Hello fall. I’m looking forward to the changing of the season although in Oklahoma, it doesn’t get into full force until October. I’m looking forward to white pumpkins, warm apple cider, and pumpkin smoothies.
It’s been over a month since I last reached out. While I use the freed time to work on my novels, I miss blogging on a weekly basis, especially hearing from you in comments.
Speaking of novels, I’m currently editing Marry for Love (a temporary title), a historical fiction novel set in the 1940’s. It’s a fictionalized version of my grandparents’ love story.
Working on this story has brought their story to life. Unfortunately my grandfather died over ten years ago, but my grandmother turned 100 in January. Thankfully her mind is sharp, and she’s still the sassy and determined woman from her twenties (when I start her story).
My grandma is a second-generation Czech immigrant. Her parents came to the US as young adults from what was known as Czechoslovakia. They meet in the States and eloped (that’s a story in itself!).
My grandpa was German and Welch. His paternal grandparents came over from Wales and settled in Michigan. I’m unsure when his maternal family came over from Germany, but my great-grandmother was fluent in German.
My grandparents met at a wedding for my grandma’s sister. My grandpa crashed it since someone told him that Czech weddings are fun. At that time, my grandparents were engaged to other people. My grandma’s fiancé was Czech and serving as a groomsman.
When my grandpa saw my grandma walking down the aisle as maid of honor, he was instantly enamoured! He not only asked her to dance at the reception, but offered to give her a ride home. She quickly informed him that she was engaged. (Knowing my sassy grandma, I’m sure she put him in his place!)
They reunited months later when my grandpa started a job at a radiator factory where my grandma was working. Neither was engaged, so my grandpa would send notes on the conveyor belt, asking her for a date.
As for the rest of the story, you’ll have to read when the novel comes out 🙂 I’ll be asking for beta readers once I’m done with the edits. I’m hoping to have the story ready by October since I want to write the sequel to Love at the Mayo for NaNoWriMo. I’ve never participated in one, but inspired to do it this year. Have you participated in the 50,000 word challenge?
Speaking of Love at the Mayo, thanks to all who were beta readers. Your feedback was helpful and I’m still going through the edits. Since I prefer editing one manuscript at a time, I’m putting Love at the Mayo on the back burner for most of September. But I’ve done twenty-one writing prompts for Garrett, the new love in Celine’s life, as preparation for book two 🙂
Here are my goals for September:
1.) Finish revising Marry for Love and have it ready for beta readers in October.
2.) Create a new lead magnet for subscribers. I want to provide a resource on all things writing, blogging, and platform.
3.) Feature an author guest post. (If I don’t feature one in September, I’ll have one in October. The guest post will be separate from the monthly update.)
Giveaway!
Rocket Notebook
While I won’t always have a giveaway each month, this month, I’m gracing someone a Rocket notebook. It’s a scannable “paper” notebook you can reuse. Write in it like a paper notebook, then when finished, take a picture from the Rocket notebook app. The pages will get scanned as a PDF file. Once saved, you can erase the page (s) with a microfiber cloth and reuse.
Pros:
- Saves money- no more buying notebooks as you reuse the pages over and over.
- Provides curating options with hashtags. Use a hashtag as the title for each page to organize your entries. So, if you’re using the notebook for a variety of uses- as a journal, take notes, or create diagrams for example, you can see the PDF’s under each hashtag for an easy search.
Cons:
- You have to clear out pages. It’s easy but can become inconvenient if you haven’t uploaded pages and it’s full, but need to write something immediately.
- Uploads as a PDF. If wanting to add or edit the scanned notes, you can’t, unless you have expanded versions of a PDF application to do so. I’d prefer to upload into Word.
I’ll be giving away a Rocket notebook this month. Winner will be announced in October’s newsletter. All subscribers are eligible for the drawing.
What are you working on this month? Any goals? Or non-writing goals? Please share in Comments. Thank you.
Featured Photo by Fang-Wei Lin on Unsplash