R.M. Archer's Blog

Originally published Sep. 17, 2019; adapted and republished Mar. 4, 2025

While many of us may have developed a habit of preparing for NaNoWriMo in the fall and have now migrated to various alternatives, there is still something to be said for participating in designated writing challenges. Maybe you’re a veteran author who’s done NaNoWriMo or other writing challenges before, maybe you’re a veteran author who’s never been sold on short-term challenges working for you, or maybe you’re new to the community and you’re wondering what “writing challenges” I’m even talking about. Wherever you stand, here are five benefits I’ve found of participating in writing challenges.

First of all, a quick explanation of NaNoWriMo and writing challenges for anyone who’s new to the idea: NaNoWriMo is short for National Novel Writing Month; it refers to an event that spans the month of November, in which authors are challenged to write 50,000 words in a month. This is the average length of a novel, and the idea is that the month results in a completed first draft of a novel you haven’t started yet. That’s not always the case, since some novels are longer, or some authors (myself included) choose to work on an already-started draft, but that’s the basic idea.

The organization behind NaNoWriMo has unfortunately taken a nosedive in the past five years, but there are still similar challenges to be found online–including my personal favorite, Christine Smith’s FicFrenzy challenge, one installment of which is coming up March 15-April 15!

What these writing challenges have in common is a designated time frame in which to collaborate and compete with other authors to accomplish a particular writing goal–whether that goal is designated in the challenge itself or decided by the individual participating author.

Now, on to the benefits of participating in such things!

1. Writing Challenges Provide a Concrete Goal

This isn’t a struggle for everyone, but if you’re someone who finds it difficult to set concrete goals in your writing, a writing challenge could be just the solution. Such events have built-in deadlines and sometimes built-in word count goals–and even those that don’t dictate a word count goal still challenge you to lock in a progress goal for yourself. Having a concrete goal allows you to split the project into manageable pieces and know what your aim is for each day or writing session, which makes it easier to actually achieve your goal. Knowing that your goal is 50,000 words in 30 days, for instance, allows you to determine that your daily word count should be 1,667, or you can divide it in whatever way works best for you and your schedule (there are some word count tracking tools, like Pacemaker or WriteTrack, that make this really easy). But having a concrete starting point makes the smaller goals possible to figure out.

2. Writing Challenges Provide Outside Accountability

It can be hard to keep yourself motivated and disciplined to keep working on your writing project, but writing challenges provide accountability–through the communities around them, or even just through the goal itself and your progress through the month–which can help to keep you on task and motivated. Whether you’re competitive and get spurred to write by trying to keep your word count higher than your best friend’s, or you just want to hit the word count each day, or you want to challenge yourself to hit the goal as fast as you can, or it just helps to have someone there cheering you on… Whatever your accountability style, writing challenges can be a great opportunity to revive that determined spark and get you writing consistently.

3. (Some) Writing Challenges Provide an Automatic, Encouraging Community

Not all writing challenges have communities built up around them, but many do–FicFrenzy included. When you join most online writing challenges, you’re joining the dozens or hundreds of authors–sometimes from all over the world–who are undertaking the same challenge, and the majority of them are going to be super excited to cheer on a fellow writer. Whether you find a community around your chosen writing challenge itself, find people in your existing writing groups who are participating, or attend write-ins* in your area, chances are you’ll have at least one person you can turn to when that mid-month writing slump sets in. (If you ever need a writing pep talk, feel free to shoot me an email!)

*Write-ins are in-person meet-ups in a community, where local writers get together to work on their current projects. They usually include writing prompts, word wars, and snacks. Write-ins are often hosted by libraries or coffee shops, so check out your local venues to see if they have anything set up.

4. Writing Challenges Provide an Excuse to Carve Out Writing Time

Whether your family isn’t good about letting you get time to write, or you have too many engagements to make time, or you just keep putting off the novel you’ve been wanting to write for ages, taking part in a writing challenge provides a designated window of time in which you have a clear excuse to give people (or yourself). Having an official event makes it way easier to tell people you need time to yourself to write and get them to take you seriously.

Of course, there are some things you simply can’t shrug off (work, for instance–although I’ve known some people who have taken a week off work during November to give themselves additional hours to write), and you should always make sure you’re flexible and aren’t totally shutting people out for a month (I see you, introverts). But it does provide a solution to something I know is a legitimate problem for a lot of people.

Still not sure how to make the time? This post covers seven time management tips for authors.

5. Writing Challenges are Just Plain Fun

Whether you “win” or “lose,” writing challenges are a ton of fun. Chances are you’ll make new writing friends, or better get to know the friends you already have, and be challenged to write more than you would ordinarily. You’ll have a chance to participate in word wars, to read other authors’ snippets and share snippets of your own, and maybe to push yourself out of your comfort zone with your writing. If you’ve never tried it before, I definitely recommend participating at least once and checking it out.

Additional Resources

Why Bother with NaNoWriMo? – Pen of a Ready Writer

Checklist: 30 Things to Do for NaNo Prep – The Road of a Writer

Waiting for NaNoWriMo: Making October Count – The Sprint Shack

Have you participated in a writing challenge like this before? How did it go for you? If you’ve never participated before but you’re interested in trying it out, I’d love for you to join me in participating in FicFrenzy this month!

Need some help prepping for your next writing challenge? Sign up to the newsletter and get access to the Scribes & Archers resource library, including a writing challenge prep checklist!

The post 5 Benefits of Writing Challenges appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

One of my primary goals over the past month has been to flesh out and solidify the world of Lightning and Thunder. This world has existed in my brain for somewhere around a decade (and I’ve published snapshots of it in Short Story Collection vol. 1), but it took me until now–writing a longer project in that setting–to finally compile all of my notes into one place, flesh out more specifics in areas where I’ve been banking on aesthetics and general principles, and iron out the inconsistencies that have popped up over a decade of scattered note-taking.

If you’ve been around for a while, you may have noticed that I have a pretty consistent worldbuilding process in terms of organization (usually one running document of notes that has information from it gradually transferred into World Anvil for better organization and presentation), but I also adapt to the needs of whatever world I’m working with. For this project, I decided that the best way to parse through everything and reference it neatly would be with Scrivener* (though I also intend to use World Anvil* as the presentation platform for this world in the future). Today, I’m laying out what that process has looked like for this world and how I’ve put Scrivener’s various features to work for this project, in case it’s a process that appeals to you too!

*This post contains affiliate links, marked with an asterisk. Purchases made through these links earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.An Overview of Scrivener’s Display

Before we dive into how I’ve used various Scrivener features, let me give you some context of what the Scrivener display looks like and what elements I’ll be referring to. This is the basic Scrivener display:

To the far left, you have the “binder” index.

In the middle, you can see the “corkboard” of “cards” that represent each document within the selected folder. These show up with their titles, colors based on their labels (when applicable), and notes beneath the titles (none of these particular cards have custom notes on them, so they display the first bit of text from inside the document instead.) Above this, there are options to switch your view of the folder from “corkboard” to “composite” (or the “outliner” view, but I’ve never used that one).

Off to the right is the “inspector” sidebar, which displays the “card” for whatever document you have selected at the top, with notes below. There are other tabs as well that can be useful, but I’m not making use of them for this particular project.

This is what the display looks like for an individual document:

It’s pretty much the same, but here I’ve selected one where you can see that the “card” section of the “inspector” sidebar reflects the description and label color of the document just as it would in its containing folder’s “corkboard” view.

Later on, you’ll also see what the “composite” view looks like and more of those labels and descriptions in use.

