What’s New — September 2018

Happy September, everybody! This past month has flown by, as work, writing, and wedding planning have kept me busy. I love it, though.

My favorite thing lately has been working on my novel in my free time — some nights, when I have some time alone, I don’t even turn on my electronics, other than my computer to write. That might not seem like a big deal, but considering most nights I end up watching TV or something like that, spending an entire night just writing is huge for me.

I’ve been enjoying the process of getting to know my characters and figuring out everyone’s motivations better, which has helped me get through the ugly middle portion of my big where I felt lost. (Slogging through the middle is an issue for a lot of writers, I hear, but re-connecting with your characters can really help.)

I’ve also been continuing to play The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which is a big inspiration for me. Although I’m writing a science fiction book, I like to draw ideas from all sorts of sources, and The Witcher games (as well as the books, although I feel that the games have a different pacing) are high on my list of favorites. What inspires me about them are the rich characters, detailed world, and emotional hooks that keep you playing through the story. Even role-playing as Geralt, I have fun trying to pinpoint how he feels about different characters, and move him through the world as someone practical, preferring to stay behind the scenes — and all about getting coin for his gigs.

With September here, I’ll be pretty heads-down with work, as the holiday season ramps up and more video games are released.

The other time-consuming thing will be wedding planning, which I’ve mostly got figured out — but there are always last-minute appointments I need to make and things I totally forgot about. The biggest thing about getting married so soon is that, now that the time is almost here, I’m getting excited about the real importance of the day: being able to see family and friends who are coming in from out of town, and marrying the man I want to spend the rest of my life with. It’s like, now that the planning is (almost) wrapped up, I can go back to remembering what the day actually all about.

I’m also doing a lot of reading lately. My current audiobook for my commute is Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller, which is a detour from my usual sci-fi and fantasy books. Although you could call this a fantasy, in a way — a story that revisits Greek mythology and its heroes, gods, and goddesses. It’s been hard to get used to the writing style, which is very dry to me. But the story itself seems to be trying to say something important, so I’m sticking with it. I’m about one-third of the way through, and so far it’s a quick read (or listen).

Meanwhile, I’m reading a physical book for the first time in a while: A Darker Shade of Magic by V. E. Schwab. She is amazing. I follow her on Twitter and am constantly inspired by the life of a writer. A Darker Shade of Magic is written in a style very similar to what I would love to achieve with my own prose, although obviously she’s a pro compared to me. She even likes em-dashes as much as I do. Reading this book is helping me get into the spirit and swing of writing. And of course it’s a completely unique fantasy book, taking place in three different realms with a dangerous magic — so it’s been a nice reward to read it at the end of a long day or writing session! I think what I’m also enjoying about it is that it’s a real book, thick in my hands, and turning the pages has been satisfying and nostalgic in a way that reading hasn’t been for me for quite some time.

— Ashley