Scribes & Archers

Writing

I’ve edited 29 chapters of Calligraphy Guild this month! Which is to say approximately a draft and a half. I’m well on-course to complete my self-edits by the end of February, which will free me up to send it to sensitivity readers and betas shortly! (If you’re interested in beta-reading, you’ll need to sign up to my street team list! I’ll be taking volunteers on my next email.)

I’ve done some other scattered writing this month, including some random fluff scenes, revising a short story, and prepping for an upcoming project. And I’ve been getting blog content in order, including my editing series this month and a 3-month series to start next week! Since I’m hoping to be gone over the summer, I’m trying to get ahead and make sure I have content to cover the time I’m gone, which starts with freeing up the spring to work on it. I’m super excited about this upcoming series and it’s been a lot of fun to put together!

Reading

• Giants: Sons of the Gods by Douglas Van Dorn
• God Against the Gods by Brian Godawa
• The Fabric of Faithfulness by Steven Garber
• Women of the Word by Jen Wilkin
• Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
• A Teen’s Guide to Getting Stuff Done by Jennifer Shannon
• The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis
• The Surprising Imagination of C.S. Lewis by Jerry Root and Mark Neil
• Watson and Holmes by E.B. Dawson

Two-thirds of my reading this month has been non-fiction, but it’s been a good line-up. I’ve learned a lot, and there’s been a lot for me to incorporate into my worldbuilding.

Norse Mythology was a lot of fun. Most of the stories were familiar, but it was clear that Gaiman enjoys the mythology, so it felt like mutual appreciation for the myths and it was really enjoyable to read.

Watson and Holmes was also good, and I appreciated the importance of the worldbuilding. I find that space-based fantasy can often treat alien races just like humans with a paint job, but Dawson spent an early section of the book establishing the different cultures and interactions of the alien races on Linden and it was really cool to read. The parallels with Sherlock Holmes were also well-done.

I also have five books I’m currently reading:

• Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
• Malfunction by J.E. Purrazzi
• New Worlds: Year One by Marie Brennan
• Love Riot by Sara Barratt
• and Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

All of these have been great so far! New Worlds and Mistborn have been especially great. New Worlds explores some worldbuilding elements I hadn’t thought about and deepens some I had, and Brennan–due, I’m sure, to her background in anthropology–clearly understands the importance of details and what they mean for culture. Mistborn is my first foray into Sanderson’s work, and I definitely understand the hype! I’ve also gotten through it more quickly than I expected, and I’m starting to think that putting off Sanderson’s books due to their size was a silly move. XD I’m buddy-reading Mistborn, so I’m still just at the end of Part One, but I’m super excited to read more!

Other

I’ve been working through a CLEP prep course for U.S. History I and I finished today! So I’ll be taking the actual CLEP test shortly and moving on to U.S. History II. I have a total of six CLEP tests I want to prep for following this first one, which ought to keep me busy for a while. XD I’m trying to get as much of my general ed out of the way as I can before leaving this summer, so that I can focus on work and travel and Calligraphy Guild for the next year and a half or so without having to worry about too much college prep at the same time.

I’m also working on a project currently that I’m hoping to release in a month or two. I won’t share too much yet, but it’s worldbuilding-related and I’m really excited to share it.

And that’s about it for this month!

Plans for February

• Finishing self-edits on Calligraphy Guild
• Continuing upcoming project
• Studying
• Reading
• Worldbuilding
• Prepping future blog posts

Your turn! How has your month been? What’s been your best read this month? Any plans for February? I’d love to hear from you!