The Initial Collection

The first step of this process was simply to collect all of the notes I had on Concordia from their various documents into one central Scrivener project. I’m cautious of deleting anything (plus, a few of these documents had comments on them from author friends, which I wanted to have on hand for future reference), so I didn’t delete any of the original documents, but I did copy and paste each one into its own page in Scrivener. In titling these, I included the date(s) of the original document, as well as where I could find it again later, like so:

As you can see, I’m using the format of “Document title – Date (Original location).” I kept the dates as specific as I could find; some had clear dates marked, some did not, and some I couldn’t find a date on at all. I’ve also kept the document title exactly the same as on the original, so that they’re easy to search for in their original locations should I need to reference said originals. That’s why some of these have really generic or odd titles, lol.

As I’ve compiled and developed more of these, I’ve maintained the same format in titling them for the sake of consistency and ease of organization. Date is particularly important for this world’s notes, because I have notes spanning so many years and having the dates readily visible lets me see which are newer vs. older when I’m considering which conflicting notes to keep or toss.

After taking this screenshot, I grabbed more notes from World Anvil and also wrote up new notes in the 30 Days of Worldbuilding workbook by Angeline Trevena which I copied over into text form so that, again, everything would remain in one place and readily accessible:

Note Sorting & Reference

Once everything was in one place, I had to categorize it. Most of my worlds are organized by nation because those are the biggest delineations in how I use the world; for Concordia, however, I mainly focus on a singular continent and the bigger distinctions are between eras. Thus, my top-level folders cover the various eras of the world in order. Beneath those, I have categories for areas of development: technology, key organizations, government, military, etc. Originally, I also had a section for the magic system and its related elements within each era, as you can see below:

(I also added, early on, the time-spans of each era for easy reference.) As I was working with the project, however, I realized that it was obnoxious to have to hunt through the various eras for notes on magic and so on, which remain somewhat consistent over time, so I added a separate top-level folder for the magic system and its associated notes:

Within each of these folders, I’ve taken my compiled notes from the first section and divided them up based on topic. So while one document in the “Compiled Notes” section might cover ten topics, I’ve copied and pasted those into ten separate files that are sorted into “Categorized Notes” folders accordingly. While this makes for lots of very brief files, right now, it allows me to see what I have and haven’t already developed in a certain category and to have all of my notes on a given topic in one place, without the clutter of other topics. If I want to see a note in its original broader context instead, I can always just hop back over to the document I pulled a note from in “Compiled Notes” to see what it was connected to.

Here’s an example of the detail I might split these notes into, in the “corkboard” view:

Then, if I want to see everything in a given category, I can switch over to the composite view and it will display everything from a given folder in a single document (the images above and below show the same folder, just in these two different views):

There are a couple of things I’ve done to keep these smaller notes straight. First, I’ve used the “corkboard” view to make notes on each file’s “card” of what original document it came from (which allows me to reference the document’s date) or, for newer notes that went directly into a category, the date on which it was started. Like so:

The colors of the cards indicate their level of development. I’ve used Scrivener’s “label” function to see at a glance which notes are in progress, need more consideration, have been scrapped in favor of something else, etc. Here’s my key:

I’ve also set these to display in the “binder” sidebar, so that I don’t have to go into a folder to see the colored cards of the documents within it, but can see these labels at a glance in the index as well:

The abbreviations after titles in the magic folder refer to eras (Stone Era, Golden Era, Titanium Era), so that I can keep all of my magic notes in one place but also know which era each note is most relevant to. While there is overlap (especially in some of the more basic technical notes), some details of the magic system really are pretty specific to a given era. GenDevs don’t exist until the Titanium Era! Tacking era abbreviations onto note titles is how I’ve balanced having everything in one place but also seeing what era each note best relates to.

Wrapping Up

This system is newly developed, so I’ve only tested it but so much. That said, it’s serving me well so far and there are a few features I can say make it optimally useful (at least for me), besides the Scrivener-specific features I’ve already shown off (different folder views, labels, etc.).

Consistent titling – This makes it easy to find what I need, as well as to name new documents with minimal mental effort.

Dates on everything – I try to keep dates on all my writing notes anyway because I like to be able to see progression of story ideas, world development, etc., but this is especially helpful with a long-in-development, scattered, sometimes conflicting compilation of worldbuilding notes.

Flexibility in categories – While titling and dating is consistent, organization of folders and categories can be more flexible depending on the needs of an era, etc. For example, returning to the first “note sorting” screenshot, you can see that I have “science and technology” as a single sub-folder for the Stone Era, but I have individual folders for “technology: ID chips,” “technology: transportation,” etc. in the Titanium Era. I’ve tried to balance consistency and flexibility in this system.

Multiple “views” – Obviously, part of this is a feature of Scrivener itself with its corkboard view and composite view, etc. But part of it I’ve built into the system myself, as I have my “compiled notes” where I can see everything in the context in which it was originally written, as well as my “organized notes” in which I can view things topically.

Tracking progress – With my progress labels, I can easily see which elements of the world need more work, which are finalized, and which ideas have been scrapped and can usually be ignored. This is especially useful while I have particular topics I’m working to flesh out and finalize, as I can easily see where to focus on developing things from scratch, where I just need to solidify what’s already there, and where I’m already good to go.

This system may not work for every author or every project, but it has been really helpful for me in collecting scattered and conflicting notes and putting them in usable order, so if that’s something you’re dealing with as well, Scrivener* might be the right tool to help!

Have questions or feel like there was something I didn’t cover? Comment or send me an email!

Have you ever used Scrivener for your worldbuilding before? What does your process for that look like? Do you have another tool you prefer? Comment and share your thoughts!

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I recently got a question from a newsletter subscriber about how much is needed when transitioning between scenes–especially when there is a jump in time and/or space involved. For example, if your characters are traveling, how much do you actually need to show and how can you transition smoothly if you skip over the details? Today’s post is expanding on some potential answers to this question, to answer it for others who might be wondering.

There are a number of ways to transition through travel sequences and the like, depending on the needs of your story and the particular transition you’re addressing.

The Quick Summary

For example, “After several hours of trekking through what seemed like an endless desert, he finally arrived at the outskirts of Sha’nil.”

The quick summary is a good choice if you want to give a general idea of how much time has passed and maybe a quick outline of the weather/terrain, but don’t need any more detail than that in order for the story to make sense and the transition to have meaning. It’s useful if you want to keep up the pace of your story and/or keep from losing your reader in excessive description of your setting. (Even if you love your setting and want to show it off, you still need to ask yourself whether it’s actually relevant to the story right now or if you may need to kill your darlings and keep the description to yourself.)

If a summary feels insufficient but longer description isn’t necessary, it may simply be enough to make sure that the details you are sharing have some relevance to the plot/characters; maybe the description of their traveling environment sets up a character getting sick shortly after their arrival, or maybe the brief description of the terrain they’ve been covering can be contrasted by a longer description of their destination and how it might seem refreshing in comparison (or discouraging, if it seems like more of the same). Maybe one of the characters who’s been traveling to Sha’nil collapses at the gate from dehydration because they didn’t adequately prepare for their long desert trek, or they rush to the well as soon as they arrive to quench their thirst. You can use your brief transition summary to set up the next bit of movement in your story.

The Scene Divider

In some cases, even a transitional summary is more than you really need and you can get away with just a scene divider. With this approach, the most important thing is to promptly reestablish time and setting in the following scene. Maybe your transition looks something like this:

Hoisting the heavy waterskin higher on his back, Fior took his first step onto the sprawling dunes, toward Sha’nil and the rising sun.

***

An evening breeze cooled the sweat on Fior’s brow as he approached the gate of Sha’nil, stars already beginning to peek out from the twilight beyond.

