of danger. Loving it.

We're also enjoying Murderbot and Duster.

That's about it for now. Have an awesome weekend! 

 

The Revision Continues...

Hey, how are you today? The weekend is finally here, and because my husband has an RDO on Monday, it's a three-day weekend. Awesome!

So, did you have a nice week? We slept in and hung out most mornings before hubby went to work, but today we had to get up early so our apartment intercom could be updated. Ugh. And because of that, I've been feeling wonky all day, especially since I slipped on the tiles in the laundry and hurt my left knee. 😫

Anyway, on Monday, I got stuck into the third draft of VampNovel2 and lost myself in this vampire world every afternoon/night. I love spending time with these characters, so I'm really enjoying the process.

This is how I went:

• Monday: 53/236pgs (90,621w)
• Tuesday: 102/234pgs (90,122w) 
• Wednesday: 158/237pgs (90,214w)
• Thursday: 212/237pgs (90,113w) 
• Friday: 240pgs / 91,125w

As you can see, the third draft is DONE. And I'm SO excited. I worked really hard on this draft because there were certain things I wanted to tweak and rewrite to deepen the characters and story. Nothing drastic, but additions/deleting that had to be made. And of course, any changes in this book, need to be reflected in VampNovel1.

It's challenging, but a lot of fun!

Oh, and did I mention that this 80s vampire world keeps throwing new short story ideas my way? Yeah, I started taking notes because a bunch of these characters refuse to shut up and their whispers are too hard to ignore.

Okay, time to sign out so I can enjoy a three-day mental break. Before hitting the final Paperwhite read-thru next week. 😁

Have a good one!

Time to Revise!

Hey! How are you today? What did you get up? I hope you had a great week.

Last Saturday, was Election Day in Australia, and I'm excited to report that the LNP (right-wing idiots) lost. Big time. And the Labor party won. Actually, it was a freaking landslide, and the election was won by Anthony Albanese in two hours! Yep. Looks like Australia responded to what we think about fascists.

Now, if only the US would get rid of that fucking Orange Turd.

Anyway, let's chat about better things.

After taking a two-week break to read and write short stories, my goal was to complete the second draft of what I'm tentatively calling, VampNovel2.

Here's how I went:

• Monday: 51/231pgs (92,446w)
• Tuesday: 102/230pgs (91,302w) 
• Wednesday: 153/228pgs (89,897w)
• Thursday: 209/231pgs (90,060w) 
• Friday:  234pgs / 90,624w

As you can see, I cut quite a few words. All fat that didn't need to be there.

I reached the end tonight, and I'm really happy. Yay. 😁

Working on stories set in this 80s vampire world is turning out to be SO MUCH FUN, and I don't think I'm done yet. Oher characters are lining up to tell their tales next. LOL.

Now that the second draft is done, I'll put it aside until next Monday and then I'll tackle the third draft. I'm looking forward to it, but first I want to enjoy a few days with my husband.

Well, my brain feels like mush so that's it for now.

Hope you have an awesome weekend!

Reading, Writing & Revising

Hey! It's me again. How are you today? What did you get up to this week?

Personally, I got a bunch of stuff done. Initially, I planned to concentrate on reading, and to be honest, it did start that way. On Monday, I read and thoroughly enjoyed the novelisation of The Lost Boys. I finished it in one afternoon/night because it was SO much fun. LOVED IT! There's just something about 80s movie novelisations that really grab me. Of course, the fact this is based on the screenplay of one of my all-time favourite movies might have something to do with it. 😃

Then on Tuesday, I completed the final read-thru of the monster lovin' short story that I wrote on my phone over the long weekend. Yeah, it's a shortie but definitely a lot of cheeky fun. I even read it to my husband, and by Monday night, it was sitting on my Paperwhite for one last revision/read.

Final word count is: 1,698.

During Wednesday and Thursday night, I read Retreat by Krysten Ritter. It's such a great and totally twisty psychological thriller. Lots of glitzy rich lifestyle vibes, with a good dose of scandalous mystery and plenty of attitude.

Between reading this book, I also wrote and revised another short story. This one came to me on Sunday and I started writing it on my phone. But after the initial 200 words, I stalled. It wasn't until my afternoon walk on Monday that I realised a simple format change was just what this tale needed. And it worked! Because I finished writing it shortly after that.

Tonight, I completed the read-thru on my Paperwhite.

Final word count: 3,147.

