August 21, 2020

So the Hippo Events are over — technically they’ve been done for, like, a month and here I am not having posted for a while, y’all. But I can return here with amazing news on my writing progress — TSOC draft 2 is finished (but wait, there’s more!) and is being sent out to alpha-readers! So it is officially shelved for the next two months until I get all their feedback. “But Charlie, what will you do with all that extra time now that TSOC is on hold?” I hear you ask. Well, work on Evercrown of course! And that’s exactly what I’ve been doing !

Evercrown chapters 1 & 2 have been edited to draft 3 — boom. Chapter 16 is edited to draft 2 — boom! Draft 1 of chapter 17 is officially written as of yesterday and due for a draft 2 edit today — DOUBLE BOOM! But that’s not all, dear reader — oh no, I have even more awesome news!

It’s in the early stages, but another writing project has entered the thought-dump phase of the writing process and due for actual plotting sometime next week! I’m so excited about this new project, y’all, it’s letting me dip my toe into the “who-done-it” genre while still being very dark urban-fantasy/supernatural — which is my specialty haha. And, once it’s fully plotted out, it’ll give me another writing project to divide my week so I’m not stuck with two days of writing and then editing throughout the rest of the week — which isn’t even something that I do because it takes me half the time to edit than it does to write. (I know, I know, I don’t know how to take a break.)

Alright y’all, that’ll be it from me today. I promise to post on here more regularly and keep y’all up to speed on my progress! Remember to always be artsy and keep writing or painting or cooking — whatever your craft is — because if you lose it, you lose a piece of yourself. Bye!

June 5, 2020

So . . . I actually accomplished all my goals. * little girl shriek *

I edited TSOC part 5, 6, and 7 to draft 2. I edited OHME chapter 15 — though I have notes from a few morning walks of things I need to add or change (my work is never done lol). Also, I even wrote and edited the first friggin’ short-story in my Project Apocalypse. Also-also, I’ve made progress further plotting my Project Murder House AND have been fine tuning the plot and timeline of Evercrown’s sequel.

Whew . . . that was exhausting . . . now lets keep going.

Due to life, I’ve primarily been focusing on plotting my other works and projects throughout the week — and I’ve gotten much done in that regard — and as for the end of this week . . . well, I’m already near the end so I might as well keep it up until Sunday. After which I’ll fall back into my normal rhythm — write OHME chapter 16 and edit it, work on editing TSOC part 8 and/or finishing the final scene of part 10, and begin plotting the unintentionally complicated second short-story in Project Apocalypse.

Compared to my other posts — replete with ten different things I want to write a week — this post must seem lazy or relaxed, but I’ve learned to take things in stride and plan for the minimal instead of the maximal while still challenging myself. Writing a chapter, editing two of them, and plotting out a short-story in a week is a goal I can meet while still having the possibility of time left over in which I can accomplish something else. It allows me to succeed realistically without lowering my standards while giving myself the chance to excel or relax when all the boxes are checked.

Aside from writing, I’ve been enjoying a few nostalgic shows in my free time — still Stargate: Atlantis, and Eureka — along with a few movies and podcasts — if I go into everything that entertains me, we’ll be here too long. But, more excitingly, I’m booked all day tomorrow with some friends of mine to make some videos for a project we’ve been talking about lately — more on that once it’s off the ground.

This was a short post — and a late one — but it was to the point and a little therapeutic. So, that’s it from me, y’all! Keep writing! Keep bein’ awesome! Bye!

May 26, 2020

Hey y’all! So . . . you remember how I wanted to write that short story and edit all the changes to TSOC I made last week on top of editing OHME chapter 15? Yeah . . . it didn’t pan out that way. But, I’ve gotten TSOC part 5 and 6 edited to their second drafts, so I accomplished roughly 3/4 of my goal — not so bad for an overachiever.

Now, given that the necessary changes in the earlier part of TSOC have been completed, I plan to use this week solely for editing — which is a bit of a vacation for me, given that I love editing, but still makes progress, regardless. However, all that’s left for me to edit and be back on the track before rewrites is TSOC part 7 and OHME chapter 15, which means I may very well have some time left over before the week’s out.

If this is indeed the case, I plan on finally writing the first draft of my first short story and editing it. After that, I’ll work on OHME chapter 16 and begin editing that before taking a crack at editing TSOC part 8. Then I will officially be back on track and able to work on all my projects together again — which is good because I miss my other characters. Even still, this two week hyper-focus on TSOC has allowed me to really flesh out the story and understand my characters on a much deeper level than before without the distraction of other, better plotted stories.

