Camp NaNoWriMo 2024!

My fellow writers and readers,

I have been so MIA on this blog! But yet again, I say – it is not dead! I was busy towards the end of last year traveling, and have been planning my wedding (OoofF! A stress I don’t wish on anyone!)

Today I am celebrating revising an old novel of mine. It’s a steampunk fantasy romance! I wrote it years ago and after rereading it recently, I decided it was time to revise and finally finish it. I really want to finish it, and I think it would feel really good.

Just to recap – this is a novel I wrote when I was in college. It’s about a witch being persecuted for his magic and his past, who finds shelter and love in an unlikely colleague. I finished writing this novel after my dad passed away in 2008, when I was 20.

My plan is to Indie publish it down the line. For some time I felt like it was a personal project that I didn’t want to ever publish, but I think about the characters often and miss them. After rereading last year, I decided it’s worth trying to share it with the world! Here are some drawings of a couple of my characters that I drew with graphite pencil, years ago (not promoting smoking, by any means!):

Is there a novel, poem or other project you’re working on right now? Or maybe you read an amazing steampunk, fantasy or romance (or “romantasy”) novel recently?

Every year, in addition to National Novel Writing Month (November), there is Camp NaNoWriMo in April. This year and last, I have been working on worldbuilding for my novel revising. There were a lot of unanswered questions and a timeline to hash out.

At first I felt quite intimidated to take on the project. But now that the worldbuilding questions were actually answered – and thanks to Scrivener software for helping me organize! – I feel hopeful and excited.

Next, I’m going to work on the outline, using NaNoWriMo’s 9-step Plot Dot method. My goal is to be done with the outline and ready to start Camp NaNo on April 1.