This short story ended up a bit longer than I thought it would be, but I'm not surprised because it's set in the same world as VampNovel1 & VampNovel2. Man, the characters in this world are very chatty. Every time I finish one story, another idea drops into my brain. And these side/prequel tales are deepening the overall story. 😳

Speaking of these novels, I'm hoping to get started on the revision of VampNovel2 next week. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, this was the first full working week in three weeks, and it sure turned out to be productive. My muse has been buzzing and I'm having such a great time getting to know all of these secondary characters.

Now it's time to enjoy two days with my husband. Tomorrow it's Election Day in Australia, so we'll be popping in to the local school to vote. I really hope that the LNP (conservative assholes) don't win. They just want to fuck things up with cruelty and bullshit. Wish I could trust people to be smart enough to realise this is the case, but sadly, I don't have much faith in humanity nowadays.

Hope things turn out well, like they did in Canada. Wish us luck. 

Have a great one!

PS. So far, I've written and revised 8 short stories this year.

A Week Full of Stories!

Hey, how are you today? I hope you're having a great week.

As you know, I finished an extensive (3-week) novel revision last Thursday night and when I woke up on Good Friday, I was mentally exhausted. Seriously drained. So I really enjoyed the four-day break with my husband. Lots of relaxing, nice food, walking, a little shopping, and even some naps. It was awesome!

I felt recharged and ready to take a few weeks off between projects.

Yeah, that was the original plan. But then I decided it was time to complete the final read-thru of the short story I finished a few weeks ago. So I did that on Tuesday.

The final word count is: 3,173.

Very happy with this story now. I changed the ending during the second draft, but by the time the third draft was done, it ended up being more like a complete rewrite. Sometimes I do that. 😅

In the meantime, I wrote a new story on Sunday night. On my phone. See, after our nap on Saturday, I woke up with the first line of the story in my head, and when I typed it out so I wouldn't forget, I didn't stop until the whole first draft was done.

This violent little tale is actually a prequel to VampNovel1/VampNovel2. Yeah, this is the world that keeps on expanding. Just when I think I'm done, another story pops up. LOL.

Anyway, I worked on the second and third drafts on my phone, and read the final read-thru tonight. And now—after marking all the problems, deleting some excess, taking care of rep words, making the changes on Word, and doing a spell check—it's done.

The final word count is: 2,966.

I'm super excited about this story because it came out of nowhere. 

So, that means I've completed six short stories this year. That's 18,720 words worth of shorties. Not bad. 😊

What else did I do? I read the first Murderbot novella and the latest Grady Hendrix short story release. I also went for daily walks, even though it rained a few times. Oh, yeah. We watched and hated the second episode of The Last of Us. Decided we're not watching anymore. After wasting our time on 10 shitty Yellowjackets S3 episodes (this season was seriously bad), we're done watching mediocre shows.

Well, that's it for today. I'm going to enjoy another long weekend with my husband. Three days this time. Nice.

Have a good one!

This Revision is Done!

Hey! How are you today? I hope you're all having a nice week.

I know the world is in a terrible state right now, but I'm trying to lose myself in stories. And when I'm not writing, I love spending time with my husband. 😍

This week I got stuck into the final read-thru of my current revision, which is VampNovel1. I know that's not what I said I would do in last week's post, but after chatting to my husband last Sunday about my change of plans, I realised that completing this project before starting VampNovel2 just felt... right.

That means that after my daily afternoon walks, I sat down with my Paperwhite and read the story from start to finish. At this stage I usually find weird sentences, repeated words, and awkward phrasing. I also cut a lot of excess, and add new details. It's pretty much all about the nitty-gritty.

And I reached The End tonight! I even made all the changes, formatted the doc, did a spell check, and made a few final-final tweaks.

The final word count is: 90,075.

I'm super excited about this story because this character has been with me for about a year. It's a dark vampire story set in the 80s and deals with a lot of issues. Some I added to the plot, and other things that popped up during the revision process. It's also a horrormance novel because I can't stay away from hot vampires. 😅

And there's still VampNovel2 to revise. But that's a story for another day.

Now that my current revision is done, I'm mentally exhausted so I need a break. Good thing it's the Easter long weekend. Yay.

Well, have an awesome break! 

The Revision Continues...

How are you today?

I hope this week turned out to be a good one for you! 

Here, in Sydney, the days got a lot shorter but I'm trying to stay positive. The fact I hung out with my husband every morning, that I went for my daily walks during the day (mostly sunny) and listened to my 80s Playlist (awesome) certainly helped. Not to mention that I spent every afternoon and night working on the third draft of my WIP, VampNovel1.

