Writing Update #1

Writing Updates is a weekly feature on Wonderland's Reader in which I  update readers about my writing journey, share writing tips and tricks I've found helpful, link to cool writing videos or blog posts, and share the occasional snippet from my current work in progress!

Hi, guys! I don't know if you know this or not but along with being a reader, I'm also a writer! I've been writing seriously for a long time -- since I was eleven or twelve -- and have always been full of stories. I remember hoarding notebooks and filling them with short stories and character ideas when I was little and any time there was a creative writing assignment in school, I was thrilled. It was really no surprise that when I went to college, I wanted to pursue my love of stories even more! Just this past June, I graduated with a BA in Creative Writing. But, of course, now that I'm out of school, I want to push myself and my writing farther -- and I plan to do this by finishing my novel and *hopefully* getting it published!

The story that I'm currently working on stems from an idea I've been wrestling with for nearly five years.  It's constantly evolving and I'm always working on it and thinking about it to try to get it right. It's been through many incomplete drafts and just recently decided to start fresh from a draft that had a little over 50,000 words written in it. 

Yeah, I know.  That was painful. 

Unfortunately, the draft just wasn't working and I figured out something very crucial in the beginning that needed to be changed. So, I've decided to start fresh and have a new document open and ready for all the words! 

5 Facts About My WIP

1. It's a high fantasy set in a dangerous, wild, and dark world. 

2. It follows a 20-year-old girl who is part human, part faerie.

3. It focuses a lot on found families. 

4. The main character is quite stabby. 

5. The Wild Hunt is involved!

I absolutely love this story. The more I work on it, the farther I fall for it! I love the magic involved, the characters, and strong female friendships -- all of it makes me so happy and I'm excited to really work on it and spit it out onto the page! But my biggest problem with writing is my perfectionist nature -- I tend to get discouraged when the first draft doesn't fit the image of the story I have in my head and start it over and over until it's where I want it to be. Of course, the first draft absolutely will not be what I imagined -- that's what editing is for. But I think sharing these writing updates with you guys will keep me going with the first draft and hold me more accountable with meeting my word count every day! 

So, my plan is that I'm going to update you all with my writing stats each week, my word counts, share some of my favorite lines, songs from my WIP playlist, etc. I hope this is a type of post you all will enjoy! I'm really excited about it and I really think it will help me stick to a more structured writing schedule.

To finish out this post, I'm going to share a song from my playlist!

This post has made me excited to get writing! I love this story and I hope you guys don't mind hearing about it and my process! Do you write? If so, what are you currently working on? I'd love to hear updates from you guys on your own writing journey! It'd be fun to have a couple of buddies to work together with. 

I hope you all have a good weekend!