Happy December!
This is my husband’s favorite time of year. I call him “Father Christmas.” He has already put up the Christmas tree and hung up our Advent Calendar. And I’m doing better embracing traditions and the celebrations during Christmas. In years past, I’ve been Debbie Downer over the commercialization of Christmas, saddened that the focus isn’t on Jesus. But I’m realizing that it’s up to me to shine Jesus’s love and light to the world.
What are you excited about in this Christmas season?
Writing Update:
I am a NaNoWriMo winner :) Last month, I shared, I was going to participate in NaNoWriMo for the first time. (NaNoWriMo is a writing challenge where you write 50,000 words of a novel in November.) I felt thrilled when I met the goal! And my wonderful husband took me out to eat at one of our favorite restaurants to celebrate. (That was his idea. He is one of my biggest fans and supporters of my writing.)
What helped you prepare?
- A workshop taught by a multi-winner NaNoWriMo author. She provided several tips and guidelines that helped me understand what the challenge required and how to best set yourself up to accomplish the goal.
Takeaways:
- Having over 80% of the rough draft, Love Beyond the Mayo, written. This allows me to finish and revise Book 2 in much shorter time than Book 1.
- Getting into a regular rhythm for writing. I’d write every morning for two hours usually from 6-8 am. I’d turn my phone off, listen to an acoustic playlist (one that my protagonist would listen to), and worked hard to free write, not stopping to research or revise. Having continuity helped me to stay on track.
- I do better handwriting than typing the story. This was more arduous but my creativity flowed better.
Some of you have been following the first book in the series, Love At the Mayo, and I’d like to say this second book is different. The story is still through Celine Monroe’s POV, but Book 2 is more of a romance.
In Book 1, she’s getting freed from the clutches an emotional abuser, but in Book 2, she’s learning to engage with a godly boyfriend. And she’s discovering this is harder than she expected. We will see if she can trust and grow in this improved relationship.
Marry for Love Progress
I’ve worked hard on revising this historical fiction romance, wanting to get it in beta readers’ hands by December 1st. (I finished the 50K NaNoWriMo goal by November 16th, so my daily word count went down. This gave me more time to work on Marry for Love.) November was a flurry of writing because I worked on M.F.L. daily even when working on meeting the 50K word challenge.
While I was revising early in the morning and late at night for M.F.L. this past week, I realized I wasn’t going to meet the goal unless I wanted to give an inferior product in readers’ hands. I needed to sort a few events in the book- issues with historical fiction– that I thought were already worked out. So I’m working on it, but not going to continue putting other projects and work on hold. I’ll get it into beta readers by the end of the month (probably sooner but want to give myself a cushion with Christmas).
Giveaway Corner
Our November giveaway winner is April Auld! Congrats on winning the gratitude journal. I’m not offering a giveaway for December but will in January. I mentioned using a giveaway program but after researching this option, it’s too expensive for how little I’d use it.
So, I’m maintaining the giveaway but with a twist. Starting in January, I’ll ask if you’d like to participate in the giveaway. Participants just reply via email. But I’ll make this clear in January’s giveaway.
Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash
Conclusion:
Jesus is the reason for the Season. And I’m looking forward to honoring him in many ways, whether through writing, spending time with family, friends, and community, or spreading Jesus’s love. It’s a time when the world is aware of the birth of the Savior. Merry Christmas!
Featured Image Photo by Алсу Вершинина on Unsplash