That’s extra heavy on description to make the point, but something like this can eliminate needless travel time without disorienting the reader. Note, this will create a different pace than a summary transition; a summary maintains motion and keeps up an active pace, while a scene divider creates a mental pause for the reader and teleports them from one scene (and time/setting) to the next. Think of it like the difference in a movie between showing a travel montage vs. cutting directly from one scene to another.

The Timestamp

If you want to do a scene break that has a built-in mechanism for reestablishing timing and/or setting, you can go the timestamp route and accompany your scene divider with, “four hours later…”

Variations on this would include full dates, setting identifiers, etc. “January 1 – Sha’nil,” “Sha’nil, four hours later,” etc. How much you include will depend on what’s necessary to the story, what you want to establish in the timestamp vs. through description, etc.

I would say that this route is the most likely to impact and/or be dependent on the tone of your story. It’s particularly suited to narrators who are more interested in the facts than the story, narrators who are in a hurry, narrators who just don’t think this transition is all that important, or stories in which time is a critical component (whether for the entire story, like Nadine Brandes’ A Time to Die, or for a portion of the story where there’s some sort of “ticking time bomb” that you want your reader to be aware of and able to keep time with). The less detail you rely on the time stamp to communicate, the more tone-neutral it is (e.g. “Four hours later…” gives a less analytical tone to the timestamp than something like, “Grantech Headquarters – 0700, January 1.” Again, exaggerated for emphasis.)

The Montage

Some transitions actually need to be fleshed out because the travel time (or whatever the scenario may be) involves events important to the story/characters. Even in this case, however, you may not need to convey the entire travel sequence, merely to focus on the scene or two that are crucial to the story. (Sometimes you may need the entire travel sequence, but then it’s not a transition like this post is discussing.)

Maybe the first two hours of Fior’s desert trek is uneventful, but it’s important for the reader to know that he ran into a sand snake after that and was bitten, or he killed it and brought it with him for its venom, or both. And maybe an hour after that he ran out of water, despite having filled a large waterskin before he left, so he spends the last hour carrying a dead snake around his neck as dehydration begins to weaken him and slow his progress.

In this case, you want to focus on these two events, but you can still cut out the two hours beforehand, the hour between, and the vast majority of the final hour. This will basically require separate transitions between his departure and the snake encounter, the snake encounter and emptying the waterskin, and emptying the waterskin and his arrival in Sha’nil. You could use the same kind of transition for all of them, or mix and match. Maybe you want to show the long delay between his departure and the snake by using a scene transition, but you want to make it seem like he’s just dealt with the snake when he runs out of water so you use a summary to keep up the pace, and you want to share a bit of detail around his growing tired and weak in that last hour so you use a summary there as well. Or maybe you decide that if you’re going to summarize twice, you might as well summarize the first transition, too, to make the pacing more consistent. It all depends on your goal for the montage and the pacing you’re going for within the larger transition from Point A to Point B.

For more on writing montage sequences, check out this post.

The POV Shift

If you have multiple storylines being told from different perspectives, the beginning of a travel sequence may be a good time to cut over to your second POV; this allows you to come back to the first POV after their transition is complete and merely establish that they’ve completed their journey before moving on with the next part of the story (much like the “scene divider” approach; you’re just using the secondary POV as that scene divider).

While this approach is very similar to the scene divider route, it does less to slow the pace of the story because you’re cutting to another active POV instead of offering a pause within the same POV, and the first POV gets to keep moving along as soon as you come back to it. It shifts focus instead of pace. While this can still distract your reader (especially if they strongly prefer the first POV to the second, which can often happen), it doesn’t offer the same kind of pause.

When you’re transitioning a scene, sometimes you don’t need more words, just to make those few words do more; and sometimes it’s less distracting to cut past the summary altogether. It’s all going to depend on the context and how much information you feel like the reader needs about a given transition.

Comment below with your favorite transition style! Bonus: What do you like about that style? How many of these styles have you used? I’d love to hear from you!

Not sure how to keep your story active, or what your characters should be doing next? Sign up to get my list of “plotting prompts”–character-driven prompts for plot movement that can be applied when outlining, drafting, or editing!

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Hello, and Happy Valentine’s Day a little early! Today’s post is part of a week-long collaboration, where each author talks about a relationship trope they enjoy. Laura kicked us off yesterday with a post on the “marriage of convenience” trope, and today I’m picking up with the best friends-to-lovers trope. Stick around to the end to be sure to follow the authors who will be contributing the rest of the week!

The best friends-to-lovers trope is one of my favorites–which especially shows when I talk about love triangles and invariably prefer the steady best friend to the new Hot GuyTM–and today I’m going to talk about a few reasons why I appreciate it so much.

Emphasis on Friendship between Partners

A relationship needs more than chemistry and physical attraction to hold it together. If you don’t like who your SO is as a person, your relationship isn’t going to last. The best friends-to-lovers trope emphasizes the stability that comes when a relationship is built on mutual affection for something deeper in the other person, and existing trust and friendship. I hesitate to use the word “compatibility” because it can easily be taken too far, but there is something in who these characters are that is well-matched, and in a best friends-t0-lovers story we get to see that applied both to friendship and to something “more” between them.

Obviously, this is not to say that all relationships that started out as “more than friendship” lack these foundations! These can absolutely be built within a relationship, and I love stories that show that process, as well. But best friends-to-lovers showcases these traits from a unique perspective which I just always enjoy seeing/reading about.

Prioritizing Emotional Connections over Physical Attraction

To build off of the last point, I appreciate that the best friends-to lovers trope inherently focuses on the emotional connection between two characters more than on their physical attraction to one another. There’s nothing wrong with physical attraction–and it often does play a role in best friends-to-lovers stories, as it should–but it is certainly not the be-all, end-all that it can come across as in a lot of other kinds of romance threads. Lasting relationships, again, have to go deeper than that, and best friends-to-lovers stories acknowledge that in their very nature; two friends realize that their relationship is even more important to them than they realized, and they can’t imagine living without one another because of what the other adds to their life–and even to who they are and how they act. That’s the sort of deep connection that I really enjoy seeing emphasized in romance plot-lines.

Slow Burns are Great

I have to admit, I just like slow-burn relationships. I like seeing two characters take time to develop their relationship, without rushing into things, and seeing them figure out a new dynamic with one another. (Which is funny, since God wrote my own love story to develop very quickly with no pre-established relationship beforehand, but I still love reading slow-burns (and I still love the story God gave me and my husband).) Best friends-to-lovers is the ultimate slow-burn, because the characters aren’t even thinking about romance at the outset; it creeps up on them slowly, and they tend to move forward with it slowly out of care for the existing relationship (more on that in a moment).

Besides this, the dynamics that characters have to sort out are just different when they’re transitioning from friendship to “something more” than when two characters meet and pursue a romance from an early stage of their relationship; both dynamics are fun, and I like seeing both addressed, but the awkwardness of best friends realizing they have feelings for each other and learning to navigate a new kind of relationship with one another–while also clearly being well-suited to one another and having a great deal of rapport already in place–is unique to the best friends-to-lovers trope.

Highlighting the Importance of Platonic Friendship

Lastly, I want to talk about the way that the best friends-to-lovers trope not only naturally emphasizes elements of a strong, stable romance, but also emphasizes the importance of friendship right alongside its celebration of romance. This comes up especially if one friend realizes their feelings before the other, or when one friend realizes they have feelings for the other and the second friend doesn’t feel the same way at all. Generally speaking, the characters in a best friends-to-lovers story don’t rush into romance–as we’ve discussed–and generally speaking this is because one or both of them are afraid of distancing the other and ruining the friendship they already have. The friendship they have, and the other character’s comfort, are more important to them than their own romantic feelings. (This also highlights true selfless love, which is another point in the trope’s favor!)