And I really lost myself in these words.

Seriously, I'm enjoying the hell out of this story and every time I sit down to work on it, I love it a little more. From the start, something about these characters and their world totally drew me in. Even when it was a small idea, slowly gaining momentum in my brain, I knew it would turn out to be a lot of wicked fun.

Vampires are just awesome. 😁

Anyway, this is my progress:

• Monday: 51/228pgs (90,436w)
• Tuesday: 103/230pgs (90,268w) 
• Wednesday: 154/234pgs (90,868w)
• Thursday: 196/235pgs (90,451w) 
• Friday: 236pgs / 90,042w

Yay! The third draft is DONE and I'm super excited. I worked really hard on this draft. 

As you can see, the word count went up and down every single day. I actually cut a lot of excess, but also added quite a few words. All things that strengthen the story and make sure everything ties up nicely.

Usually, after this stage, I'd do one final read-thru on my Paperwhite. But I'm doing things different this time.

And there are two reasons for that:

1. My husband is having three long weekends in a row this month (fantastic!)
2. I have VampNovel2 to consider...

So, I'm looking forward to spending some extra time with my husband during all these days off. And because there are two weeks when he'll work only three days, I've allocated those six days (ends up being two weeks) to work on VampNovel2.

Then I'll work on the third draft during the last week of April. So when that's all done, I can read one book after the other on my Paperwhite and make sure everything makes sense, pans out, and I can catch any last-minute typos, inconsistencies, etc.

Oh, and I also completed the third draft of the short story I mentioned last week. There were some plot issues I had to fix, several rep words that stood out, and have added it to my Paperwhite. Not sure when I'll do the read-thru, but the word count is now: 3,255.

It turned out to be quite a story-heavy week.

Okay, that's about it. I'm going to enjoy a nice mental break now

Have an awesome weekend!

Time to Revise!

Hey! How are you today? How's April treating you?

Daylight savings ends this weekend, which always bugs me because I prefer the longer daylight hours. Oh well, we're already in autumn and I've been dealing with it okay. I'm one of those people who's prone to seasonal mood swings during colder months, so I have to try and go with the flow.

I also wish the world was in a better state at the moment because there's just too much going on. Every single day there are about a thousand new shit things happening. Ugh.

Anyway, my goal this week was to complete the second draft of what I'm tentatively calling: VampNovel1. You know, because I wrote two and therefore have to revise both of them. LOL.

So, here's my progress:

• Monday: 46/230pgs (90,168w)
• Tuesday: 71/229pgs (89,888w) 
• Wednesday: 125/228pgs (89,840w)
• Thursday: 186/228pgs (90,225w) 
• Friday: 231pgs / 91,226w

I'm so happy that I managed to get to the end of the second draft tonight. The word count went up and down as much as my progress. That's not surprising since some areas always need more work than others.

Now that it's done, I'm mentally exhausted. That's why I'm glad that the weekend is finally here. I really need a break between drafts. That's right, next week I'll be working on the third draft because I want to have that done before our first long weekend. This month we have three! Yay. 😁

Before I got stuck into VampNovel1, I worked on the second draft of a short story I wrote in 2022 but put aside because I didn't like the ending. So, last weekend I read it, cleaned it up, and rewrote the end. I'm much happier now that I fixed all the problems.

The new word count is: 2,943. I'm not sure when I'll get the chance to work on the third draft, but that's cool. I'm taking my time with this project. 

Well, that's it for now. I'm going to veg out on the couch tonight while trying not to think (emphasis on try) about VampNovel1 until Monday.

Have an awesome weekend!

Doing Stuff...

Hey! How you doing today?

Here in Oz, summer is over and in a few weekends it'll be time to turn the clocks back, which I really don't like. I prefer the long days of summer. The shorter days are too depressing and oppressive. Ugh. Not looking forward to it, but I have to stay positive about the season change because there are enough crappy things going on in the world right now.

I'm not going to bother going into how hard I'm finding it to accept that because of selfishness, racism, misogyny, and hate, the world is in such chaos. Really wish people would show a little fucking empathy and mind their own business.

Anyway, this week I wasn't planning on working on anything, but ended up revising/rewriting another short story. This one is actually part of a novel I shelved but felt that this particular section would make a great shortie. And after a little tweaking and additions, I was right!

The final word count for this one is: 3,410. And I'm really happy with the results. ☺️

So, I now have another complete short story. That's four this year.

