© 2024 Arquie. All rights Reserved.

Wow, I’m thankful I’m doing weekly updates. It feels like I’m learning something new every day. James Clear (Atomic Habits) once said something about 1% change makes all the difference. Really feeling that lately. 

This past weekend I came across an online cozy fantasy con during the same time my local library was hosting an entire week of writing related events. I’ve yet to catch up on the Hearthcon events hosted by Lazy Dragons Books, but here is a link if you’d like to check them out! 

I also attended two writing workshops, one on crafting a main character and another on self-publishing. Thinking critically about the ‘why’ adds so much depth to characters and the plot. I really appreciated Dani’s take on character development. Dani Abernathy helps authors as they’re writing their stories and had very insightful advice. Feel free to check out Dani’s services here.

Throughout this weekend, I learned that even though I’m confident in my work and am excited about sharing it, I still get really nervous. The speaker for the self-publishing workshop had an opportunity to come up on stage and give our elevator speech.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t raise my hand to even try, and I’m not normally like that. I push myself and I throw myself into situations that make me uncomfortable all the time. I’m surprised at how far I’ve come, but I still have a long way to go. It was a very grounding experience.

However, the longer I stay in the writing community, the more at home I feel.

There are a lot of opportunities at my fingertips, and I’m trying to take advantage of the ones I can. There’s a submission call for a few literary magazines that caught my eye. I might write a quick story for one of them to get my name out there. My beta reader came back with the most heartfelt comments on my cozy fantasy short story collection. I’m thinking about doing a round of edits and looking at publishing options. I’m still working through developmental edits for Unchanged because I have an editor lined up for the end of November. And I want to start getting short stories out on the blog.

I’m grinding over here – don’t you worry. I have to lay the foundation before the house can be built, and honey…We’re building a castle.

Chat soon, 

Arquie