Greetings, everyone! I hope you are all having a great week.
This past week has been pretty spiffy. In addition to getting some writing and plotting done, and some reading, I was able to attend Balticon, which was offered virtually this year.
So, with regard to writing, my current plan is to finish the current book and plot the next/final arc of this series during June. That way, I will be ready to start working on Book 10 for July’s session of Camp NaNoWriMo. While it is a rather large task, given how much trouble that final arc of the series is giving me, I think it should be doable. I’m currently about a quarter of the way through the draft of Book 9.
As far as reading, I finished the last book of The Return of the Elves series by Bethany Adams. I am enjoying the books, and for the most part, the individual books seem be fairly decent for pacing. However, the series as a whole seems to be rather slow to progress as far as the overall plot of the series. I get the feeling part of that is that the individual books are definitely shorter than I am used to for fantasy. Most of the books average about 250 pages. I also noticed on her website, the author mentions that they don’t know how long the series will be since she is a pantser. While I can appreciate the pantsing approach as a writer, as a reader I can’t say I’m too fond of it. I will probably keep an eye out for future books in the series, though I can’t say when they will actually come.
The other big thing this week was Balticon. I’ve only been to Balticon once in person, but even attending virtually this year, it still had the same kind of vibe. (Incidentally, that vibe is very different from what I am used to with DragonCon.) While there are a few different topics they covered, I mostly stuck to the writing panels. One notable exception was a fun session that involved getting to meet and learn about a rescue owl named Archimedes. I did manage to get some screenshots of poses that seem like they might be good for drawing practice, but I haven’t had much of a chance to do anything with them yet. I am also glad that Balticon offered a few panels on self-publishing and information for new authors. For anyone who is interested in seeing what kind of things Balticon has to offer, you can find most of their panels and such on their YouTube channel here.
This week, I am planning to make some decent headway on drafting Book 9 and plotting Books 10 through 12. I also plan to read through a couple of the books I started a while back, since I have finished everything that is currently out for The Return of the Elves series. I have not yet decided which books I would like to continue just yet. I have also recently picked up embroidery again, and I finished a piece that I started a while back. I will probably be posting that piece later this week.
I think that’s about all I’ve got for this update. Thanks for reading!
~ Theresa
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