The strongest examples of this focal point on friendship is actually when there is no “to lovers” because the romantic feelings are unrequited and the character feeling them chooses to place the friendship first by permanently setting aside their own attraction and focusing on the friendship they have. (Obviously, this is a little outside the scope of the trope, but it seemed appropriate to mention all the same.)

Those are a few of the reasons I love the best friends-to-lovers trope, and as you can see, they largely boil down to the fact that I think the trope tends to highlight particular characteristics of a relationship that I really value seeing and that you can’t always find in other types of relationships (though, again, they’re certainly not always lacking, either!) Do you enjoy the best friends-to-lovers trope? Do you share some of my reasons, or do you have other reasons for enjoying it? Do you have any problems with how the best friends-to-lovers trope is handled? What is your favorite relationship trope? Share your thoughts in the comments!

And stick around this week, because we’ll be covering a lot more! I recommend following the other contributors so you don’t miss when their posts go live (and also because they’re really cool authors you should check out)!

Love Week Schedule

Mon, February 10 – Marriage of convenience – L.E. Morgan

Tue, February 11 – Best friends-to-lovers – R.M. Archer

Wed, February 12 – Childhood sweethearts – M.C. Kennedy

Thu, February 13 – Opposites attract – Grace Johnson

Fri, February 14 – Fake dating – Nicki Chapelway

Sat, February 15 – Forbidden love – Kellyn Roth

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The post Why I Love the Best Friends-to-Lovers Trope appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

This post topic has been on my “to-write” list for a long time now because, frankly, it’s a scary topic to broach. I expect it will offend people (possibly those from multiple directions), and I don’t prefer to intentionally make people uncomfortable. That said, I believe this is an important topic that Christian authors should be addressing, one that Christian authors have largely ignored and abdicated the conversation around, and since it recently came up again I decided it was time to actually post about it.

As always in this series, this post is meant to be food-for-thought, to lay out the scriptural guidelines for a particular topic and what we do or don’t have the freedom to include in our stories (or how we do or don’t have the freedom to portray it) based on that scripture. I’ll put forth my interpretation, but all of these topics are ultimately between you and God and the intention is not to bind or to violate your conscience.

The Biblical View on Homosexuality

The most important question to ask is (as always): What does the Bible say about homosexuality?

(Verses are in NKJV, and I encourage you to read the broader context as well, on your own.)

While we have a measure of Christian liberty, our consciences and choices should always be subject to the word of God, who designed the world we operate in and to whom we belong. He addresses the matter of homosexuality early on, in His giving of the law:

You shall not lie with a male as with a woman. It is an abomination.

— Leviticus 18:22

If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.

–Leviticus 20:13

For those of you saying, “Christ did away with the law!” (then you should reread Matt. 5:17-20, but), the matter of homosexuality is addressed in even greater depth in the New Testament.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.”

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.

Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.

Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

— Romans 1:16-2:4

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

— 1 Corinthians 6:9-11

There’s a lot to unpack here, but I would sum it up in the following three points:

Homosexuality is a sin, contrary to God’s created order and design, found in company (on a widespread level) with other forms of spiritual rebellion.Those living in unrepentant sin will not inherit the kingdom of God. The Spirit of God given through grace at salvation spurs us to repentance and righteousness; a lack of that fruit reflects a lack of that Spirit. (Rom. 2:1-4, 1 Corinthians 6:11; John 8:10-12, Mark 1:14-15, Acts 2:37-42, Romans 12:1-2, etc.)It is not more difficult for God to redeem a homosexual than any other sinner. There is still hope in Christ for redemption and repentance and eternal life through a living relationship with Him!

We’ll get to what that means for how Christians should approach representation of homosexuality in fiction in a moment.

The Biblical View on Gender/Sex

Transgenderism must be approached the same way: What does the Bible say about gender/sex?

Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

— Genesis 1:26-28

“A woman shall not wear anything that pertains to a man, nor shall a man put on a woman’s garment, for all who do so are an abomination to the Lord your God.“

— Deuteronomy 22:5

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them.

— Psalm 139:13-16

But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”

— Romans 9:20
(Yes, this passage is discussing the spirit and will, but God has formed both our inward and our outward parts as He willed–and the combination thereof.)

To distill this into points, as well:

God created mankind male and female. He created (only) two sexes/genders, equal in value and image-bearing, distinct and complementary in role, both critical to the mission He called mankind to (Gen. 2:18, Eph. 5:22-33, Malachi 2:15, etc.)God formed each individual with intention and purpose, inside and out. When we question this (whether in terms of gender or otherwise) we are failing to act in faith, and trying to change His design for us is rebellious–as well as detrimental to the Church body, when the matter arises in that context (1 Corinthians 12).As with homosexuality, transgenderism is not any more difficult for God to forgive than anything else! There is still hope in Christ for redemption and eternal life through a repentant and living relationship with Him.What This Means for Representation

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light.

— Ephesians 5:8-13

A lot of people take verse 12 (“For it is shameful even to speak of those things”) to mean that Christians should never represent certain sinful behaviors–regardless of how they’re portrayed and whether they are glorified or condemned–because we shouldn’t even speak of them. If that’s your interpretation, I’m not here to say that it’s wrong, but I would pose a question: How are we supposed to expose darkness as darkness, per the rest of the passage, if we never address it?

My belief, from how scripture handles sin in its narrative and how we are instructed to respond to sin, is that we should not shy away from portraying sin appropriately. We should not write it in such a way that it seems right to readers, in a way that glorifies it, or in a way that lingers on it longer than is necessary or in more detail than is necessary; we should not be creating stumbling blocks or reveling in sin ourselves. We’re not to have fellowship with darkness! But we also can’t pretend it away or refuse to share the biblical truth on a “shameful” issue.

It is not terribly difficult to find fiction reflecting a worldview that fully accepts homosexual behavior and transgenderism as part of the identity of those practicing them, a worldview that believes you cannot accept and love a person without accepting and loving all of their choices. Those who seek to normalize this behavior make a point to represent it in their fiction, and it is an ever-growing theme in all genres of fiction.

You can also find authors who refuse to touch the subject because they believe any portrayal is a normalization of sinful behavior, they want to pretend those struggling with this sin don’t exist, or it just makes them uncomfortable. (The former can be a valid conscience issue, which I’m not critiquing here; my critique is of those who cannot distinguish between a portrayal of sin that normalizes and glorifies it vs. a portrayal of sin that exposes it as wickedness. The latter option may also, in some cases, be a valid reason not to write about the topic, but we’ll get into the nuances of that a little later.)

This combination–of heavy worldly portrayal and Christian silence in the context of fiction–means that there is very, very little fiction out there that represents the full biblical truth of what homosexuality means in the eyes of God.

If Christians don’t address this issue biblically, then the only viewpoint represented is that which is anti-Scriptural. If we want to represent the truth of God’s design and salvation, we can’t leave the issue to only be addressed by those who think like the world. We don’t need to villainize those stuck in sin–those caught in homosexuality or transgenderism are still image-bearers of God who need His saving grace–but we also don’t need to paint their sinful behavior in a positive light in order to show them grace. In fact, that grace is meaningless without the truth of why it matters. We need fiction that represents the firm biblical truth that homosexuality and transgenderism are sinful rebellions against God’s design, that acknowledges fallen mankind is prone to sin and we cannot save ourselves from it, and that presents the grace and hope of the gospel.

