What I’ve been up to

You may have noticed that my blog posts have slowed down a bit lately. Or maybe you hadn’t noticed, but are now giving me a side-eye because I’ve pointed it out. “Why,” you may be wondering, “are you drawing attention to your lack of posts? Isn’t the drop in consistent posting a bad thing?”

Well, yes, it is. I like to be consistent in my posts. I also like to be honest, which is where this post comes in.

It’ll bring in a bit of fun, too. But overall, it’s meant to help you understand why my posting slowed down and what I’m planning on doing about it.

Writing prep
I’ve gotten a lot of writing-related work done over the past month. Much of it was part of my Pitch Wars prep, but there’s been some other dabbling, as well.

In particular, my biggest focus was on a full revision of V&L. I sent out a few queries featuring this manuscript over the summer, but I didn’t get any nibbles back. So, I decided to take another look at things. I traded manuscripts with another writer and got some great feedback from her. Most of the changes have been made now, and the rest are brewing in the back of my mind.

Overall, I felt confident enough in the manuscript to enter it into Pitch Wars. The results don’t get posted until the end of the month, but I’m already nervous and excited. If I get chosen by a mentor, it’ll mean a lot of work–but it’ll be work that will make V&L truly shine. If I don’t get chosen, I’ll take another look at the manuscript before I try querying again. And in the meantime, I’ll work on some C&C edits.

Weddings
No, that’s not me in the picture. That’s my brother and his new wife. Theirs was the first wedding that kicked off the streak of three that I have in a seven-month span.

While I wasn’t in my brother’s wedding party, I did help out where I could. It meant a busy end of June/beginning of July, especially with the family that came up to visit from the States. It was worth it, though. The wedding was beautiful, and we all had a lot of fun. It was an amazing way for Denie and Kaleigh to start their married life.

My best friend, meanwhile, gets married at the end of August. I’m Steph’s Maid of Honour, and there’s been a lot to do to get ready for the bridal shower, bachelorette, and wedding. We held the bridal shower at the end of July, and the bachelorette will happen in a couple of weeks. A week after that, we’re heading up north for the wedding.

And third, another friend of mine is getting married in Mexico in January. I’m a bridesmaid in Gerda’s wedding, so it’s not quite as much work as Steph’s wedding, but there’s still a lot to do. The bridal shower happened this weekend, and the bachelorette will be in late August.

On the personal side
I’m not going to go too far into detail in this section, because I’m not quite ready to share everything here yet. I did want to give you some idea of what’s been happening, though. Because I’ve had a lot going on outside of writing and weddings.

Things have been… let’s go with “busy.” For me and for my family. Unfortunately, something had to give a little bit, which is why my posting consistency went down a bit.

But here’s the good news: things are starting to slow down. (Or I am, anyway; a knee injury will do that to a person.) That little bit of a break from twice-a-week posting helped me feel more caught up in the rest of my life. Now, I’m ready to get back to my usual schedule.

What’s coming
So, what can you expect? Well, I already have some posts planned for the next few weeks. I want to post about weddings, for sure. I have more pictures from Denie and Kaleigh’s weddings and some from Steph’s bridal shower ready to go. I’m sure I’ll have more after Gerda’s bridal shower and Steph’s wedding.

There are also a couple of recipe posts that I want to share with you. I won’t tell you what they are quite yet (that would ruin the surprise!) but here’s a hint: they involve chocolate and espresso.

And finally, I want to get some short stories in the works. I mostly plan on posting them here, but I may work on getting a couple of them published elsewhere. That likely won’t happen for quite a while, though.

As you can see, I’m generally just trying to get back on track. I hope you enjoy what I have planned.