Finding an editor, July's writing experiment, & book swag questions!!

Hello, helloooo! I’m drafting this from Barcelona (or just outside it, in Castelldefels). This is what the beach looked like last night. (At 9:20pm! The sun was just barely setting!!)

I won’t be here for much longer as I’ll be traveling to Dublin soon, but I’ll be staying there for about a month. If anyone’s local to the area or will be around in July, let me know if you’d like to meet up and get some writing in together! :) Or if you have any recommendations for cafes or your favorite place to work, I'd love suggestions! I’m hoping to get back into a rhythm and flow of writing amidst my exploration of the city. :)

Coming to y’all today with a few questions. First, do you have any recommendations for editors? My lovely friend who works on my pen name projects is strictly a romance girlie. If there’s not sex on page, she wants nothing to do with it bahaha. So I’m on the hunt (for the first time ever, eek!) for an editor for A Closet Full of Cauldrons. If you have anyone you’ve worked with and really enjoyed, especially if they also enjoy mystery, please let me know! :)

Second: What sort of book swag or merch is your favorite? I’m brainstorming some ideas, specifically items that I could crochet! Like bookmarks! Or maybe a bat plushy (for the character…named Bat, lol)! Or maybe even book covers?

It would be more items I could just giveaway along with the book rather than “branded ” stuff. But I’d love to know your favorites!

And finally, I’d love for y’all to help me decide which writing experiment to take on for July! Your choices:

Option 1: 2 weeks of 1000 words a day

So I’m a little late to the “official” version, but this was inspired by Jami Attenberg and her online movement, #1000WordsofSummer. She also has a book out now, 1000 WORDS: A Writer’s Guide to Staying Creative, Focused, and Productive All Year Round, that I’m in the process of reading.

Originally started as a personal “boot camp” (and in the summer, for all the writers who are also teachers or students), it’s all about committing to yourself and your story. 1000 words is doable, but still a push. Two weeks isn’t a chore, but is still a challenge.

(The book also has advice for Fall, Winter, and Spring, and I’m excited to get to those chapters later!! Y’all know I’ve been on a big “seasonal” kick with my writing and planning, so this is just up my alley.)

If lots of people want this option and to participate, maybe we can even do our own mini, belated #1000WordsofSummer check-ins here on Patreon or Discord. :)

OR!

Option 2: Write a novella in 3 days

Okay, so this was inspired from when I was in the comments of a stream on Nia’s channel (The Vixen of Fiction)! Skye Winter Books was on the screen and sharing how she and Anna had challenged each other to write a novella in 3 days, and my ears perked up! (Or my eyes…widened…, since I was reading their comments in the chat….you get what I mean, lolol.)

I’d like to eventually have something in the ACFoC universe to giveaway for free as a reader magnet and figured this would be perfect! (That said, I don’t yet have an idea for the story bahaha.)

A novella is the perfect length to fast draft over a long weekend, play around with some possible ideas, and see what I can come up with!

Both of these sound super fun to me, so I'm turning the decision-making over to y'all! Let me know which you'd rather see.

That's all for me now! Time to get back to the beach. Let me know how the back half of June has treated you. Any exciting updates to your stories? Any new projects on the horizon?

Until next time, thanks y'all! And happy writing!!