This month has been incredibly exciting for me because a lot of different projects have either sprung up or come to fruition.
As a result, I’ve got such a buzz driving me to keep going, to further my writing as much as I can and make 2017 my best year. I want to write more, read more, and experience more.
Getting started on new projects is always the best feeling! [Image credit: Kyra Thomsen 2016]
In my October recap I mentioned that I’d been planning a novel to write for NaNoWriMo from an idea I had in high school. It’s a genre novel, kind of a cross between fantasy and steampunk.
The book’s working title is The Crossing and it’s book one in a trilogy called ‘The King-Cutter Series’ (or at least that’s it for now!).
Setting inspiration taken from my Pinterest boards. On the left is the peaceful city of Ealia in Lihanna and on the right is the dark world of Kharos.
I’ve never written anything longer than around 10,000 words so to write five times that seemed almost impossible while working full-time and juggling the rest of my life! Keep reading to find out whether I won or lost NaNoWriMo…
On November 16th, Writer’s Edit launched the third and final volume of the Kindling anthologies.You can read my official launch party recap here.
Every Kindling launch has such an electric environment – the room is full of writers and editors and everyone is so excited about the book.
It’s lovely to have a wine and a chat with new and old writing friends and discuss things like digital media, self-publishing, reader audiences, book covers, day jobs and more.
Myself with editors Claire Bradshaw and Helen Scheuerer – the best gals I know! [Image credit: Yasmin Scheuerer 2016]
And seeing the book finally in print and up for sale is such a proud moment. To go from an inspired idea to having hundreds of submissions and working with editors and then designing a real-life book… it’s an amazing experience!
In November, I also had a poem published by Verity La which was one of three poems chosen from the group of the Mad Poets Workshop I attended in October.
I’m so pleased to have my poem ‘Spinning‘ published by Verity La. It’s an incredible online magazine and it’s so nice to have my poetry recognised since I usually only ‘dabble’ in it for fun.
In other exciting news, after much discussion and support from Helen and Claire, I decided to make an official Facebook page for my writing!
I plan on posting about my writing processes (including developments with The Crossing), plus the books I’m reading and the writing I have published.
Like my page to follow my day-to-day writing updates and have a chat about books and the writer’s life in general 😉
One of the major achievements I recently posted about on my Facebook page was how I fared with NaNoWriMo, because in the end… I won!
And I even finished the challenge one day ahead of time! Towards the end of NaNo I was writing over 2000 words per day, on top of work and life commitments. It was pretty unbelievable!
NaNoWriMo was fun and hard and exciting and challenging and exactly what I needed for November. It gave me a passion for writing I haven’t felt in a long time.
Discovering a new story for the first time and enjoying the writing itself was such a thrill. Writing has been difficult for me since starting work as a content writer two years ago.
But I think now is the time to jump back in, to be a little bit selfish and really commit myself to this book. Because I think The Crossing is the book I’m meant to be writing, at least for right now.
So for the rest of the year, I’ll be working on my novel. And that’s it! I’m roughly halfway through so I’m hoping to have it finished by the end of summer in Jan/Feb 2017.
I won’t be writing with the same intensity as with NaNoWriMo but I’m going to get this book out into the world 🙂 And that’s pretty damn exciting.
Kyra Thomsen 