A New Writing Goal

Things may have been slow on the video front for a while. But, not on the art and writing front! Not only have I put a lot of time into side projects that would have normally taken a lot longer, but I have also been putting lots of time in my current book Awakening, which I handwrote for the first draft and finished a couple of weeks before 2021 ended as I intended!

Now I've got a new goal: to publish the entirety of Awakening by summer. Which means by now I only have about 3 months to complete it. But there is a process to actually finishing it. Drafting the first run definitely is the longest step but there are still a few more to go:

• First I need to type up the chapters, editing them and reading them over a few more times while I do so. Currently almost 20 chapters are typed up, with 5 chapters and an epilogue to still type
• That doesn't mean they are done. Secondly, I publish chapters on a third-party site; the sole purpose of that community is to share writings and review/critique other people's works. I wait until I have at least 2 or 3 long and solid reviews, decide what I can change or implement, and review previous and later chapters as well to prevent conflicts. Currently Chapters 14 through 18 are published on this site for review, with one more chapter in the waiting room 
• Lastly, once those changes are completed, I review the chapter one last time and publish it publicly on Wattpad for all to read. I am also currently working on updating deviantArt to publish my chapters (not all at once though!)

My writing does mean a lot to me, and this will be the first book I have finished to completion (from conception to drafts to publicized) since I have really honed in on and refined my writing style. And given test audiences' reactions, the story seems to be well-written and well thought out.

A bigger surprise on top of that, but this is only the first book in a trilogy, so the current state of Awakening Book 1 bodes well for the other future entries it seems. The cast of the story is relatively small at the moment, but it is guaranteed to nearly double in size by the end of the second book. I cannot wait to write more of the characters already in my story, particularly some of the supporting ones (namely Blake's friends Amelia and Cameron, as well as Blake's mother).

Speaking of Blake's mother, did you know that Alisha is probably my favorite character to write for Awakening? Much as I love protagonists Blake and June (notably their personalities and their interactions), I love writing scenes with Alisha even if not a lot happens, and I am very excited to delve more into her character in later titles. Regardless of what happens in the story, Alisha is a very caring and loving mother who will do anything for her family, even if she is not physically the strongest individual around. Her strong spirit despite her major weaknesses are one of the biggest reasons I love her and love characterizing her.

So yeah, lots of good stuff still happening with me creatively even if video projects aren't moving much. Please do consider reading Awakening on Wattpad if you are curious; supernatural fiction may not be high on everyone's preferences, I put a lot of thought into my characters and my story. And I will mostly definitely be working hard to put the remaining chapters up on Wattpad and deviantArt before summer arrives; I am already halfway done, so yay!!