April Novel Update

A glimpse into the progress of my literary adventure

Photo by hannah grace on Unsplash

Greetings, friends!

I cannot believe we are on the last day of April! As my husband would say: it’ll be the Christmas holidays before we know it. Yikes!

I’d like to take this opportunity and thank all my subscribers. Over 500 of you are now receiving my posts via email or the Substack app. I appreciate every one of you.

This month was a very busy one, despite distractions. Once I accepted I would encounter events that could distract me, I pulled up my big girl pants and hunkered down.

I’ve written 30 poems in 30 days for the NaPoWriMo 2024 challenge, wrote another 25,000 words while editing the 2nd draft of my book, found time to write an essay, and categorized some of my poems for publication.

I’ve also been reading… a lot. As Stephen King said:

If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.

Here are three books I recently read.

1. Do You Believe in Miracles? (Dark Circles Trilogy Book 3) by Jim Melvin. Jim was previously an award-winning journalist at several large newspapers and a communications director at Clemson.

   Jim’s latest works are books 1-3 of the teen fantasy adventure trilogy titled “Dark Circles,” which is about a group of kids transported to a magical land where it's deadly to sleep. The “Dark Circles” series is appropriate for ages 13 and older and has won many awards. This is a great coming-of-age series for fans of J. K. Rowling, Neil Gaiman, and Brandon Sanderson.

   Book 1: Do You Believe in Magic?

   Book 2: Do You Believe in Monsters?

   Book 3: Do You Believe in Miracles?

   Jim is the author of “The Death Wizard Chronicles,” an action-packed, six-book epic fantasy for mature readers that was published by Bell Bridge Books. This series is appropriate for ages 18 and older.

   Jim also has a Substack page, Jim Melvin’s Realms of Fantasy, where every Friday, he posts the opening paragraphs from a chapter of his latest book. He then breaks down the excerpt with comments about context, themes, and conflict. He also includes writing tips.

2. Poetry Comics by Grant Snider. Grant writes, draws, and lives in Wichita, Kansas. His first book, “The Shape of Ideas,” is a personal exploration of the joys and frustrations of the creative process. His work has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The New Yorker, The Kansas City Star, The Best American Comics 2013, and across the internet as the popular strip “Incidental Comics.” Grant works as an orthodontist in his day job. You can often find him carrying a sketchbook, lost in his own thoughts.

   Grant also has a Substack page, Incidental Comics, where he, in his own words, writes:

   Weekly comics on imagination, inspiration, and frustration.

3. The Transcendent Brain: Spirituality in the Age of Science by Alan Lightman. In case you missed it, I wrote and posted an essay about it this past Saturday.

I hope you have time to read these books.

Author’s Note

I usually reserve my novel update posts (at least some of it) for my paid subscribers. I wanted to send this post to everyone today because I feel it's important to share a glimpse of the journey with all of you. The books I read are a part of that journey, a slice of my backstory. Look for more posts listing recent books I’ve read in the coming months.

Thanks very much for reading, subscribing, and sharing the stories, poetry, and essays in this space. If you like a story, poem, or essay, please click on the heart. Also if you are so moved, please leave a comment.