To take it even further, think about how you portray the biblical alternative. How do you portray marriage in your books? How do you portray the roles and gifts of men and women? How do you portray children and parenting? Do you portray these things as blessings, rightly ordered according to their biblical design? Do you focus on their true biblical definitions without adding in cultural stereotypes? Can your readers see that you believe God’s created order is not only right but good for those who follow it? Again, I’m not trying to bind anything here; your characters need not (and should not) always be perfect or fully satisfied, broken families are just as acceptable to portray (as less-than-ideal), and there is nuance and balance in all of this. But do keep in mind that readers are motivated toward things, not merely away from them; “take off” and “put on” is a biblical pattern of instruction, and we should be mindful of what we are portraying as right, good, and normal just as we are mindful of what we are portraying as wrong, sinful, and broken.

As a last note, I do not believe the importance of this issue means that every Christian author is failing if they don’t address it, or that every Christian author should 100% agree on the importance of seeing it addressed in Christian fiction, or (certainly!) that Christians whose consciences forbid it should violate their consciences in order to write about these things. In fact, I believe there are certain contexts in which Christian authors should refrain from representing characters who are practicing homosexuality or transgenderism:

When your conscience forbids it. As I said at the outset, this is ultimately between you and God and my intention is not to incite you to violate your conscience! If you come to a different conviction on this matter, heed the Spirit of God, not me.When you cannot have grace for those stuck in this sin. If you are full of judgment and can’t bring yourself to reflect God’s grace for those tied up in these sins, you are not in a position to represent this theme in a biblical manner (Luke 6:41-42). Showing only one side of the story in either direction is not a faithful reflection of biblical truth and will not edify your readers (or you).When it doesn’t suit the story. Not every story (I would even venture to say not many stories) will be served by including a representation of characters in these situations. In some cases, it will merely distract from the main themes of the story you’ve been given to tell. In others, there just won’t be space to be as biblically grounded in your portrayal as is needed. If your story is not served by the addition—just as with any other story element or character—leave it out.

Let the discourse begin. What do you see as the application of Scripture’s principles on homosexuality and transgenderism? Do you think I left anything out? Feel free to comment below; I only ask that disagreement remain respectful on all sides.

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The post How Should Christians Write About… LGBT Issues appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

There is no single “right way” to market your books. As with most things in the writing realm, marketing differs from author to author–and sometimes even from book to book. All the same, there is a lot of advice out there claiming to be “necessary” for your marketing to succeed, and it can be hard to know which tips are actually going to be useful. It’s overwhelming sometimes!

My intention with this post is twofold: First, I want to assure you that you can market the way you want to; marketing doesn’t have to be high-pressure if you don’t want it to be, and it doesn’t have to look a certain way. Secondly, I want to help you figure out the foundations of your marketing “personality,” as it were, so that you can filter marketing advice accordingly–keeping what fits your purposes and ignoring the rest.

Ready? Let’s get into it.

This post contains affiliate links, marked with an asterisk. Purchases made through these links earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you.Determine Your Priorities

The first thing to know is your marketing goal. Are you aiming to make a certain number of sales per month? Just to connect with readers? Do you want to prompt discussion about your book? Different priorities will lead to different practices. If you’re looking for sales, you’ll need to focus on platforms and practices that are likely to drive those sales, and you’ll need to have a heavier emphasis on talking about the books (or services) you’re trying to sell. If you’re seeking connection with readers, you’ll need to focus on platforms that foster community among readers, and your posts will probably need to lean more toward discussion of reading as a hobby and of other people’s books in order to connect with readers who haven’t necessarily read your book yet.

These priorities don’t have to be exclusive, of course! If you want connection first but a secondary emphasis on sales, it’s totally fine to balance content about your own books more evenly with content about others’ books and the reading experience as a whole. But knowing how your priorities stack will enable you to emphasize those purposes appropriately in your marketing.

If you have more than one book out, you may also want to prioritize which projects you talk about most–especially if you have “outlier” books that don’t fit the majority of what you write, or you have series and it makes the most sense to promote the first books more than the sequels. Sometimes, this may be totally irrelevant! Maybe all of your books are connected, or they’re all equally representative of your work; then it may be a better idea to balance them more evenly. In my case, I started out publishing what were essentially experimental fairytale retellings. Do I like them? Yes. Do readers like them? Also yes. Am I happy to sell them to readers who will enjoy them? Absolutely. But they’re not representative of the other things I write, so now that I have books out that are more representative, I’ve put those retellings on a back seat in terms of promotion so that readers don’t come to expect that style of fairytale retellings from me in the future.

If you are one of those readers who enjoys fairytale retellings, Lost Girl is a romance retelling and The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles are in a similar tone to A Series of Unfortunate Events.Determine Your Boundaries

It is perfectly okay to have certain marketing tactics you just won’t use. People tend to advise having a TikTok presence, these days; I personally won’t go near a TikTok account with a ten-foot pole. I also hate false scarcity (putting something on a deadline that has no need to be on a deadline–like a discount that’s not for any particular occasion, or a membership that closes just to force people to join within a certain window instead of due to genuine limitations, etc.) and refuse to use it. Once this baby is born, there will be boundaries around how much I share about him (and future children) on my author pages. Some people share pictures of their spouses; some don’t. Some don’t post about their personal lives at all. These, too, are boundaries to draw (or not) as you see fit.

Boundaries are not an excuse to never leave your comfort zone–marketing will likely push you out of your comfort zone, especially if you’re just plain uncomfortable with selling when you get started (believe it or not, you can grow past that)–but you are allowed to draw lines, and you are allowed to take baby steps out of your comfort zone; you don’t have to leap ten feet past the bubble all in one day. I’m not especially comfortable with video; for a while, I just didn’t do anything video-based, or stuck to slides with voice-over. Over time, I’ve come to do more with video and be more comfortable on camera, even though it’s still not a primary medium for me (more on that in the next section), but I did so through just one video every couple of years. Your comfort zone and your boundaries are allowed to expand slowly–or to never budge, on matters like (for me) false scarcity that are more than just uncomfortable, or boundaries between what is professional and what is personal. Again, boundaries are okay–and, in fact, helpful for enabling you to sift through marketing options.

Know What You Like (and Dislike)

Over the years, I’ve expanded my comfort zone around video. But you know what? I just don’t like it that much. It takes a lot of work to set up, record, and edit, and most of the time I just don’t care about the medium enough to bother. There are some things that video is good for, so I use it when it seems appropriate, but part of learning not to hate marketing is not forcing yourself to market in ways you hate. If you focus on marketing in ways you like, it’s a lot easier to like marketing!

So ask yourself what you like–both from a creative standpoint and when you’re on the receiving end of marketing. Do you really like those content-at-a-glance graphics for books? Do you love graphic design? Are you really into backing up your worldbuilding with historical research? Do you review books all the time? Do you have a loooong list of book recommendations?

On the flip side, think about what you don’t like. Maybe you don’t like editing reels (maybe you don’t even like watching reels). Maybe those content-at-a-glance graphics feel reductive to you and you want to get into more of the nitty-gritty heart of your books. Maybe you find graphic design time-consuming, or just don’t feel like you’re good at it (note: design is a learned skill).

If it helps, make lists of your likes and dislikes, and think about how you can emphasize the things you like and spend less time on the things you don’t like. You won’t always be able to avoid the things you dislike–sometimes what we dislike is what really connects with other readers, and sometimes a given medium or tactic is just most appropriate in a situation even if we don’t like it–but you can heavily tip the scales in your favor. And guess what? You’ll connect most with the readers who have similar interests and resonate with similar things as you!

