katecavanaugh
patreon
Sinusitis, JanuWriMo, & Writing Craft Book Club!
🕑 Added 2023-12-27 15:00:07 +0000 UTCHi friends! Last we chatted (before my power went out on stream, lol), I had BIG PLANS for December.
Well. Turns out December had very different plans for me!
After visiting my friend a few hours away, I returned home and promptly came down with a bout of sinusitis that just would NOT go away. But as you can watch in my "december." vlog, I still managed plenty of crocheting, handwriting of a first draft, mulling over publishing plans, and a whole lot of additional pondering.
Part of that pondering leads me into a fun new thing I'd like to implement here on Patreon for 2024! And that is a "writing craft book club"! I'll let y'all vote for some months, others I'll choose (like January's pick!), and we'll tack on a little chatty discussion bit to our end-of-month writing streams.
Our first pick comes from a Twitch recommendation!:
THE LAST DRAFT by Sandra Scofield!
I checked this out a while ago, read through it a bit, but want to return and focus on the exercises!!
My hope for our little club is to alternate between exercise- or prompt-heavy craft books alongside the classics, like ON WRITING by Stephen King or Elizabeth Gilbert's BIG MAGIC.
Stay tuned for more info on when that final stream of January will be when we'll write and then chat about the book! I'll post our stream schedule on the 8th, after I return from Japan (!!!!), including some extra bonus streams since I wasn't able to host any after the 1st of December. :(
But speaking of streams -- I do want to remind y'all about the JANUWRIMO event happening soon! It's my favorite writing event of the year, hosted by the incredible Katie Ann Writes, and she once again has a whole lot planned. So if you're looking for more people to hang out with and write alongside, I can't recommend her channel and the event enough!
Before I go, I want to chat briefly about my YouTube video plans for Q1. As mentioned in the December vlog and my 2024 goals video, I'm planning to drop down to 2 or 3 videos, max, for these first couple months (maybe even the whole year???). Fewer random vlogs, more experiments, YES.
So for my trip, I'm leaving my computer behind! But I'll have several trusty notebooks with me, and I'm excited to see how far I'm able to get in completing my handwritten draft. 👀
I'll probably have that video posted up in February, so look out for the "One Fictional Writer to Rule Them All" and "Comparing Plotting Softwares" videos to finally come out in January lolol.
Also now that my voice is back (mostly, lol), hopefully it is here to stay and I'll be back at it on Twitch when I return from Japan, too! :)
I am very ready for this year to be my "slow and steady" as I finish the "race" on several books. :)
Let me know how December treated you, if you did anything fun for the holidays, how you celebrated, and if you've had fun testing out any of your goals or planning for 2024!!!
And happy writing, friends!
Comments
Zara Hoffman
Project Purple: Ko-fi lets you sell digital items with a "pay what you want" - I recommend this! Don't post on Wattpad if you're worried about the self-publishing thing because trad pub will see it as the same thing (even though you probably wouldn't be paid for your story on Wattpad).
Zara Hoffman
Sorry to hear you were sick for so long. I had been wondering about your general absence online. I had surgery on Dec 15 to remove my stage 4 endometriosis and have been super tired all month (but especially since the surgery). I'm hoping to get more energy starting tomorrow—Day 1 of 2024!
Caitlin Helsel
So excited for this book club! I’ve been wanting to focus more on learning about writing, which I’ve fallen off on for the last couple years, so this is perfect timing!
alessandra
I'm sorry you had a rough month, but yay to feeling better and a fun trip to look forward to. Good luck in those stationary stores! I had finals and learned that I also get stress migraines in conjuction to my normal ones. I will rest soon since I have next month off from work too. I've been working almost everyday since I got off from classes. I've been slowly refilling my creative well with prep for Januwrimo and reading!
Sarah Cahill
It sucks that you got sick, but I'm glad you're feeling better! I'm looking forward to Januwrimo, I have a draft to finish!
Samantha Andersen
Oooh, I’m very excited about these craft books! For much of my writing journey I have been adversed to them (I think I found it to feel too much like homework and my head made it out to be too restrictive) I’ve since grown out of that mindset and am embracing all the craft books! Thanks for doing this!
giseledute
I think nanowrimo tired me out. And I got to the part before the end of the story and I got stuck.
V.E Bravo
Your book club is gonna be perfect for my 2024 goal of reading more craft books! Happy 2024, Kate!
Regina Duke
So good to hear from you! uh, wait...Japan???? Wow! Have a great time! I was listening to older videos last night, just had to hear Kate's voice. LOL Feel better soon! Sinusitis is the pits.. Love you!
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Oh no!! :( I hope January treats you better and you’re able to find that connection again. Do you have a hunch to what happened or why? Or just one of those things? I’m also very curious about my various notebook epiphanies! I’ll report back lolol.
Kate Cavanaugh Writes
Ooooh thank you for that rec!! It’s definitely going in the list. Maybe for February or March! :)
giseledute
I'm sad that you got sick, it's really terrible to be like this. I love the idea of taking several notebooks, curious what will happen hahaha My December was horrible for writing, I completely lost connection with my characters and the story. RIP ME. Happy 2024, Kate!
Laura Nettles
The Anatomy of Prose by Sacha Black changed my writing forever. Highly recommend.