Aside from writing, I’ve been able to spend some quality time with friends lately — which is nice, given this whole quarantine situation. It’s good to step away from writing and just relax every once in a while and spend time with people that you enjoy even if it means you make no contributions to your projects — sometimes those are the best days in the world. I honestly can’t wait to spend time with these people again — their company’s so refreshing, so uplifting, so genuine and unstressed. It’s also nice to have someone to talk to about my books in person that knows virtually nothing about them and get some good emotional support and encouragement that what I’m doing is amazing and worth doing.

Also — between bouts of manic writing, binging in the kitchen, and friends and family — I have been glued to my phone almost every spare second rewatching the TV show Stargate: Atlantis . . . thankfully it holds up to the glorified mythic legends my young brain thought it was. Obviously it isn’t as grand as all that — it is just a show — but it makes me feel all nostalgic — not to mention putting me into a sci-fi mindset. It’s given me so many different ideas for my future sci-fi stories even though hardly any of them were inspired by the events or technology in the show itself — Lord help me, I’ll never be able to watch or read anything without being inspired to work on my stories.

And that’s another thing — inspiration. For the longest time, I assumed that taking inspiration from another’s work was almost like plagiarism because you didn’t invent the idea, or situation, or technology, etc. But that just isn’t the truth. Inspiration can’t be helped — it strikes you over the head and makes you pay attention — and inspiration is NOT plagiarism. And, in truth, what I’ve been calling inspiration in previous posts, is more like taking a certain mindset. Watching TWD got me in the mindset to explore certain aspects of my fictional apocalypse and thus fleshed it out — the inspiration came when I decided to write it from the perspective of survivors through episodic short stories. Watching Hannibal got me in the mindset to better explore the personality and backstory of a character I previously thought of as a background character — one that i realized had shockingly similar traits to our good cannibal doctor himself. The inspiration came when I decided to make this character inspire murder and madness in others and be a master of psychological manipulation for multiple reasons. Watching Stargate: Atlantis got me in the mindset to better flesh out and explore the world and history of my sci-fi setting for future stories.

The point is, that being inspired will always leave its fingerprints — it’s when inspiration is done honestly and tastefully that the writer will take an idea and make their own while still paying homage to their inspiration. While attaining a certain mindset by immersing yourself in similar genres and settings to better explore a facet of your world or story or characters or con-culture — whatever — is entirely based on your imagination. For some reason this just didn’t click in my head until recently — a little late to the game, I know, but still.

Alright y’all, that’s gonna be it from me in this update/diary entry. Make sure to check out my Instagram to see my progress between blog posts. Bye!

May 19, 2020

Hey y’all! I didn’t forget to update my blog within a week —give or take —it must be a sign of the end, lol.

But seriously, I have embarrassing news . . . I didn’t meet my goals I set in the previous update. I came really close — and would’ve been able to finish — but Sunday was Mother’s Day, and my mom’s more important than writing a book no matter how much I love this story. So, as it stands, TSOC part 9 is unfinished and Evercrown chapter 15 is still not edited, but this is for a good reason — I discovered my limits.

I thought I could do all that at once without planning out each and every single day — I couldn’t. I thought I could handle juggling multiple stories on the precipice — I couldn’t. So, while this is a failure, all failures teach to those are willing to listen. I now know that I can’t juggle that much at once and expect to reach my goals without dogmatic scheduling and fierce determination and sacrifice.

In the meantime, I had to stop working on TSOC part 9 because I still hadn’t rewritten part 4 and 5 like I needed to, and one of my beatareaders was on point with the schedule — they got to part 4 before I did, lol. So, I had to set the end of my novel aside and concentrate on part 4 for a week . . . and I got it done! Which brings me to today.

Last week I completely rewrote and edited part 4, and this week I’ll be tackling the new part 5. The beautiful part? I just finished rewriting the ending of part 5 moments before composing this update and will be more than able to edit it tomorrow! It blew by so fast, I don’t even know how it happened. So, the rest of today will be spent editing a few things in part 6, spending more time on my socials, and possibly writing the first short story in Project Apocalypse — but we’ll see how things go. And after that, I plan on moving forward with working on TSOC until I hit the new part 8 because that’s where I really need to get it edited to draft 2. Once there, I should fall back into my normal rhythm of writing Evercrown and editing those chapters alongside TSOC — hopefully I can work in time to write a short story at least every other week and edit that alongside Evercrown and TSOC . . . phew, I’m gonna be a busy bee, lol.