Make a plan

Once you know your priorities, boundaries, and likes and dislikes, you can start to form a marketing plan that makes sense with your goals, feels meaningful, and might even be fun! As with everything else, the structure of this marketing plan is up to you; you might decide to plan out every week’s content, create general categories of topics to cover within each month, brainstorm a list of content ideas to execute at will, etc. Whatever works.

What platforms you focus on will depend on all of the factors we just talked about. An email list is a good idea (even if you only send emails rarely), because you own the list and your emails won’t get lost in algorithms like your social media posts will; it’s especially suitable if you’re looking to share long-form content, make more sales, build trust with readers, etc. Mailerlite* is the platform I recommend if you don’t have a list yet, as it’s easy to set up and affordable for small (<1,000-subscriber) lists, and has plenty of capability that’s not stuck behind a paywall.

If you like photography and/or graphic design, Instagram is a good place to be. That’s also one of the two social media platforms where I’ve personally had the most success in connecting with readers and fellow authors (the other being TwiX), if that’s one of your priorities as well.

Facebook, I’ve learned, is pretty much only good for groups. You can get some interaction on posts from a page, but not a whole lot, in my experience. If you want to build your own community of readers, this might be a good fit (or you may prefer Discord)–and it may be worthwhile to create an author page with which to interact within that group if you write under a pen name or just want to keep your personal page separate.

If you’re not sure what to post/send, I would recommend looking at the following:

What other, similar authors are posting/sendingWhat you’ve been thinking about lately in relation to writing, reading, life, etc.What you’re already naturally doing (e.g. Are you already interacting in TwiX conversations? Are you already reviewing the books you read? Are you already taking photos for Instagram?)What you think would just be fun to do

From there, you can think about how these things could be used toward your goals. What thoughts could you write up and share with your email list? What TwiX conversations lend themselves well to talking about your book? How could you share your reviews more intentionally with readers? What fun post ideas could you throw in (not all marketing has to be serious)!

Example

Like I said, your marketing approach doesn’t have to (and usually shouldn’t) look like anyone else’s, but sometimes it can be useful to see concrete examples, so here’s a bit of how I’ve approached marketing recently.

First, I paid attention to what platforms I’m using and which are returning on the investment in some way. I have a mailing list, this blog, Facebook, Instagram, and TwiX. Facebook doesn’t do a whole lot for me, but since it’s connected to Instagram and Instagram does do all right for me, I can put minimal effort into Facebook beyond what shares to both and it’s not a big deal.

After that, I determined my purpose for each platform. I teach and talk about reading through my blog and email list; I try to connect with others and raise awareness of what I do through social media.

Once I had purposes in mind, I figured out different types of posts/topics to cycle through on a monthly basis for each month.

I’m aiming for my blog posts to include a teaching post, a seasonal post, a collaborative post, and a post containing an affiliate link or product promo (even if only in passing) each month.My emails focus on lessons I’m learning, product awareness, connection/engagement with readers, and time-sensitive sales or other opportunities.My social media posts (on Facebook and Instagram) will ideally cover some personal point of connection, information about my work, posts about resources available through my list, and posts that promote others each month.

(TwiX is… its own thing; I interact there when I feel like it and post whatever seems relevant. Sometimes that’s a book promo post, sometimes it’s a post about some piece of media, sometimes I don’t post anything but replies, and sometimes I’m posting about kitchen gadgetry. It depends on the day. But the point there is conversation, engagement, and just being human, so it’s filling its role without a plan.)

My monthly post types are not tied to specific weeks of the month (I can post them in any order I want), I’m allowed to add whatever other posts/emails I want, and if I don’t check all the boxes in a given month it’s not the end of the world; but having that framework helps me know what to post/send and helps me easily keep track of which categories are out-of-balance. If I’m selling too much and not posting enough just to connect, I can see that and fix it. Or if I’m not letting people know about my work enough, that’s also visible as I keep track. (For anyone curious, I’m keeping track in a OneNote file with check-boxes set up for each month.)

This is my “everyday” marketing plan, anyway. My marketing plan when I’m releasing a book looks different–what I did for Calligraphy Guild being the model because that worked really well for me (in short: weekly posts sharing more about the book and the heart behind it, a content-at-a-glance graphic, a couple of reels thanks to my then-VA Kristianne (I would not have made those by myself, lol, but they were great!), regularly posted quote graphics, and a pre-order goodie box).

As a final note, keep in mind that marketing is really about connection–even when a given post or email is focused on sales. Readers don’t buy books they don’t feel like they’ll connect with (or services they don’t feel like will suit them)–and they don’t buy from people who are always only selling, either. At the same time, there is a bit of a balancing act involved, because you want for people to connect with you and know that you have books they might like! But connect first, sell second.

If you have questions, please comment below (or send me an email)! I’m happy to answer what I can. Have a favorite marketing technique? Feel free to share that, too! I’d love to know how you’ve made marketing feel doable (and/or fun!) for yourself!

The post Developing Your Own Best Marketing Practices appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

While I’ve previously written on the topic of sticking with a project–and the principles from that post do apply beyond the first draft into revisions, edits, etc.–it was recently brought to my attention that I don’t have a post addressing some of the obstacles that can arise specifically after the first draft is complete, so that is what I will be discussing today!

Obstacle #1: Feeling Inadequate

As you shift from the writing process into the process of identifying problems and rewriting to remedy those problems, it’s easy to feel unequal to the task at first–especially if this is your first time stepping into the rewriting stage. It can be daunting. I get it!

It’s important to remember that even as you start rewriting and editing, your project is still allowed to be imperfect–and so is your process. You are allowed to take as long as you need–and as many drafts as you need–to figure out what works for you and your project. It’s a learning process, and not only will each draft you finish make the next a little clearer, each full project you rework will make the next a little bit easier, too.

To address the practical side of this obstacle, the biggest step is to identify what it is about the project that feels intimidating to address. What is it you feel inadequate to do? Are you not sure how to identify the problems with your story? Do you know what the biggest problem is but feel unsure how to move forward with fixing it?

I’ll admit The Masked Captain has been sitting in my computer, first draft fully written, for five and a half years. Why? Because I know the theme isn’t working, which means (in this case) reworking portions of the plot, and that’s been a daunting prospect. I’ve also been considering whether or not it would benefit from an added plotline following the main character’s brother, to balance the theme from another perspective. But, as I’ll share as an example for the next point, just clarifying those big issues makes it a lot easier to break down what actually needed to be done–and makes the obstacles seem less intimidating in and of themselves!

Obstacle #2: “What Next?”

Editing, especially developmental editing, is a big and multi-faceted task, which can make it difficult to know where to start. But having a plan is critical to reaching the finish line with a project, and it can help a great deal with putting insecurities to rest as well. So how do you go about making a plan that works?

If you already know of some major issues in your manuscript, those are often a good place to start. If you know you need to rewrite your ending, for example, it makes sense to do that before trying to adjust anything else since the new ending has the potential to shape the entire story. Something like adding a whole new plotline falls into the same category.

If you don’t already know of big issues like those, my advice is always to start with a critical read-through and take notes as you go. Make a running list of anything you want to change or improve, at any level. (Not feeling confident about pulling out issues effectively? Consider having an alpha reader or two help out, or reference a book like Troubleshooting Your Novel to start with.)

After that, I generally find it helpful to split that list into categories–a list for developmental edits and a list of line edits might be sufficient, if that’s how the list best breaks down, but I often have lists for character edits, worldbuilding edits, and plot edits, and sometimes lists for individual characters/arcs if I’ve noticed a lot of detailed problems.

