This week’s word is writing–specifically, what I am writing these days.
For a long time, my writing was centered on writing comments on students’ papers and on editing clients’ manuscripts. However, before I was a teacher and before I was an editor, I was a writer.
I AM a writer.
And now more than ever, I know I need to devote some of my time to my writing.
So, I am happy to report that I’m actually writing.
I have just finished proofing the first of what I hope to be several small books/guides on writing. The first book is Make Your Writing Bloom (MYWB).
MYWB is seven-day guide to help writers who are stuck become unstuck. Many of us have faced writer’s block or writer’s drought. Many of us have been inundated with the heaviness of just making it through the day and paying bills and taking care of family and doing the things that we’re responsible for, and most of the time, we are so focused on doing those things that our writing gets placed on the back burner. Or just as painful, we come to the page to write and are frustrated when no words break forth. It is my hope that MYWB will become a tool that will allow those writers to remember why they love writing, to remember their great writing moments, to remember that fears and doubts and worries do not equal who you are as a writer and what you can do as a writer.
It’s a tiny book, but I believe it will pack the punch needed to spark writing for my fellow writers. MYWB will be released on my birthday, September 13, 2017, and it will be available both in print and as an ebook at Amazon and other online retailers. Pre-orders will begin in about a week. To say I’m excited is a definite understatement! I am also designing an online course for MYWB that will go live October 1, so as more info becomes available, you all will be the first to know.
In addition to MYWB, I am writing fiction. If you have read and have been a fan of my Double Inkwell mystery trilogy, then you’ll be happy to know I’m working on the final book. Before we get to that, if you haven’t read the first two books in the trilogy–Death at the Double Inkwell and Into the Web–we can still be friends if you click on the titles and buy the books today, read them, and leave reviews!
New covers are being designed for DDIW and ITW… AND for the final book in the trilogy, FOLLOW. I am in the process of organizing the story for this project with the goal of starting to write in earnest during NaNoWriMo 2017 for a 2018 release. It’s bittersweet to be working on this last book. The main characters of this story, twin mystery novelists Jovan and Cheyenne have been a part of my life for a LONG time now, and their shenanigans have become my shenanigans. But I won’t carry the sadness for too long. In 2018, I’m embarking on a new mystery series featuring a lead character I know you all will love.
As this post shows you all, I am getting back into my blog writing, too. I’m working on my weekly posts here, my monthly posts for The Blood-Red Pencil, and some writing for two online initiatives–more on those coming soon!
So that’s what I’M writing these days–non-fiction, fiction, and blog writing.