Liz Cultivates

Well, dear Reader, it is the first day of October. This means, of course, that I will yet again be turning my attention to National Novel Writing Month in November, and that I will be spending this month preparing.

Preparing for… what?

Truthfully, I do this every year. And every year I say I’m going to finish the novel, I’m going to write 50,000 words, et cetera. And every year, I don’t make it to 50,000 words, and I don’t finish the novel, but I do treat it as an opportunity to reignite my writing routine, get back on track, and renew my love of the written word… at least, words written by me. One year, I got pretty far into a newer project, and I’d still like to return to it at some point, but I owe it to the Liz who started this draft years ago to finish this current novel… and maybe the one after it too.

I recently, after spending a lot of time waffling and thinking and stewing on the issue, figured out where to end the book. The original draft ends in a very different place, so this is new territory. This makes me pretty excited to continue the story.

I won’t say this year that I’m definitely going to finish the draft. What I will say is that so far, this year has been amazing. The reception of Bloodmade was more than I could have hoped for, and I’m still so humbled that people (some of whom I don’t even know!) would spend their money on something I made. I am really enjoying being a part of the Cool Gamer Retirement Home, mostly because we are raising money for a lot of good causes and carving out a nice little space on our side of the anti-capitalist internet. It’s nice and feels… well, feels like home.

This year has been a lot of things. A lot of beginnings and some endings. And I think I’d like to continue the pattern. I’m going to begin NaNo again. I might finish the book. I might work on another project entirely. But mostly, I’m going to give myself grace.

Let’s see what this year has in store.