We also got our flu shots on Wednesday and felt pretty shit for about twenty-four hours. It doesn't hit as hard or as long as the Covid shot, but we were pretty lethargic and achy that afternoon, plus the next day. Feeling better now and glad we keep up with our vaccines.

I also read a book that took me most of the week because the subject matter was just... It's called My Dark Vanessa, and I found it so frustrating. The main character got on my nerves but the writing kept me reading. Although, I do think it could've been at least fifty pages shorter.

Did you guys watch the SEVERANCE S2 finale? We really enjoyed it. Love how it raised so many (more) ethical questions, answered a few, and presented so many new possibilities. Can't wait to see what they do with the next season.

Well, that's about it... Oh, I did start revising another short story first draft I found on my phone. Also got a whole bunch of dusting, sorting, and donating done. I even started going through photos/pics on my phone and have already deleted hundreds.

Yeah. I'm spring cleaning in autumn again.

Have an awesome weekend!

Checking In!

Hey! How are you?

Can you believe we're almost halfway through March? Yikes.

So, my husband went back to work this week, which is the worst after we had such a great break together. It's always hard to get back into the swing of things and I intended to take it easy. Of course, for me, that means tackling smaller projects.

The other night, while sorting and deleting things off my phone, I found a short story I started last year but didn't finish. It's the prequel short story for one of my completed novels. Okay, it's technically a prequel/sequel because it fits in between the two timelines in the novel, but the main thing is that I finished writing it last weekend and even revised it the next day.

When my husband went back to work, I completed the final read-thru, and made all the changes. It's a story that flows very well and complements the book.

The final word count is: 3,255.

Actually, after I finished this tale, I went back to the completed novel and changed/tweaked a few details that came about because of this short story. Nothing big, but enough that I'm even happier with the novel now. 

BTW, this is the third short story I've completed this year, and I just started tweaking another one. ☺️

Asides from that, I read two books this week. One that I really enjoyed because it was so quirky, Hard Copy by Fien Veldman, and one that was okay but too bleak in the worst way possible, Hurricane Season by Fernanda Melchor.

The other thing I've been doing is sorting through a bunch of my collectibles and books. We want to cut down our Funko Pops collection, so that means going through the shelves and getting rid of anything that we're no longer excited about having. There's no space for meh. I'm surprised, but glad, that we've already put quite a few aside (30+ so far).

I love sorting through stuff and figuring out what to keep, but it's really exhausting. And mentally draining. Still, it's always worth the work/effort. Especially when you have limited bookshelf space. Oh, and another cool thing about all the moving around I did last night is that my author copies are all in one place and on display. Cool. 😁

That's it for now. It's been a long week and I'm looking forward to spending the weekend with my husband.

Have a great day!

It's March!

How are you today?

It's Saturday here in Oz and we're enjoying hubby's annual leave break. I love staycations. They're awesome and very relaxing. We stay up late almost every night and sleep in. It feels a bit like the vampire lifestyle. 🦇 And I have to admit that some days, it's easy to lose track of time. 😅

I can't believe so many awful things are happening in the world right now. Ugh. If only people paid attention to what's really going on and voted with empathy in mind instead of greed and selfishness.

We've been watching SEVERANCE and YELLOWJACKETS, which are both fantastic shows. SEVERANCE blows my mind and we end up having long discussions about what's going on.

Oh, and we watched COMPANION. What an awesome movie! Really enjoyed this one.

I'm currently taking a break from writing and reading, but I did revise the short story I mentioned in my last post. I actually completed the final read-thru on my Paperwhite this afternoon and just made all the changes. The final word count is: 3,191.

I'm really happy with the result. This is a post-apocalyptic story that has changed direction during every single draft, which is always an awesome surprise.

Also very excited that I've already written and revised/completed two short stories this year. Seriously, last year, I collated and revised two short story collections and even started a few shorties, but I didn't complete any new ones.

BTW, have you checked out my debut short story collection yet? It's called MELANCHOLY DELUSIONS and I'm super excited that it's out in the world. Not to mention that I'm very proud of the 17 tales included in this volume.

You already know that I still play ANIMAL CROSSING: NEW HORIZONS daily, but I've also been playing HELLO KITTY HAPPINESS PARADE on my Switch Lite. I absolutely LOVE this adorable game and finally unlocked all 12 characters. It took me WEEKS to get Kuromi, who happens to be my fave. Now I'm working my way through all the challenges. Very cool.

Well, that's it for now. I just wanted to drop in to post an update at the beginning of the new month.

Have a great weekend!