Hello! It’s been a little bit since my last post, but I had quite a busy spring. In May, I underwent surgery to remove my gallbladder (a source of problems for 10+ years), went to Paris for a week, and still managed to hit a massive, semi-secret writing milestone. Talk about a busy month with updates on opposite sides of the spectrum!
I’ve also been focusing on working with my fabulous mentee for WriteMentor, Shanah Salter, as she works on revisions. I absolutely love the story she’s created, and I can’t wait to see how she takes this story even further!
May and June are also immensely busy in the games industry, right up until about June 15 or so. I tell ya, I went from running a mile a minute (figuratively of course, I’m tragically bad at running IRL) to everything just…ending. All the work in May and June was finished, and now, I’m finally taking a huge breath of fresh air and getting away from the computer. My wonderful husband and I recently got our first grill, and this is our first summer in our home, so we’re making the most of it. We’ve already made burgers a LOT, and I’m trying out all sorts of recipes. Can we grill it? YES WE CAN.
On the writing side, as mentioned, I hit a huge milestone for my gender-swapped fantasy adventure. I’m keeping things pretty quiet on this front, because one of my biggest focuses this year is making sure I prioritize my mental health. I love the writing community and am so grateful for it, but anyone in the industry knows it’s pretty tough across the board right now. Some people find that sharing the lows is really helpful for them, but for me personally, I find it tends to make me wallow in sadness more than it builds me up. I do share the highs and lows with close friends because I find that support enormously helpful on this journey, but talking publicly or even in larger groups is tough for me. Maybe that will change over time, but I’m being extra careful with my hope and my heart right now. I feel like I’m holding a little candle and protecting my joy from blowing out. I hope to share more details with you all soon, but for now, I’m keeping things quiet.
Now! All that said, I’m very excited to be working on a brand-new story! I’m currently referring to it as Project Midnight, and while I can’t share too many details yet, I’m loving being at the outline stage. I have a couple tried-and-true methods for my outlining process, but part of me is itching to jump right into drafting!
When a project is this new, I find it both exhilarating and incredibly daunting. Anything can happen — the story has so many possibilities it can take, so many paths it can go down…but what if I go down the wrong path? How do you know when it’s the wrong path? Or maybe it’s not wrong, but it’s not the strongest path?
I try to quell the voice of doubt at this stage and simply let my mind wander down whatever path it feels like exploring. I also try embracing the fact that it will change during the drafting stage, and every revision after, and that’s a good thing. Sometimes I don’t know the heart of my story until I start writing it, until it starts occupying a little corner of my mind that grows and asks me questions along the way. I’d rather let myself explore without fear of getting it “wrong” and fix things down the road.
I’m about to go on a little vacation, so I’m going to spend some quality time with my husband, friends, and enjoy some summer activities. I think breaks are enormously helpful to refill the creative well, so while I’m excited to start drafting very soon, I’m holding off a bit longer.
After that, though, I’ll begin fast drafting around mid-July. Wish me luck!
Sending s’mores with extra toasted marshmallows,
Valerie
Note: Photo by JACK REDGATE on Pexels.com
valerie c. norton 