Lists in hand, you can start with the biggest edits–or one set of the biggest edits–and work your way down from there!

Don’t let decision paralysis get in your way. If you’re not sure which step or revision to start with, just choose one. If taking a full category of edits all at once feels like too much, lower it down to just one or two edits first and move on down the list piecemeal. If you’re not sure which fix will work best for an issue, try one of the solutions; if it doesn’t work, backtrack and try a different one; nothing is permanent until you decide it is.

To look at The Masked Captain as an example again, it’s overwhelming to think about rewriting the current plotline and adding a whole second one. Instead, it might make more sense to rewrite the current plotline on its own, fix the way it ends for thematic purposes, then look at that completed draft and gauge whether or not not needs the additional plotline to strengthen the new theme further. That may still be a lot of work, but it’s much simpler than making two major changes at the same time.

Obstacle #3: Waning Interest

Especially in later drafts, when you’ve already read your project a dozen times (or more), you may find yourself losing interest. There are two possible solutions to this: reminder and rest.

Sometimes, all it takes it a reminder of why you were excited about this project in the first place. What about it seemed important to you at the time? What elements of the story caught your interest? If your project has changed significantly between then and now, you may have to look at the story from a new perspective and find new reasons to love it.

In other cases, this isn’t enough to reignite the affection you once had for a project, in which case my recommendation is rest. Your disinterest is probably a result of burnout, which is only solved by setting the project aside for a while and focusing on something else. If you keep pushing, you’ll only start to dislike your project more, which can totally kill your interest in a project for a long time. A lesson I learned in the process of working on Thunder, which I shared after the draft was finished, is that “Rest is not giving up; it’s an investment in better writing later.” Take a break. Recharge. Come back once you can enjoy the story again and do it justice. Pushing past the burnout point will only result in disservice to your project and to you.

I would also remind you: Not only is rest okay, so is setting a project aside for a later season. Sometimes we hit the end of what we can do with a project at our skill level and we know a project needs more; sometimes we need a long break to get back in the right headspace for a particular project; sometimes we’re just busy and don’t have time to invest in refining a project for a while. None of these scenarios are “giving up,” and you can always return to a project when the time is right again. Often, writing is a craft of patience.

Obstacle #4: Not Making Time

On the flip side, not making time when you could–when other things aren’t taking priority, when you’re just avoiding the hard parts, when you still believe the project is important and a good fit for this season–is an obvious obstacle to seeing a project through. This can be a matter of procrastination and failure to prioritize or it can be a matter of simply not knowing how to make the time and work out a habit that works for you.

If you’re not prioritizing your project, ask yourself why. Is it really important to you? Or should you acknowledge that you have other priorities right now and make a plan to work on this story later? Is there some other concrete obstacle you need to address in order to move forward, like figuring out the next step or learning more about the editing craft to boost your confidence?

If the problem is just a lack of habit and uncertainty as to how to fit this project in, but you want to prioritize it, there are lots of practical tips for solving that obstacle! This post is all about time management tips for authors–which can be applied whether you have lots of time you’re managing poorly or you need to figure out how to fit writing/editing into the margins–and this post specifically addresses how to build and keep an effective writing/editing habit.

Do any of these obstacles sound familiar? Are there any obstacles I missed that you’d like me to address in the comments? I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Looking for accountability as you tackle your writing and editing goals? Join the Scribes & Archers Discord server to join our weekly check-ins and writing sprints!

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The post How to Stick with a Project (Past the First Draft) appeared first on Scribes & Archers.

If you’re an indie author, in particular, you likely know that a professional editor is part of the investment. But it can be hard to know which editor to choose. How do you know who is going to be a high-quality editor, and how do you know they’ll be the right fit for your book? This post will address both the traits of a good editor, as well as how to assess whether or not an editor has these qualities and whether or not s/he is a good fit for you specifically.

Traits of a good editor

Timeliness

Especially if you’re working with a particular schedule for a given project–whether you’ve announced a release date, plan to submit a project somewhere by a certain date, etc.–it is important to have an editor who can and will get your project scheduled and edited in a timely manner. Many editors will have an average turnaround time posted on their services page; if you’re approaching an editor who doesn’t have it listed, ask about his/her turnaround time when you reach out for the first time.

An editor should also be timely in their communication, not only the editing itself. If they list a window in which they generally reply to queries, you should only give them a day or two past that before following up. Likewise on a deadline; if they haven’t reached out to you by the deadline they gave you, follow up a day or two later. If they push a deadline back more than two or three times–especially if they push it back multiple times without explanation–I would strongly recommend not working with them again. If they respond quickly to a follow-up, you may not have a problem, especially if they offer an explanation/apology for the delay. However, you don’t want to work with an editor who makes a pattern of going past their deadlines, and it’s even better to find an editor who takes initiative to reach out first, offer as much warning as possible about delays, etc. and does not require you to be the one to follow up with them. Trust me, it’s way less stressful that way.

Now, it’s obviously important to remember that editors are people too, and sometimes things happen. Unexpected delays pop up, tech glitches, time gets away from us sometimes. Again, it’s a matter of what sort of pattern a given editor exhibits, and how they communicate about it. Which brings us to my next point…

Communication

You need to have a communicative editor. You need to be able to discuss timelines, expectations, questions, etc. smoothly and promptly. If your editor isn’t receptive to questions, won’t be honest about concerns, is flaky with scheduling, never explains delays, loses track of things said in past conversations, etc., you’re going to have a very hard time working with them. An editor should prioritize the author-editor relationship and the improvement of your project according to your vision, and that is going to be reflected in how they do or don’t communicate with you as the author.

I generally look for communication to begin on an editor’s services page. I want to be able to clearly see what type(s) of edits they offer and on what genres, their pricing, whether or not they offer sample edits, and their turnaround time. If they offer more than that right out front, I’m certainly not going to complain. If they hide their prices, in particular, I’m unlikely to move forward with a query. What everyone is looking for upfront is different, though, and you can always ask questions with your query (and should, if you have questions). This, too, can be a great way to get a feel for an editor’s communication style, as you’ll get to see their direct response and how they handle questions.

Familiarity with your genre

Generally speaking, you should look for an editor who has experience with your project’s genre. They’re going to better understand genre conventions, the unique strengths and pitfalls of a given genre, even writing style in cases where that is impacted by genre. A contemporary editor might be excellent at what s/he does, but that doesn’t mean that s/he will know how to balance the communication of worldbuilding in your fantasy novel like a fantasy editor would.

Now, if you find an excellent, adaptable editor who doesn’t list your genre as one of their primary genres, but they’re willing to work with you and you’re happy with their work, you’re welcome to choose to work with that editor anyway; you just need to know that they may or may not be able to give you as much genre-specific feedback.

It’s also important to note that different levels of editing offer more flexibility than others. Your developmental editor should definitely be familiar with your genre. With copy-edits, genre familiarity is much less critical. Line edits fall somewhere in the middle, as they often do.

Understanding of authorial intent

Perhaps even more important than finding an editor who understands your genre, you should seek out an editor who understands and supports the authorial intent in your work. Now, this is not license to find an editor who never kills your darlings; some things really do have to go, and part of the purpose of hiring an editor is to have someone who can look from the outside and see what is and is not necessary in your project. However, an editor who doesn’t understand your pacing choice, isn’t helping you highlight the theme you were driving at, or tries to rewrite your narrative voice is not going to be the best fit for making your project the best it was meant to be.

