Hello my fellow writer friends. January is now over. We are now in the month of February. The time to give your loved one red roses or something else romantic to make their day.
It is nice to do something nice for your loved one, despite the Covid-19 restrictions. There is a simple way of spreading kindness and love. You could write a card or send a text message to your significant other. We all need that, especially right now. Since I’m not out much, I stay connected by chatting with my online friends and others on Instagram or Twitter. Sometimes, my siblings (who no longer live with me) come over to the house and spend quality time as family.
It has been a few weeks since I wrote a blog about my goals for 2021; here are a few things that are happening right now. Over the first month, I’ve been seriously rewriting Transport of Trouble, the manuscript I wrote in NaNoMoWri 2020 and got it back from a critique partner. I got positive feedback and a couple questions throughout the whole thing that needed some revisions. Some writers like me don’t mind revising compared to editing phrases. I understand there are other writers don’t enjoy revising but love editing. I’m not one of those people.
Of course, I’ve loved and hated revisions, but the more I do it helps me make the story better. So, within those weeks I started from prologue to the epilogue. After it was done, I sent it back to my critique partner for the third time. While that manuscript is in the critique’s hands, I did some editing on queries and synopsis. Because I’m taking a traditional publication, I’m not aiming for big houses, but small houses. I have a couple publishers in mind, and hopefully one of them will consider my work. Let’s see how things go
Beside querying, I read some young adult fiction. One of them is Dust by Kara Swanson. Dust is a retelling of Peter Pan. I like how she brought this tale to life in a fresh yet creative new way. A story about a boy who never wants to grow up and a girl who can restore the broken island. I highly recommend it if you like whimsical adventures like this one.
Another book I just recently finished is Lottie’s Locket by Maria Johnson. A portal fantasy with a subject genre of murder mystery. Her novel released a few months ago, and I could get a copy. She and I have a similar taste in writing portal fantasy and magical necklaces. I grew curious about this intriguing book, and now I did. The story written for young readers like twelve years old and older. Adults, like myself, enjoyed reading it too. If you like the Narnia meet Agatha Christie’s Poirot, then this novel is for you. Little before I read Dust and Lottie’s Locket, I had time to read the book The Invention of Hugo Cabret. I never read this story except I’ve seen the movie years ago. My sister got this copy from a thrift store and the illustrations inside are quite captivating. I enjoyed how the author (who was an artist) used the drawings and created a story about a boy who loves building and fixing broken clocks, yet he searches for his purpose on this earth. It has a well-written story and beautiful artworks too.
During the break after finishing the manuscript and preparing the queries, I did some drawings for fun. Most of them are my characters from stories I wrote. It relaxes me and reminds me to have some fun and be creative. During that period, I thought about what to write next. I decided not to work on a retelling project and looked at my other old stories. One of them was a manuscript from 2019. A story about a deaf girl being lost and Edmund who helped her to find her father. I may have mentioned this project while back in the past blogs. I looked over, and an idea came to me. What if I rewrite this story in a different way? I could use the original story, but with new changes. I could use the main character as a deaf immigrant, and she traveled across the sea to meet her father in America. So, I began the draft and let’s see how the story goes. I’m sure I will update you on this one in the future blog.
That’s what had happened in the last few weeks. Hopefully, in the next few months, I’ll have more stuff to share with you.
As for now, happy writing.
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