I know. Try not to be too distracted. I will introduce you to Dragu and his story in a moment. I know he's a cutie!
Good news on my writing front. Even though I do have a few short story projects, I tabled them finally to make progress on my novel revisions. I actually picked up one of the other novels, too, to help get creative juices flowing since I was feeling stuck. The main motivation has been I finally found a small novel group to help keep me accountable of people who know my book and have read everything and deadlines for revisions. This month was the second 10,000 words from me. It required filling in some gaps between scenes which were already revised and reworking a scene that had some critiques. The second draft needs to create more consistent tension in the first 100 pages, and get a lot closer into the characters. I was really happy with this section starting to reflect the original vision for where I wanted this to go. I had actually written a stand alone background piece for one character that I plunked into her introduction. Hopefully they can help me scale it down, but I felt happy with what it brings to understanding her complexity, and key elements of the world at the centre of the conflict. It does feel good to feel less stuck! I am hoping with the next section, I can continue working on authorial voice and developing it through the rest of the revision. Also! One morning I finally woke up with a vision for exactly the mood I wanted to set in the opening chapter, and how to do it!
You can see some of my other slated projects on the website. I picked up the Lesbian breakup and have been working in a writing group on it also. It has a title now! So check that out. I am now finishing Act 1 and sketching out how to develop the story. It is told in two timelines concurrently, switching back and forth. I also got to practice a pitch with Hannah Schofield of LBA Agency, who gave me some great input. I have put together the submission package to get feedback from another agent this month.
This time the bananas critique came from a straight white woman! So it deserves a share here:
This is some levelled up cringe.
The story of the miracle pup is also a writing story! This is a great story of the writing community working together to get this pup off the streets in Romania. If you don't know! Romania has a stray dog problem which was a result of industrialisation in the 20th century! We have a talented editor, Alex Woodroe, in Cluj. She saw Dragu in a box with a broken leg, unable to walk. She took him home and many people in the writing community donated to help with his medical expenses. Meanwhile, I have an older dog who has been through so much with me, and was also a rescue dog. She has been the happiest, easiest dog I have ever had. Through the pandemic, I was so afraid that I would be alone if she was gone, and hard to find another dog as easy as she is. This guy had such a cute personality, he reminded me of her at the same age, and I thought "this little guy could just be the right pup for our family." She has been keeping me updated not only on his health, but on his personality, helped train him and show him the ropes, and shown him so much love so he has known such a happy start to life with humans. Since I never got to meet him from 1100 km away, it helped so much to have confidence from her. He's on his way this weekend from Romania to Germany together with a great group that does their own rescues and takes regular trips to bring dogs to their new homes.
Thank you for those who helped support getting this pup healthy. If you want to continue your support, this group has been great for Alex and I to work with to help with transport. Thankfully it was easy for them that she did the fostering and I already offered a home, and all they needed to do was connect point A to point B. As always don't forget #AdoptDontShop https://www.facebook.com/groups/2490126837975251
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