katecavanaugh
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Finding an editor, July's writing experiment, & book swag questions!!
🕑 Added 2024-06-29 11:54:23 +0000 UTCHello, 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!!
Comments
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
My normal goal for a first draft of a novella is about 20K! The entire summer would be a really interesting version to attempt next year! I'll put it in my calendar now.
brirudcreates
Omg that beach scene is epic! I hope you're having so much fun and enjoying yourself there! I wanna go back so bad! You make me miss Ireland even more!
Jimmie Hammel
1,000 words per day is just a regular quota. It doesn't seem very challenging unless you were doing it for the entire summer, everyday, no exceptions. A novella in 3 days seems difficult. What would the word goal on that be? 25-30k?
Aced Coffee
Haha yes that's true, the receipts act a bit as a time capsule. I like that interpretation :D Thank you!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Yes, to self pub for ACFoC! I imagine it as part of a long, sort of never-ending cozy mystery series, so I think self pub is the right move for me there. :) And it's been so fun adjusting to the time zone difference! I'm like "oooh, this is when all my European friends are actually writing with me" now bahaha.
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Ooooh thank you for the recommendation! The cliff walk there looks so cool! :)
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Oooh that's great to know! I'm also guilty of buying beautiful bookmarks and then only ever using receipts or scribbles of notes bahaha. But I think that's very sweet, too, it acts as its own sort of "point in time" for where I was/what I was doing then. AND THANK YOU! :) Wishing you all the good luck on your two novellas! Excited to hear how that's going when I get back. :)
Aced Coffee
1.000 words per day is a nice experiment but it feels too close to all the NaNo/Camp NaNo months for me, just a bit less exhausting. I've always been interested in learning more about Novellas and how to write them so I'll have to vote for that, especially because I'm currently working on two novellas. As for book merch, I'm not a huge merch person and I prefer to leave my books undecorated and just thrown into my backpack and even my bookmarks more often than not are just the receipts the books came with 😅 But I love book-themed stickers, pins and keychains. And welcome to Europe, I hope you have a wonderful time here! Can't wait to hear all about your adventures.
Maariyah S.
Oooo I'll definitely have to give this craft book a read!
Rainy Hammer
Hi welcome to Europe. It is kind of strange of thinking of you in the same timezone as me. I hope you have good time in Barcelona and then Dublin and wherever you may go. Hopefully you will get a lot of inspiration to your writing. Are you planning on self publishing A Closet of Cauldron?
Author JC Carpenter
Omg Kate that picture of the Beach at sunset is GORGEOUS! Hope you are having a fantastic time on your vacation! Can't say I don't miss starting my day off with your sprints and your company but I'm so glad you are enjoying yourself. On to the topic at hand, first off I do know of an editor and she's phenomenal (she'll even give you a playlist of songs that pops into her head as she edits your manuscript lol). Her name is Morgan Lee and hopefully it lets me link her here (https://www.authormorganlee.com/). I cannot rave about her enough and she edits across multiple genres from mystery to romance. As for the poll I voted for the novella because I think it would be kind of cool to have a novella of maybe one of the side characters of ACFoC (perhaps before they met their unfortunate fate lol). Take care Kate and keep having an amazing time!
Candace Floyd
We should do 1000 words for the next craft book club read! Also, for book swag, I love a sticker. I have too many bookmarks to actually use them all but I feel like you can never have too many stickers
mothnaut
That's a beautiful photo! Hope you're having a great trip so far. 1. What kind of editing are you looking for? I'm a developmental editor, so I focus on story-level feedback. I specialise in working with SFF authors, and my own WIP is a sci-fi mystery so I've done lots of reading and learning around mystery writing, too. Let me know if you'd like any more info about what I can offer. I'd also recommend using professional directories like the ones hosted by the Editorial Freelancers Association, the Chartered Institute of Editing and Proofreading, or ACES (American Copy Editors Society) to look for editors who have the relevant training and experience. 2. A bat plushy sounds amazing!! I love the idea of book accessories, as well. Hope you have an awesome time in Dublin!
Sky
Re:book merch and crochet. I’ve seen a TON of like book covers and sleeves that are SO cute and multi functional. I’ve crocheted one of my own that fits my kindle AND a paperback or a full size hardback book. But bookmarks are SO cute, usually simple patterns and can be in so many fun colors and styles. (Bat sounds SO cute but complicated tbh. Couldn’t imagine)
78kgsofshade
I have no reccs but a month in Dublin! Have a fantastic time!
alessandra
I love both ideas. I'm jealous of your travels. I've always wanted to go to Barcelona and I was in Dublin for a week back in March. I loved it. You have to take the train to Howth!
Kerri B
1000 words for two weeks sounds fun. What type of editing are you looking for? I primarily do line/copyediting. I'd be happy to do a free sample edit if you're interested.
