October Weeks's Blog

After much thought, I’ve decided to stop doing the podcast. Haunted October’s Paranormal Podcast was so much fun to do! I started it in 2020, and learned so much in the process of creating the episodes. But I haven’t recorded an episode in almost six months, and I cannot see myself going back it in a regular fashion.

Thank you all so much for listening to it! I’m not saying I’ll never go back, but for now, this is the best option for me

Apologies for the lack of updates. Since I finished revision and edit rounds, I’ve been in the resting phase, where I set the books aside and let them rest a bit before diving back in. This phase is important as it allows me to take a short break after each round, and when I pick the books back up for the next round I’m seeing everything with fresh, rested eyes.

As much as I love this revision/edit stage (in fact, it is my favorite), if I do back-to-back rounds without rest, I begin to miss small details. I skim over lines instead of read them with a critical eye.

As soon as I pick the books back up, which should be sometime in the next week, I will post more frequently.

I finished the latest round of revisions for The Scrying House (Eden Hollow, book two) a few days ago, and ended up adding about 2k words. Edits will be the focus when I pick the book up again, so no huge changes are being made forward going. I’m excited about this because it means I’m one step closer to sending The Scrying House to the editor! And because I’m so damn happy about being at this stage, I’m going to reshare the cover:

A short update on progress: the dark academia is still moving right along, as expected. I also started the next round of revisions on The Scrying House (Eden Hollow, book 2), as I mentioned in the last post, and am now four chapters into that. I should have them done by mid-July, if not sooner. It took me longer to dive back into the book than I expected, but this round of revisions should go quickly.

Sera’s second book is also flowing again, and I’m just starting the chapter that will close out the first quarter of the book. Poor Sera is not going to be pleased with me by the end of this chapter *sigh*

Since I last posted, I did a thorough read-through of the fantasy novel I’ve been working on between projects. I’m happy about this because I now have a clear vision of how the last quarter of this book will play out, which I’ve been struggling with for several months. I’ve also made big steps toward finishing the current round of revisions for the dark academia. This has included adding both short and long scenes to chapters which gives the story more depth and meaning.

I’ve also made some notes on the fourth Tuck book as well as both Sera’s and Elvira’s second books. I’m hoping to dig into the second Eden Hollow story this week and finish those revision within the next two weeks, which is quite doable.

I apologize for missing two weeks for the weekly updates I had been doing, but the stories had me and I felt the need to take a short break from posting. But I will be back at the weekly pace now that all the books are moving smoothly.

This week I finished the latest round of Shards revisions. I’m so happy with this round! Saint may not be thrilled, but I am. I am now focusing on the dark academia, and am already five chapters into this round of revisions. With the dark academia, I had recently added a lot of new scenes, so this round of revisions is refining the transitions between what was there and what was added. I also know that I will need to add words and shuffle a few things around because some of the new material I added is going to change other parts of the book (like one new scene at the end changes something in the 3rd chapter).

The second Eden Hollow book is also beginning to make some noise in my mind, alerting me that I’ve let it sit long enough since the last round of revisions. I’ve also added a good chunk of words to the second Elvira Monk book.

This week has been very productive!

A brief blog to report that I’ve finished the latest round of revisions for Shards, Saint’s second book. I ended up adding around 3.5k words, which includes an epilogue. I’m much happier with the ending now! Now, I’m going to let the book rest for a bit, maybe around a week, and then I’ll start the next round.

I was meant to be on vacation this past week, in Scotland, but my body had other ideas. I instead spent the week sick. For writing, I did get through more chapter revisions of Saint’s second book. I’m two chapters from the end of the book, but I need to fix a chapter before finishing. I knew the moment I began to read the chapter that it needed to be fixed, though it won’t change the remaining two chapters in terms of events. The words don’t flow well, so a chapter rewrite it is.

As of late, I’ve been called to write haikus and poem-spells (for my spiritual work) and I’m loving it. I haven’t written a haiku since high school! Both came out of the blue. But writing them is allowing my creativity to flow better, sparking so much joy.

Much like writing in a notebook helps me when I’m having trouble getting words on the page, and when I feel stuck with a scene, writing the haikus and poems is giving my creativity an extra boost. Reminding me of my passion for writing and why I love sharing stories.

I didn’t get much writing in this week, so nothing new to report on that front. However, I wanted to touch base on The Blank Page and how that doesn’t have to be scary for authors.

I used to get upset at the blank page, when it felt as if no matter what I did, I could not make a story magically appear. But as time has passed since I published my first book, I’ve come to realize that many things go into a blank page: perhaps I’m working on the wrong story, or that idea that’s in my mind either isn’t ready to be written (so I take a lot of notes), or I’m not starting in the right place. Normally, I write from the beginning to the end. But I’ve had books where I started in the middle, or even wrote the entire last quarter of the book. One book kept jumping between beginning and ending scenes, leaving the entire middle- the meat of the book- for last. At times, if the mood hasn’t been set (candles, music…etc), the words won’t flow.

So don’t be discouraged by the blank page. Stop for a moment, take a step back and take a deep breath, and ask yourself what you and the story need. What scene or character is jumping out at you the most? Write that. A character wants you to write their bio sheet before giving you any other information about the story? Write that. You want to change how your desk is set up or want to write in a different location? Do that. You want to start writing long hand, in the notebook? Grab a pen or pencil, get comfy, and start writing.

Even if you are on a deadline, give yourself some grace, and ask those questions. Otherwise that blank screen will drive you mad.

This past week I mainly worked on the latest round of revisions for the second Saint McGuinness book. I got four chapters finished as well as took some notes for the changes that need to be made later in the novel. In this book, readers will get to see new aspects of the Dark and what can happen to the gifted who walk there.

I also worked a little on Elvira’s second book, which I set down for a bit because the other books had become far louder. I was happy to dive back in and gain good traction on the story. I loved writing A Haunted Homecoming, her first novel. I can safely share the title for the second book now as it hasn’t changed since I first started writing it. The second book is title… A Haunted Harvest