Alright, y’all, that’s gonna be it from me! Keep an eye on my socials to see the goings-on, watch out for more updates, and don’t forget that any of you can submit to be betareaders if you like one of my available stories! Bye!

May 7 2020

Hey yall! So I’ve been working behind the scenes again — I need to get into the flow of updating my socials, good LORD — but I’ve decided on a set schedule for the week, which is * drum-roll * . . .

• Write draft 1 chapter 15 of OHME (Our Holy Mother: Evercrown).

• Edit chapter 15 to the second draft.

• Edit a previous installment of Evercrown to the third draft.

• Write Part 9 of TSOC (The Seat of Cath).

• Write the first short story in my newest writing project: Project Apocalypse.

Now, I made these plans on Monday, May 4, during my morning walk — you know . . . when I usually talk to myself for, like, four hours? — so this is somewhat of an update on my schemes somewhat a progress report. I’ve already edited Evercrown’s prologue to the third draft (check), I’ve written the first draft of chapter 15 (double check), and, after I’m done writing here, I’ll start writing Part 9 of TSOC (kinda triple check). That just leaves writing a short story and editing chapter 15 to draft 2!

This may not look like a lot to have accomplished at first glance, but — as the person making all the words a thing that happens — trust me when I say that these five little things are certainly enough to fill up my week and give just enough time for me to have a life away from the keyboard, too. And, with 3 days * looks at calendar * correction, two days . . . just two days left in the week, I think I can do it. Besides, I haven’t included the work I’m going to do today — and, honestly, if I don’t manage to get the short story written this week it isn’t such a big deal.

And, because I’m the writer of this blog and I can do whatever I want on it — within reason, of course — I thought I’d add a little more personal detail in these things so they don’t just come off as progress reports . . . ‘cause who wants to read those for fun? When I wasn’t writing, walking, or spending time with my family this week, I’ve been in a binge of the Hannibal series. It’s been ages since I’ve watched it, but the moment I flipped on the first episode I was transported right back into my love for it and the characters. It’s a wild ride, with wild characters, and a wilder story seen through the eyes of crazy or crazy-by-proxy. I found the love I had for the characters again, the appreciation I had for the story, the mixed feelings over the beautiful art of the murders and their intricate interwoven connections within connections.

Besides that, through watching Hannibal, a seed has been planted in my mind for a story. It’s still very young and very close to the source material, but I think I’ll gestate on it a little while, tweak it, see where it takes me, what characters I cook up, what plots arrive as the first sapling. I can’t wait for this to grow and blossom into its own creation.

It just goes to show: “there’s nothing new under the sun”. Everything’s been done before, but how it’s done is what makes something authentic and original.

Alright yall, that’ll be it from me today. Keep an eye on my socials and the blog for updates and peeks behind the curtain. Bye!

April 25, 2020

Hey yall, I’m so sorry for the prolonged hiatus. On top of my seasonal job, two of my dogs almost died — not an exaggeration — but I’m back and ready to keep yall up to date on my progress.

In the spirit of updating, I officially have news! While I wasn’t able to accomplish my writing goals for the first quarter to their entirety, I did add new parts to TSOC (The Seat of Cath) to deepen the story, and have revised all but part 9 and the epilogue to draft 2. Additionally, I’ve also been looking over my work and decided to change something else early on in the story — including adding another part (which I heavily debated, trust me) — so I’ve still made great progress regardless of altering the original parameters for the first and second quarters.

Concerning OHM : Evercrown, I decided not to edit any of part 1 to draft 3 until I receive more beta feedback that way I don’t have to do more rounds of edits than is necessary. However, I’ve continued to write part 2 and plan on editing earlier chapters to draft 3 on my editing days as beta-feedback comes in. This will mean I’m writing and revising Evercrown on two levels, yes, but it will make revising book 1 less of a herculean task when the manuscript if finally finished.

