#(I'll probably need to revise this story later since I didn't have much time to work on it: if you've any suggestion please let me know!)

[l-e-morgan-author]

Writing Newsletter #3: May 2024

Still not figured out website hosting, so this is still on here. I also haven't edited the two stories I plan to provide as a signup gift, so that's not ready yet. Anyway, if you want to be on the taglist for this monthly newsletter, say the word and I'll add you.

Writing update

As of yesterday, I finished drafting Patience, Changing. I wrote Hannah's death and it was hard, but I think what I have, while not particularly good, is a building block for the next draft. It's been a lot of fun, and now I'm putting away the project as a whole, ideally for at least a month. I have a lot of fragments as well as the main draft and novellas; they'll need some tidying, and various bits will probably be worked into longer pieces, but I want to give myself a break from the whole project. Word count wise, the novel itself clocks in at 84k (was planned to be 81k), and the total word count is 144k, having added around 29k since last month.

I had originally intended to go back to Metamorphosis of a Girl (Hadassah's story) once I was done with this, but there's a whump challenge I want to write for and the only one that will satisfy that is Hands Made for Gentleness. I'm considering making that my main project, at least for now, and also starting to work on To Kindle a Flame in the background again. I had conversations the other day that made me reread a scene; I unexpectedly really liked what I had, and the writing wasn't as clunky as I'd expected. I'm considering scrapping the 2020 draft completely and working solely from the 2021 draft and the notes I've made since.

I have worked a little (to the tune of 3k) on Hands Made for Gentleness this month. Looking back at my statistics, I actually wrote the most I've written for it so far in February 2023, when I wrote just shy of 10k. I always think I've written more for it than I have, partly because of how important every single word is to it. I need to write more downtime between them, I think; it's always so intense, and while that's kind of necessary to the kind of book it is, it's in its present state not something I personally would sit down and read in one sitting. I think I need to dial the intensity back just a little, so that the moments that are intense can really hit the spot. That's probably a revising-me point, though. I'm missing so much from this draft that will need to be added in later drafts; indeed I'm starting to be slightly nervous about the idea of tackling it, because of the sheer number of notes I've left for myself already, and I'm only 33k into the draft (plus a few thousand of assorted other stuff, including the prequel I want to revise at some point.... it takes it up to a combined total of 41k).

Reading update

I've been reading a handful of memoirs this month. First I read A Grief Observed (reread, specifically for handling Hannah's death in Patience, Changing), then Bones: Anorexia, OCD and Me (first time read, and I won't be rereading it: I don't recommend it), Girl, Interrupted (not as good as its popularity would suggest to me), and As I Disappear... (a very short poetry thing). There were also a few that didn't get onto my goodreads because I gave up on reading them before I actually bought them (all ED focused). I'm currently reading the same books as I was reading last month (Cry of the Raven, The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, and Walking on Water) as well as starting a reread of Pat of Silver Bush. Thinking of rereading Pride and Prejudice presently.

Ramble

Oh uh. I note that last time I wrote that my mental health has been comparatively amazing lately, which is... still true? Which is Impressive? I still need to work out motivation and that kind of thing which I'm not very good at still, but oh well. I guess I'm still as forgetful as I was. I realised recently I haven't been posting on my website all year. I need to do that more.

Drabble

As We Sail Into Hell

“I’ll go anywhere you go, so that makes us equal.”

“‘You are a gentleman, I am a gentleman’s daughter, so far we are equal,’” she misquoted cheerfully. “The fact that we’ll follow each other into—well, anywhere—doesn’t negate the fact that you have to choose where we’re walking right now.”

Nathan sighed. “I wanted you to make a decision,” he complained.

“I know. I shan’t. I know your tricks.”

“At this rate we’ll never get married because neither of us will ask the other.”

She grinned. “That’s your job. If you really want it.” But her expression was merry.

Photo

A collage from yesterday's walk. Ignore that I shared it on my main yesterday. The weird beastie in the bottom left is a wombat.

Fun fact

I title all my drabbles by either writing them off a song directly or by thinking of a lyric from a song. This one's from Durham Town, by Roger Whittaker.

[criticallyacclaimedstranger]

Questions for writers 7, 14, 19, 25

Thank you so much for asking, @pazizz!

Cut because long!

7. What is your deepest joy about writing?

It's an outlet. I get to pull all the shit I'm living with out of my head and put it to paper (well, Word document). It might not make me feel better every time, but at least I don't have to carry it around with me in the same way anymore. And when people can relate to the thing I wrote, it's even better. It's nice to know I'm not alone.

14. Do you lend your books to people? Are people scared to borrow books from you? Do you know exactly where all your “lost” books are and which specific friend from school you haven’t seen in twelve years still possesses them? Will you ever get them back?

I do lend books to people. It doesn't happen that often anymore since everyone I know buys more books than I do myself (I use my local library instead), but I did lend out a quadrilogy this past winter. I got it back. I don't have any lost books, everything's been returned. (Maybe it's because I'm a librarian, maybe it's because I've chosen to surround myself with people who respect other people's possessions, idk.)

19. Tell me a story about your writing journey. When did you start? Why did you start? Were there bumps along the way? Where are you now and where are you going?

Well, we'd have to go back to 8-year-old Cas who wrote/drew a picture book about a horse having a baby. (Wt ACTUAL f?) I started writing fanfic in 7th grade, but didn't know it was fanfic. There was no internet, no context for the little X-files stories I wrote. (Wait, I remember writing some fanfic for The New Adventures of Robin Hood as well, but I never showed that to anyone.)

I wrote poetry in high school/at university (of course) and short stories. I think I sent something in to magazines, too, but don't think I was ever published. In high school, I started writing fanfic, and by now the internet was a thing, and fanfic had became a concept for me. I wrote for Cats the musical and LotR, dabbled in Moulin Rouge and lots of other stuff that struck my fancy. Had a long relationship during which I didn't write (I've never felt the need when I'm in a relationship and having all my needs fulfilled by an actual person instead of a fictional character).

Between 2008 and 2014-ish I wrote a lot for different fandoms. I never published anything until 2012 when I joined my previous fandom and became quite a prolific writer there. That's when I really cemented myself as an OFC writer. I can't help it: I love creating OFCs, making up back stories, putting them together with my broken little Blorbos, watch them do stupid stuff together because they're both too loser-y to confess they like each other <3

I didn't write for the years I worked on my dissertation, didn't have the need, was too immersed in the writing process and absolutely thrilled about it. Then I watched Narcos and The Mandalorian during Christmas/new year's of 2020... and the rest is history.

I learned a lot in my previous fandom, both about writing in general, my own writing in particular, and writer/reader relations. But I've never learned so much about writing as I did from writing my dissertation. I know I've said it before here but I'll say it again: writing a dissertation really taught me how to sit down and write a little every day, despite not "feeling like it" or "not being able to". (There is no such thing, is my strong stance now. Either you want to, or you don't. If you want to, you just do it. Write anything. You can always revise later.)

25. What is a weird, hyper-specific detail you know about one of your characters that is completely irrelevant to the story?

Hmm. I've tried to come up with something but I can't seem to think of any? I'm not a very detail-oriented person. (Then again, I can get stuck on details that I finally just discard because nobody is going to care that women probably aren't allowed in Delta Force, or weren't in the armed forces during the Gulf War, so Jay and Eva's occupations aren't a problem. Those aren't irrelevant details, of course, but things I can get snowed in on.)

Jay can't sing? Then again, neither can Frankie.