I Got My Short Story Back from the Editor and Project Prehistory Updates

It's been a while since I posted an update on how my writing is going. So here's a vlog documenting where I'm currently at with my different projects!

In May, I did some final minor tweaks to my low fantasy short story that I'm planning to publish in August. I sent it to a line and copy editor. Lila LaBine did a fantastic job, and if you're looking for an editor, I can highly recommend her services.

Project Prehistory is making steady progress as well. I finished editing Chapter 13 this week, which means that I'm officially one third of the way done with the edits. At this rate, I might even finish the edits by the end of October! I already have plans for what I could write during NaNoWriMo...

But I'm trying hard not to get ahead of myself. There's still a long way to go before draft four is finished, and I might not have as much time to dedicate for edits during the latter half of the year.

In any case, my plans of self-publishing a short story and finishing the fourth draft of Project Prehistory in 2024 are well on their way! Stay tuned to find out more how the publication and editing processes will go.

Book Review: Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Legendborn by Tracy Deonn

Book Title: Legendborn
Author: Tracy Deonn
Genre: YA urban fantasy
Published: September 15, 2020
502 pages
My rating: 4/5

“I imagine myself running like the moon is my finish line. Running like I can leave the anger and the shame and gossip behind. I can almost feel the delicious burn in my muscles, the rush sweet and strong in my veins, as I sail over the cliff and into emptiness. Without warning, the roiling spark of After-Bree stretches up from my gut like a vine on fire, but this time I don’t shove her away. She unfurls behind my ribs, and the hot pressure of her is so powerful it feels like I could explode.”

Sixteen-year-old Bree Matthews is grieving the sudden death of her mother. Being accepted to the prestigious UNC Chapel Hill’s Early College Program seems like the perfect get-away from her father’s grief and the constant reminders of her mother. Everything changes when she witnesses bad-boy-esque Selwyn Kane kill a demon before he unsuccessfully tries to erase the event from her memory. Her ability to resist the memory-erasing spell reminds her of something that happened the night her mother died. She gets sucked into the dangerous world of Legendborn, the descendants of King Arthur and his twelve knights of the Round Table. With the help of golden boy Nick Davis, she joins their ranks to uncover the secrets of her mother’s death.

Five Favorite Books from Five Favorite Genres

Five favorites from favorites genres

Here are five of my favorite books from five of my favorite genres! Five stars all around, and books that I recommend if you, too, love these genres.

Book Review: Maus by Art Spiegelman

Maus by Art Spiegelman

Book Title: Maus: A Survivor’s Tale
Author: Art Spiegelman
Genre: Graphic novel
First published: 1980
296 pages
My rating: 5/5

Maus has been on my radar for years now, so when I spotted it in my local library a few weeks ago, I had to pick it up. This complete edition of Maus: A Survivor’s Tale has both parts of the graphic novel, “My Father Bleeds History” and “And Here My Troubles Began.” The graphic novel tells the tale of the artist’s father and his survival through the holocaust. The book depicts Jews as mice and Nazis as cats, with other nationalities as other animals.

Art Spiegelman’s parents Vladek and Anja Spiegelman were two Jews from Poland who survived the Nazi ghetto of Sosnowiec and the extermination camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau. Maus depicts the complicated relationship between Art and his father and, in an alternate timeline, his parent’s experiences in Poland during the holocaust. Part one, “My Father Bleeds History” narrates how Vladek and Anja met and got married and describes their early family life and the Nazi occupation and the persecution of Jews. Part two, “And Here My Troubles Began” concentrates on Vladek’s experiences on the concentration camp and how he was liberated and reunited with his wife.

How to Outline a Short Story – A Simple Five-Scene Structure for Short Stories

Short stories are a fantastic way of honing your writing skills. First, as they’re shorter, there is no pressure of putting tens of thousands of words on paper (or computer file). Short stories are typically somewhere between 1,500 and 7,500 words long. Secondly, if you’re an overwriter, writing a short story will force you to condense your story to only essential details. Or, if you’re an underwriter, it lets you be as concise as you want! No pesky description or details needed. And if you’re struggling to understand plot structure, writing a short story can help you identify the key moments of a story in a more manageable scale than a full-length novel.

But what if you’re a plotter like me and want to plan out the story in advance? How do you outline a short story? I ran into this problem last November as I was searching for a short story outlining method that I could use in preparation for NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month). You see, during NaNoWriMo 2024, instead of the usual 50K word novel, I decided to write ten short stories of around five thousand words each. I found this exercise refreshing, as I had just finished editing the third draft of a 158K word manuscript – I definitely needed much shorter projects to work with while I let my WIP rest!

April Wrap-Up and May Goals

April Reads

April Wrap-Up

• Finished: 3
• Started but not finished: 2
• Total pages read: 1,758
• Average rating: 4.25

I did not finish that many books in April, and there are two reasons. First is that I was reading quite thick books. The other is that I prioritized Camp NaNoWriMo in April, which meant that I had less time for reading. I finished only one contemporary novel, The Dragon’s Promise by Elizabeth Lim (4/5 stars). I loved Six Crimson Cranes, but the sequel didn’t quite live up to my expectations although I did enjoy it for the most part.

Camp NaNoWriMo Week 4 Recap

Well wasn't the last week and a half of Camp NaNoWriMo a huge success! I finished editing my problem chapter, Chapter 7, already on Thursday morning and had extra time to spend on Chapter 8. That chapter was a breeze. I finished it right on time before Camp ended on Tuesday evening. So instead of the planned four chapters I wanted to edit in April, I edited five.

I also finished editing the second short story, a contemporary women's fiction. It's in pretty good condition, although there might be a minor addition I want to make. I need to reread both short stories in May, and then I can start thinking about when and where to publish them.

You can find out more about my final week of Camp NaNoWriMo from the writing vlog below.