What else have I been doing on this little hiatus, you ask? Well I’m glad you did, dear reader: I’ve been working on plotting out three new works which I will eventually start writing once TSOC and Evercrown are ready to be shelved before further editing. I’ve decided to work on a collection of episodic short stories to write at my leisure to prevent burn out while still working on something I will eventually publish, and am currently plotting another novel to begin writing once TSOC is shelved. I’m also plotting out another series, which I plan to write alongside the OHM (Our Holy Mother) trilogy. This new series will only be early drafts, though, so I can have complete manuscripts to pick up and edit once OHM is finished.

What does all this mean? It means I will be very busy, but these short stories, second novel and second series will not be paramount in my hours before the computer until I’ve finished my current projects. So, fret not: TSOC and the OHM trilogy will remain the focus of the majority of my writing time and will be finished.

Alright yall, that’s it for this post! I promise to post more often and keep yall updated more than once a month (lol). Bye!

January 29, 2020

Alright, so I didn’t update the blog on Monday — my bad, yall — but I do have amazing news! * pause for dramatic effect * I finished writing and editing chapter 13 into draft 2! That’s Evercrown part 1 done; all I need to do is get some more feedback from beta-readers and I can get it to draft 3! TSOC (The Seat of Cath) hasn’t budged, but that’s okay — I’ll be working on that today after I wrap up this update.

However, while I haven’t made progress in editing more of my debut novella, I have noticed a few things I want to change in the story and have been working on how I can rearrange said things. It may add an entirely new part to the novella and bump it up to a fully fledged novel — dear God can I write nothing small? Haha, probably not, but that’s okay — whatever it takes to tell the story.

On a note I have yet to mention on here; while the number of beta-readers has grown in recent weeks even without my involvement of Tumblr/Twitter, there are still plenty of slots that are open and waiting. I can’t wait to pick the brains of some twenty odd people — it’ll be so exciting to see how others react to my work — but until then, I’m grateful to those who’ve volunteered their time, opinion, and suggestions to the writing process; they’re invaluable. Even so, the feedback I’ve received has been overwhelming positive; make no mistake, there’s been criticism and problems brought to my attention — which I’m thankful to hear now instead of after it’s published — but the beta-readers seem to like the stories!

One more thing before I go — I didn’t post my first YouTube video last Thursday. There were some technical difficulties that I’m still trying to work out, so I’m not sure when I’ll have the videos up, but praying it’s soon so yall can see who’s been typin’ on here and reach out more easily. I’ll let yall know when the videos are set in concrete, so keep you’re eyes peeled for updates on here about that.

Alright yall, that’ll be it from me this time. Have a great day and write all the things!

January 21, 2020

So, this is crazy. With one week left in the month of January I have…wait for it…ONE chapter left to write in par 1 of Evercrown! And part 4 of TSOC (The Seat of Cath) is officially edited to draft 2 as of right now (there’s only 8 parts in the whole novella, so it’s half done haha)! And, I’ve filmed seven videos to edit for my YouTube channel!

I can’t believe how quickly this whole process has flown by, but I’m so thankful that it’s going well. Part 1 of Evercrown is right on track with my plans for this quarter, and TSOC is surpassing them — my goal was to edit part 4 of TSOC this quarter…I may finish revising the whole thing this quarter. I may even start a third project to give myself something to write while I dedicate this year to editing — nothing so big as to distract me, just short stories and / or another novella.

So, with my writing on track, what I need to start tackling is getting critique partners and beta-readers to get everything ready for another round of majorly critical self-edits. But, dear reader, fret not for I have a plan! Tumblr and Twitter! I should’ve been setting up these accounts from the beginning, but I have no idea how to use them. I’m just gonna hafta get to schoolin’ myself and shout out to people, yall! Another benefit of this is meeting other writers and becoming part of the larger writing community, which again I should’ve been doing early on, but I’m still in the early stages of writing so it’s not too late for me — I hope haha!

Also — very exciting news — my first video should be ready to launch by the 23rd of this month. I’ll be introducing myself and explaining my publishing decisions for the future as well as what to expect from the channel, so make sure to give it a gander!

Alright yall, that’s gonna be it from me! Check back in for more updates — Mondays, I’m gonna try to do these things on Mondays — and peek into my socials ‘cause you’ll get updates there, too. Now go write all the things!

January 3, 2020

(This has nothing to do with the content of this blog post, but it feels crazy to type in 2020 as the year haha!)

So, I have some awesome news! While going on my morning walk (because I do those) I was talking to myself (because I give great advice) to arrange how I wanted to divi-up my year and what I wanted to achieve. Well, I decided to divide the year into quarters — lots of people do, and for good reason — and then decided I would “challenge” myself by saying, “I’m going to finish writing and revising part 1 of the first book in my series Evercrown this quarter.”

