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[shayhwrites]

Reflecting On My 2022 Reading Wrap-Up 

I track my reading on the StoryGraph app and view my statistics for a specific month or year. All information I gathered was from my 2022 wrap-up and general stats page. Before I view my “end of the year” reading stats for 2023 at the end of December, I decided to revisit my 2022 reading wrap-up to remind myself of my reading progress over the months. It was a year full of struggles and limited…

[shayhwrites]

How Is Your NaNoWriMo Project Coming Along? 

My Accomplishments and Fails So Far  Because November is a national (or international) writing month, I decided it was best not to have a monthly goal of watching movies or reading books. My only goal is to keep up with daily word counts and write several short stories. Of course, being the only month I did not have a reading goal, I read 25% of a novel! I accomplished my goal with the help of a…

[shayhwrites]

Weekly Update 13

I talk about changes to my blog and preparation for NaNoWriMo.

Some Changes  Following my post about my thoughts on AI, I felt it would be hypocritical if I kept the AI-generated images on my previous posts. I figured it was time to use Canva to create better images! I’m still in the process of designing images, updating my posts, and removing all AI-generated images from my blog.  Opinions change over time as more information is presented, which is what…

[shayhwrites]

My Thoughts on AI 

Let me warn you ahead of time: my thoughts about AI are negative. There was a time I used AI in an explorative way, only to realize something was wrong. After importing a specific prompt, I received short excerpts involving characters with names I had not included. Those names were Dean and Sam. Yes, the AI bot stole Supernatural fanfiction from Archives of Our Own based on my experimental…

[shayhwrites]

5 Tropes I Hate

Shay highlights their dislike towards five popular romantic tropes.

Disclaimer: Although I support the “fiction is fiction, and it doesn’t influence your actions” debate, I still say “do not romanticize these things” to certain tropes. These may include mental health disorders / symptoms or real life abuse such as one-sided control or heteronormativity. In the end, I will never judge a person for enjoying the tropes I dislike. To each their own!  Amnesia  This…

[shayhwrites]

Weekly Update 12

Rough Start, Busy Month  To spare the details of my personal life, I can say I have been busy! The only time I was able to work on my third short story was on Saturday morning–but I was not able to finish the draft. It’s still something; better than nothing!  Other than that, absolutely nothing else was completed! *smiley melting emoji* Maybe not nothing, but a little bit of something I…

[shayhwrites]

Weekly Update 11

Writing Against Plans  My main plan last week was to write the first draft to the third short story. However, after writing about 10%, I switched to reading through the first part of the first short story as well as writing the opening image of a completely different project. Watching previous writing sprint streams on YouTube have been helping me to stay focused! I’ve been keeping up with…

[shayhwrites]

October Goals

Technically, I finished an audiobook in early September that I started listening to in late August. Also, I finished reading only 1 digital book. No physical book. No movies. 1 completed draft of a short story. Let’s aim lower this month! I’ll explain more below the goals section.  Goals Read 1 Audiobook: I have met my audiobook goal for the year! I don’t need to listen to any more books, but I…

[shayhwrites]

Check-In: September Goals

I’m uploading this late because I lost track of the days, thanks to dissociation. I thought today was the 14th and not the 15th. Read 1 audiobook: I have reached this goal! And I might read more. Other than that, I have been adding to my DNF list. Read 3 digital books: So far, I have read only 1! Read 1 physical book: Not yet. Watch 4 movies: Nope, not yet… Finish the next drafts to Batch 1:…

[shayhwrites]

Books I DNF in August 

DNF = Did Not Finish  Disclaimer: I have problems with memory; I might not remember why I stopped reading these books. However, I will do my best to recall what I can!  Everything is F*cked: A Book About Hope – Mark Manson  Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents: How to Heal from Distant, Rejecting, or Self-Involved Parents – Lindsay C. Gibson  Childhood Disrupted: How Your Biography…

[shayhwrites]

(late) Weekly Update 10

Books and Quarters  I want to talk about the progress I’ve made in my short stories. First, let me discuss my trick to reading books and the apps I use!  For audiobooks, I set the speed to 1.5x and listen to 25% of the audio. However, if the book happens to be longer than 8 hours, I read half of a quarter. Similarly, I’ll read 25% of a physical book, but only half of 25% if the book is longer…

[shayhwrites]

September Goals

Wins and Fails The only goal I accomplished in August was reading 3 audiobooks. And there were 6 DNF audiobooks. As for the rest, I will explain below.  Continue reading Untitled

[shayhwrites]

August Goals Update

Let’s see how I’ve been progressing with my goals. Read 3 Audiobooks: I have DNF’ed 4 books and finished 1. Let’s hope I finish another 2. Read 3 Digital Books: Have not started this goal. Read 1 Physical Book: Have not started this goal. Prepare to publish a short story: I have another 15 or so days to see where I’m at with the short story piece. Currently, I have a beta reader providing…

[shayhwrites]

Weekly Update 9

Website Update! A new page on my site is live! Open Eyes Collection is a page featuring the progress of my short story anthology. The genre is general/contemporary fiction for new adult and adult audiences. I write these stories as a neurodivergent, trans/queer, and disabled person. Therefore, my characters may or may not represent likewise.  There will be updates and added pages as time goes…

[shayhwrites]

Weekly Update 8

What Camp NaNoWriMo Has Taught Me Last month, I took part in Camp NaNoWriMo. My goal was to write the Fun & Games portion of my novel (according to the Save the Cat! Writes a Novel beat sheet). I targeted a word count of 19,000 and added to the already written Act 1 of my novel.  Continue reading Untitled

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WordPress has unlinked Twitter from my upload direction (no idea how to word that better), which has lowered traffic to my website.

I'm no longer using Twitter for personal reasons-- I've never enjoyed that site in the first place.

If anyone is interested in my writing or publishing journey, please subscribe to my WordPress directly or follow my Tumblr for updates!

[shayhwrites]

August Goals

Goodbye, July. Time to get back on track!  Goals Read 3 Audiobooks: I found a trick that works for me! If I listen to 25% of an audiobook at 1.5x speed per day, I will finish within four days. I don’t remember how many I have read during July, but I know it worked for me. Now, it’s time to put that trick to the test!  Read 3 Digital Books: I have a few short comics to read and an ebook that…