🌿 August Update

writing notes, vol. 2

Hello friends!

August is here and that means it’s time to update you on my writing projects!

Now, this last month I faced some burnout toward the end of the month. I realized just how hard I was pushing and that forced me to reevaluate some of my goals for this season/quarter. Namely, it’s made me face the facts that I’m overworking myself.

Anyway, my goals for this quarter have changed slightly because of this and you’ll see that reflected in the updates below.

Priority Goal: Archives of the Warden

{Previously focusing specifically on Vault of Stone, book two in the series}

I’ve adjusted this goal to focus on AOTW as a whole. Why? Because utilizing them as individual books was spreading me way too thin. I decided to turn this into one large goal, which helps me understand that I can really only be working on one or two tasks at a time.

So here are the (current) books within this goal and their statuses:

#1, Lake of Glass: Marketing is the name of the game for book one. I need to really focus on upping my marketing quality and quantity over the next few months as I’m ramping up for book two. I want to run a promotion and a giveaway for this soon, so keep your eyes out for more news on that front.

#2, Vault of Stone: I’ve completed the proofread and created some bonus content. Now, we’re down to the final details and planning. I’ll be making tons of announcements regarding this in the near future, which is very exciting!

#3, The Creatures of Porthaven 1: In order to stay on track for the publication of this book, I will begin the first revision this month. That means a read-through, tons of note-taking, and lots of rewriting. But I’m excited about it because I really enjoyed drafting this one and I already have a good idea about what adjustments I need to make.

#4, The Oracle of Mapleton 1: It’s time to outline this guy! I have high hopes to publish this one by the end of next year, which means I need to get moving on it. However, we’re keeping it simple by doing the outline only this next month.

#5, The Veil of DeVerre 3: I wrote the first draft of this guy back in April-May, so it’s just on break for now.

#6, The Creatures of Porthaven 2: I started drafting this book in July, and while I’m happy with some of the things I’ve done with it, I found myself hitting a wall. My drafting has come to a momentary halt, and with everything else that I need to do, I think that’s okay.

Secondary Goal 1: Warriors & Mages

Originally, my goal was to revise one chapter a day during July and August. That was outrageously optimistic. 😂

The entire first 15 chapters need complete rewrites, and that is incredibly time-consuming. It also requires a great amount of creative energy. As I’ve got so much else going on, I’ve only managed to get the first 5 chapters rewritten.

Intentionally, I have taken a slight break from revisions, but I intend to get back to it soon. Once I make it through these first 15 chapters, the rest should go by much more quickly.

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Thanks for reading my August update! Let me know below if there are any more ideas or information you’d like me to add to these monthly newsletters. And in the meantime, here are some small ways you can support me:

If you’ve read Lake of Glass, consider leaving a review on Amazon.

Reviews on Amazon are incredibly important to authors. Amazon doesn’t start recommending a book until it’s hit 50 reviews, and at 75 reviews is when a book can start to flourish. My goal is to hit 50 reviews by the end of 2023. Lake of Glass is still at 14 reviews on Amazon, so I would be so grateful if you took a second to help me grow that number. (Even just a star rating helps!)

And if you haven’t read it but would like to, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble, or add it to your Goodreads.

If you’re following along in Fire & Night and are enjoying it, consider hitting the like button on each chapter.

This really does help me out by giving the story more credibility and helping me to gain more readers in the process. Also, I love reading your comments, so feel free to let me know all your thoughts!

Thank you all so much for your support and for reading my stories. It truly means so much to me to have you as a part of my author journey!

Much love,

🖤 Victoria