Hello!

Welcome in. This month I’m bearing my soul a little bit, in an effort to stay as honest as possible. April was weird month for me.

In my last newsletter, I gave myself the goal of writing 5k words in any project of my choice. To be completely honest, I lost track of just how many words I wrote because pretty quickly blew past that goal.

My T4T vampire/werewolf WIP had 46,832 words. Notice the use of ‘had’… because I started another draft (which is at 2,438 words).

“Why?!” You must be crying into your screen, “You were so close to almost finishing out a draft!”

The conception of this story didn’t start off in the right place. I had an idea I loved, and decided to push through a first draft even though I started to hate it about a third of the way through.

I figured “Well, I pushed through the first draft, so I can push through the second.”

Fun fact: that’s not how I write. I’ve tried that way in the past, and it’s actually the fastest way I can burn myself out. It’s one of the reasons The Strings of Willis Manor took so long for me to finish, despite being a shorter story.

Where does that leave this story? I still love it, and I still want to write it, but I’m trying a different tactic.

The tactic is focusing on another WIP… wait!! Don’t roll your eyes just yet!! I promise I have an actual reason for this.

The way I’ve formed my outlines for projects has worked for about 80% of my WIPs. In the face of my vamp/wolf one, though, it failed miserably. I usually have a very rough outline of what I want to happen, with enough wiggle room for me to improvise as I see fit.

Because this failed so impressively for this project, I’m trying out a new way to outline: Plan everything in absolute detail with little to no room for improvising.

To see if this will actually be helpful, I’m working on a story I have no previous history with. Not only will this help me work out any bumps I find, but I will also give myself a break from the vamp/wolf story so as not to burn out.

As well, I’m trying out different writing sprint techniques. Mainly one I saw that was to write at least 250 words four times a day.

If these new methods are a success, then back I go to the vamp/wolf story. If not? I’ll figure something else out.

Since the story I’m working on is such an experiment with my writing craft, I’m probably not going to talk about it online until several drafts down the line (if it survives that long). I presently love it, but I don’t want to jinx it. It’s currently sitting at 16k words.

The Strings of Willis Manor is still out with beta readers. I fully expect that I’ll need to rework at least some elements of the story, and I’m eagerly awaiting all feedback my lovely betas might have for me.

Now we get to the part of the letter where I talk about plans.

Aside from getting beta reader feedback, my only goal is to simply write. I want to get 10k words down for my current WIP, but that’s not a hard and fast goal. More like a vague ambition (though it feels doable because I started TestWIP around April 19th).

But, as always, I will continue writing.

Still querying From the Sea Fret! No news on any representation, or any other requests for submission yet, but I’m keeping my head up.

I’ve had a few editors and agents compliment my work, which is pretty cool. Been riding that high for a few days now.

Work… ah, my hateful lover. How you tease me so.

It’s quiet. Does this freak me out? Of course. It’s been quiet for a few months, and I’m starting to pace my apartment like a caged animal.

As I alluded to at the beginning of this edition, April was a weird month for me. I spent April 2nd to 10th in the UK with my lovely boyfriend, and it truly was a fantastic time.

When I got back, though, it was disheartening to see that my normal life didn’t change in my absence. It was back to the same old thing.

This got me thinking about my work. I’ve been at film for 4 years, and I’m still finding my place in the field. 4 years isn’t long in this line of work, so I’m still really quite new.

With film being so uncertain at all times, I get especially anxious this time of year. The warm weather has begun, and people keep saying that shows are starting soon, so where is everything?!

Inevitably I have to have a sit-down with myself. Point to previous years, point to my coworkers, and convince myself that no, everyone in my province didn’t suddenly decide to start hating me. Nothing (except for the 1 show that I had to leave in March) is shooting right now.

You can see why I call it my hateful lover. I love film, but it doesn’t love me.

Since I’m not on a show like I had suspected (which I don’t even know why I expected it, because every year shows start in May/June), my plans for any potential self-publishing are on hold.

The plans are also on hold because I want to slow down.

Look, I’m 23. Ever since I was little, I’ve looked towards the future and pushed to get there as soon as possible because the goal is always to move forward. I have to have my life or career all mapped out and don’t stop moving towards it until I’m there.

I can’t make life happen faster. If I speed through all the journey and in-between bits, then I actually miss the point of life itself. Y’know; living it.

I’m gonna take my time — with work, with querying, and with another third thing — because I want to enjoy the journey.

What’s on my radar for May? Well, a whole hell of a lot of appointments. More than usual. It’s only a handful, but my general number of appointments every month is about 1, so any more than that and I start to sweat a little.

At the end of May I have a very short trip out of province to visit a friend in Toronto (my first time going!) which is exciting, even if I’m anxious about The Big City.

At the time of writing this, there was a call out for availability email I got from my local union. These are for positions on a massive show, and doing HOD roles that I flat out don’t have the experience in.

However! That means shows are crewing up. I’m taking this as a good sign, and excitedly gathering my tools.

Here’s some of my favourite photos I took of my trip to the UK!

As you can see, it was a fantastic time. Not pictured is me kissing my boyfriend a lot because I love him :)

I know that I don’t have any groundbreaking news. Most of it is quiet self-reflection, with the occasional “Isn’t this neat?”

So it truly means a lot that you’ve made it this far. I appreciate the time you took to read this, and I’m looking forward to next month.

Cheers.