June 2025 Update

Hello readers!

Despite my lack of posting, I did not forget about my blog. I just haven’t been great about posting regularly. Partially because there’s not a whole lot to update you all on, but partially because I’ve been in a bit of a writing slump.

As you may remember, one of the friends I made at a writing conference was putting together a writing critique group, and he invited me to join. Let me preface this by saying, the critique group is marvelous. I always look forward to getting to read their submissions, as well as hearing their feedback. They have been giving me such good feedback that I’m hoping that my feedback on their writing has been half as helpful as what they’ve given me. 

I was doing really well during the beginning half of sharing Veritas. I submitted my chapters, listened to their feedback, and then immediately went back and fixed the things we discussed. However, I hit a point in the story where there was a lot that wasn’t… bad, per se. But the information conveyed all came at once (referred to as an “info dump” in bookish circles), and this info needed to be shared to the reader in a different way. I had gotten this comment from earlier beta readers, but I thought I had improved it enough that it wouldn’t be quite so info dumpy and confusing, but that wasn’t the case.

Oh! And my fellow writers informed me that what I have written would actually fall under the thriller genre rather than mystery. So there are also a few changes I need to make to the beginning in order to convey the genre to the readers early on.

These revelations left me feeling… a little defeated. I’ve worked and worked and worked on this novel, and I still hadn’t gotten those parts right? I still hadn’t made those parts any better? But surely this couldn’t be why the agents hadn’t been requesting more, could it? They hadn’t even made it this far in the story.

The other frustrating thing for me was that after these discussions, I just couldn’t find the motivation to go fix those chapters. It wasn’t like I was suffering from writer’s block and wasn’t sure how to proceed. I wasn’t stuck. I knew exactly how I wanted to tweak the beginning chapters to add more of a thriller vibe, and I knew how to space out the “info dump” section, so that my main character (and therefore the reader) learns everything she needs to, but in a way that’s more gradual and not all at once. It also wouldn’t take much re-writing, just a bit of rearranging.

But the defeat stayed. Every time I went to work on those chapters, I felt a little bit like, “What’s the point?” 

I kept showing up for my critique group, and I kept letting the edits pile up. I even tried working on my second novel, but still, I found ways to procrastinate. 

Thankfully, one critique session sparked an idea that left me feeling excited. I found myself wanting to work on Veritas again. Some story pieces that I had set in motion finally clicked, and I could tie in a few loose threads that I’d left. So while my attitude toward my writing is getting better, I’m still feeling a little bit overwhelmed by the amount of work I need to do, which sometimes makes it hard to work on things. (In fact, I’m writing this blog post instead of revamping my early chapters.) 

Writing is hard work, y’all. I hope that if the blog has done anything, it’s helped to share just how much time and effort goes into each and every book. And while I’m jealous of authors who get to do this full time and can plan their whole day around when they write, I know that it also comes with its own setbacks. (Not to mention, most writers can’t afford to do that.)

It also takes a lot of grit to be a writer. I could totally see how easy it would be to just give up at this point of revising. Just shelve the project indefinitely and call it a day. (Don’t worry. Momma didn’t raise no quitter.) I know my story will be better off and stronger once I make those changes, and I know that someday, I’ll look back at the version of me with doubts and say, “Oh man. If only she knew what was in store for her.” 

Unfortunately, I’m not that version of me yet. I’m the version who’s slowly, very slowly, trying to get her joy of writing back.