Hello, friends!

Here is my monthly update on what I’ve been up to recently. May is my first month off of school so I’ve had a jumpstart on my summer and I’m excited to discuss what I’ve been working on.

The most obvious change this past month has been my rebrand. As of May 15th, I changed my username and logo across social media. For more information regarding the reason for this, read my post here.

academic

As I mentioned in my last update, I am working on research this summer for my Honors capstone project, which is expected to be a novel on WWI. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and watching that is helping to inform and inspire me. This month, my research has had a heavy emphasis on Irish literature and studies because I plan on including a lot of Irish history and content in the story.

Here is what I’ve read for my research: Dubliners and A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, both by James Joyce; a couple short stories from In Our Time by Ernest Hemingway;  Women Wartime Spies by Ann Kramer; and The Enormous Room by E. E. Cummings (which I’m still finishing). I enjoyed some of these more than others, but I’ve been learning lots and taking notes.

I also watched: The First World War from Above, Our World War, and The World’s War. As much as I value primary sources like most of the books I read, watching content is often a more accessible way of learning for me. I enjoyed watching this mix of documentaries and historical fiction. Much more to come the rest of the summer.

activities

As I am back in my hometown for the summer, I’m working about 20 hours a week to save money for trips, the school year, and other expenses that come up. It’s not a very exciting job, but it gives me money and can often be mindless enough to let me think about writing while I’m at work.

creative

My goals for May included finishing two short stories: Frostfire and Siren. Both of these stories I started in my Intro to Short Story class my fall semester of freshman year (fall 2016).

I began the month of May with Frostfire by applying edits from my most recent round of betas and polishing up my fourth draft. Then I sent it out for final reviews, applied changes from my feedback in my fifth and final draft, and finally felt confident with the end of the story.

My next plans for this story are to do a photo shoot for the cover and publish it on Kindle. As my model and photographer are both home for the summer, I’ll have to wait until I get back to school for these final steps. But the story itself is finished! I’ll post an update once it’s finally available.

The second story I’ve been working on is currently called Siren, although I will likely change the name once it’s finished to something more appropriate to what the story has become. Because I spent so much time on Frostfire, which has been through 5 drafts, I haven’t worked as much on Siren. I began the second draft during my winter break and I’ve just finished it. Because I decided to do a rewrite, it will probably need a lot more work before I can publish it, which I’m hoping to do through a literary magazine. But I’m glad I conquered the second draft this month, and I intend to let it incubate before I spend more time with it.

In addition to these short stories, I’ve also started prepping for my major project for the rest of the summer, which is a first draft of the novel I began in my YA class fall semester of sophomore year (fall 2017). I already have all of my scenes planned out, so I’m currently writing an in-depth outline of how each scene will play out. I also hope to work a little more on character development before diving into the draft the first full week of June. I’m very excited for this story. I’ve been updating my playlist and watching music videos to inspire my process.

inspiration

Even with researching, writing, working, and everything else, I’ve finally found the time to read more for fun. There were a couple books I had started a while ago but never gotten through. I finally finished these two, which were The Death Cure by James Dashner and The Shadowhunters Codex by Cassandra Clare. In addition to these, I also finished The Selection series by reading The Crown by Kiera Cass in two days, and I found one of my new favorite books by reading Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli. It’s been so nice to read again, and even though it’s hard to balance, I’m glad to make time to enjoy myself this summer.

In other news, I watched some movies, most notably Avengers: Infinity War. While this movie broke my heart, it also inspired me. I want to be able to worldbuild a story so well that, even with a scope the size of Marvel’s, I can still write an incredible story that balances characters and plot the way this movie did. I can’t wait to watch it over and over again, and I really cannot wait until next year for the final film. The suspense may actually kill me.

I’ve also found inspiration in the royal wedding, which caused me to finish The Selection series and watch a bunch of documentaries on British royalty on Netflix. I don’t expect anything exciting to happen anytime soon with royalty in my stories, but it’s been stirring up some ideas for future (distant future, mind you) story ideas.

Of course, I’ve watched a little TV among all these things. A nice, friendly sitcom is always welcome in my life. The two most prominent ones have been New Girl and Brooklyn 99. If you ever need a laugh, these two got you. Especially if you want to stay up til 4 am, incapable of turning it off.

personal

Not much exciting stuff has happened for me personally. Mostly, I’ve been saving money for a few trips. I actually managed to buy a plane ticket for one of them, and let me tell you, it is 100% worth the investment for potential flight reduction. I paid $3 in case my flight price dropped and it’s already gone down $50. So, totally worth it.

I’m also working on my health by exercising and eating better! I used to be pretty fit during the 7 years when I danced, but after quitting, my body has enjoyed my laziness far too much. I gained way too much weight for my own and my body’s personal comfort this past year, and it’s time to change my habits to be stronger, healthier, and happier. The exercise has been a struggle, considering I’ve lost any inkling of a muscle I’ve ever had. But between yoga, weights, workouts, and an elliptical machine, I’ve finally started to take better care of my body.

In addition to exercise, I’ve also started eating better. My mom and I agreed its time to take control of our diet. We’ve started with many homemade smoothies, lots of rice and vegetables, and much less sugar. The transition has been a challenge, but it is a great step towards self bettering.

---

That’s about the size of it. I know these personal update posts are always super long, and you’re obviously never obligated to read them. They’re just a way for me to track everything in my life and a way to share with you how I balance my creativity with everything else going on. Plus, having these updates is one way I’ve found to keep my blogging consistent.

If you have suggestions for other writing or bookish things you’d like to see, comment down below! As always, feel free to like this post and follow me as you see fit. I’ll be back soon with more content and updates.

That’s all for now. Thanks for reading! (Seriously, big thanks if you made it this far. Comment down below that you survived this long blog).

~ Jayda