However, as I went over the list of chapters in my head, I realized I only have — as of right now — five more chapters to write in part 1…… * screeches like a little girl * . I busted out chapter 9 in two writing sessions today to get me down to only five chapters to go in part 1, and I am so happy. It feels so amazing to slip back into my characters’ heads and project the story I’ve been crafting for, like, three years.

With the number of remaining chapters in part 1, I decided to finish writing it in this month (January, for those who haven’t been outside in a while) instead of this quarter. The remaining time in the quarter will be spent revising all of part 1 into it’s third draft, thus making Evercrown half way done y’all * screeches like a little girl *. Due to my seasonal job, however, much of February will be devoted to that instead of writing because of crazy hours, but if I can complete my goal of finishing part 1 of Evercrown to it’s third draft I’ll hafta…I don’t know…I’ll get back to y’all on how I’ll reward myself, but I’m definitely gonna be relieved and maybe cry a little…it’ll be something to do with Instagram, for sure. I’ll get back to y’all on that.

Now, here’s the plan for how I’m going to tackle writing the other half of Evercrown throughout the year.

• Write a minimum of two draft 1 chapters a week.

• Revise said chapters from draft 1 to draft 2 in the same week.

• If I finish and still have more days in the week, UTILIZE THOSE DAYS!!!! (no wasted time. We need to kick it into gear!") which means working my platform, keeping y’all updated, working on my other project, The Seat of Cath, and putting the final touches to the website (it’s a little bare at the moment…don’t fret, I’ll fix it.)

As for my other project, The Seat of Cath, I will still be working on it alongside Evercrown as I said above. It’s my goal to finish revising part 2, 3, and 4 of The Seat of Cath from draft 1 to draft 2 by the end of the quarter. I think this is easily attainable as any spare time in my weeks are usually devoted to The Seat of Cath, my socials (check ‘em out, I try to have a good time on ‘em), or mental/physical health…also friends, family, books, water, and food…those are important, too.

Alright y’all, that’ll be it for this post! Keep a look out for more updates and join me on my writing journey! I hope your 2020 is wonderful and to its fullest. And, to all the writers out there reading this — write the words and make all the things!

December 30, 2019

So…this is my first blog post ever…and i decided to make it at the end of the year. Great decision, Charlie! I know, I know, but i figured if i didn’t do it now, i wouldn’t do it, so here it is!

I don’t know about y’all, but this year’s flown by for me! 2019 was the year I plotted the Our Holy Mother series and my novelette The Seat of Cath and written them both! I can’t believe I’ve written a fourth of the first book in my series, Evercrown, and finished — friggin finished — the first draft of my novelette! (Let’s be real, it’ll probably turn out to be a novel — I’ve got a bad case of what I call the “word flu”, which is just a nice way of saying I’m an over-writer.) I’ve gotten myself a fancy website — if you’re here then you already knew that. I’ve gotten my writerly socials in order, somewhat — click on ‘em at the bottom of the bar and check out what I’m talking about — (though the whole FaceBook thing is still kinda new to me, so bare with me as i figure that out haha * sweats nervously *.) And, on top of all that, I’m setting up a smashing YouTube channel so y’all can see my face and chat with me…or at me…or shout at me…whatever ya please!

None the less, 2020 is upon us and the threat of failing our New Year’s resolutions looms heavily over our shoulders…I like to punch mine in the face —it really helps! So, since i told y’all what I did in 2019, let’s get my plans out for 2020!

1. I’m launching my first YouTube video sometime in January (don’t judge me, I’ve never edited anything before in my life haha).

2. I’m going to finish editing The Seat of Cath to it’s second draft in the beginning of the year so it’ll be ready for beta-readers (check out the synopsis and enlist for it if you like what you read!)

3. I’ll finish editing the manuscript of Evercrown (again, check out the synopsis and enlist as a beta is you like what you read!)

4. I’m going to take better care of my health. I know this one’s cliche, but I really to start the habit of being active and healthy if my career’s going to involve sitting for most of the day and staring at a screen with make-believe people. I mean, health is important anyway, but in a writer’s case especially.

Alright y’all, that’ll be it for this post! Keep a look out for more updates and join me on my writing journey! Have a happy new year! And, most importantly of all, to the writers out there reading this — write the words and make all the things!