There is a difference between an editor who recognizes your intention with a story and helps you trim back what’s weakening that intention–whether your voice is a little too flowery, your intended theme is hidden behind mismatched thematic elements, or your pacing needs to be evened out to do its best work–vs. one who clearly doesn’t get it and is editing from a place of what they’re seeing from a different vantage point, not what they see when they stand in your shoes.

There is a balance to this. As I’ve already said, an editor who understands your work will not automatically affirm every choice you’ve made with your book; that would defeat the purpose of what an editor does. There is also nothing automatically wrong with an editor pointing out what they see from an outsider’s perspective, so that you can understand what your book is actually communicating to readers vs. what you intended for it to communicate. If you’re aiming for Theme A but all that’s coming through on the page is Theme B, that’s important to know so that you can adjust accordingly–whether that means rewriting to support Theme A or realizing that Theme B is actually the core theme of your story. But an editor will convey such observations differently if they understand your intent (with an attitude of, “I can tell you were aiming for X, but I’m also seeing this bit of Y here that you could draw on”) than they will if they’re missing the boat (without acknowledgment of the X you were aiming for, just treating Y as the obvious intention). It’s a bit hard to describe the distinction, but I’ve seen it happen–from both sides; try to be aware of whether your editor is offering edits that enhance the story you were trying to tell or whether they seem to be missing the point of what you were going for. You may sometimes need space or a second opinion in order to assess this effectively, without instinctively taking a defensive posture and assuming any change is a strike at the heart of your story!

Personal fit

This last point is the most subjective–and an editor who doesn’t check this box isn’t necessarily a bad editor, just the wrong editor for you (or for this particular project). You and your editor should get along, their editing style should be one that you click with and can apply well, and they should be invested in your project alongside you.

Getting along can be interesting, because liking someone on a personal level doesn’t guarantee you’ll get along with them as an editor, and vice versa. But you should at least be able to have a smooth professional relationship for the duration of your project, and if you find an editor you like as an editor and a person (or even friend), all the better! Those are the author-editor relationships that tend to stick and lead to working on multiple projects together (which means fewer instances of trying to assess new editors. Phew!)

Editing style is going to differ, obviously, from editor to editor, just as writing style differs from author to author. My editing style, for example, is heavily focused on drawing out description and emotion for the reader, building the reader-story connection through strong prose, and offering possibilities to get an author thinking about options for putting my suggestions into practice. That works great for some authors, but it’s not what every author is looking for. As an author, you will want to look for an editor whose style of feedback is the right balance of critical and encouraging for you, highlights things you’re especially prone to miss, offers enough information for you to feel like it’s actionable, etc. You may or may not ever find an editor who’s a perfect fit in all of these areas, but some will be a closer fit than others, and those editors are going to be the most helpful to work with and the least frustrating.

An editor should be invested in your work with you, because it’s their job to make the story more of what it was meant to be. Their job is to take what you’ve written and make it even stronger and more effective, which means they have to care about the story and what you’re doing with it. This may look like “Oh my goodness this project looks amazing I would love to work on it with you!” and other hyper-enthusiastic comments, but that’s not going to happen with every project and a lack of jump-up-and-down excitement doesn’t necessarily mean the editor isn’t invested. If your editor is spending their time on your project, expressing appreciation for your work, offering thorough feedback, etc., that editor is just as invested as the one who oohed and ahhed over your last project–it’s just expressed more moderately. What you don’t want is an editor who says, “Yeah, sure, I’ll work with you,” but misses the point of the story, offers surface-level feedback, gets it over with as speedily as possible, etc. Again, the examples are not the absolute rule–you might have a great editor who happens to work quickly and offers thorough feedback on a quick turnaround time–but it is a matter of the pattern exhibited by the editor.

Assessing an editor

Now you know what to look for in an editor. The question is, how can you assess whether or not an editor has these qualities before you invest with them?

Unfortunately, you may not always be able to thoroughly vet an editor before you get started. Some editors who are a so-so fit won’t clearly be just a so-so fit until they’ve edited your whole book, and some editors may be very good at preliminary communication but drop the ball on the actual project and prove themselves to be unreliable editors. (I’ve been in both scenarios, as an author.) But there are some ways to minimize the negative experiences by assessing the following:

Public platform

There is an editing group I follow on social media that is made up of lovely people I appreciate very much but whom I would never hire to edit my work because their social media is constantly riddled with typos. Likewise, there are editors I appreciate as people whom I wouldn’t hire because I’ve seen their published work and it doesn’t give me confidence in their editing work. Looking at an editor’s public platform and past work can be a good way to determine whether or not you want to try working with them.

As with many of the points in this post, there is a balance to be struck. A typo here or there doesn’t mean the editor is horrible at what they do, and it is good to be aware that an editor’s past work is not only reflective of their skill but also how much of what they suggested was adopted by the author. But, again, patterns are useful to note.

My previous discussion of an editor’s services page can also be applied here; an editor’s services page can offer insight into how forthcoming they are and how they communicate with prospective clients.

Initial communication

If an editor’s platform is free of red flags and you decide to proceed with a query, the initial communication with an editor can be indicative of the relationship moving forward. Is the editor timely in his/her response? Does s/he have a pleasant tone? Is s/he receptive to questions? Is s/he open about his/her strengths and weaknesses as may relate to your project? Does s/he seem enthusiastic about the project (or at least not passive)? Do your schedules align properly for your project?

Sample edits

Sample edits can be such a great tool for figuring out whether or not an editor is the right fit (ideally, for those on both sides; an editor should want what’s best for your project and should know if their work is not it). A sample edit is short, which means you can easily figure out whether or not an editor is going to follow through on a deadline without waiting on a full-length project, but ideally long enough for you to get a feel for their style of feedback.

Fair warning, the efficacy of a sample edit can differ from project to project as some sample pieces may be extra clean, weighted toward a particular type of writing (dialogue, prose, etc.) or otherwise only a mediocre representation of the whole–whether the whole of the author’s project or the whole of the editor’s feedback. However, they are generally a good litmus test for both the editor and the author to get a feel for whether or not they’re going to be able to work together well–and they can make or break a partnership. I lost a potential client once because I had technical issues with the sample edit and followed up too late to remedy it before the client went elsewhere. I’ve also been in the position of author and written off an editor for tardiness with a sample edit. Timeliness and communication, especially, are particularly easy to gauge in most sample edit situations, and they at least enable an editor and author to determine whether they will be a really bad fit on a project even if they don’t always expose so-so partnerships (in terms of editing style, etc.) upfront.

In short, sample edits are ideal for weeding out the worst partnerships before you commit to a full project, which is enough to eliminate any major frustrations from the editing process in the vast majority of cases.

There are my best tips for finding the right editor for your book. Please comment if you have questions or feel like there was anything I left out! Do you have any tips and tricks for finding the right editor?

Looking for a speculative fiction line editor? I’m taking on projects from now through May! Check out my full services page to learn more or book a sample!

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This list does not include rereads such as the last two books of the Wingfeather Saga (having started rereading the series in 2023) or the Truth series by Dawn Cook, which were also highlights among last year’s reading–or Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland, which I reread when outlining Thunder early this year.

Asterisked links are BookShop affiliate links. This means that if you buy through these links I make a commission at no extra cost to you. And the cool thing about BookShop is that it supports local small bookstores in the US!

The Story Raider and The Story Hunter by Lindsay A. Franklin

I read The Story Peddler all the way back in 2022, but unfortunately didn’t get around to finishing the series until early this year. Fortunately, that didn’t impede my enjoyment any! It was pretty easy for me to get re-situated in the story, and the strengths I had noted in the first book–namely, the way that the two female MCs are written and how they handle their differing strengths and weaknesses–carried through the rest of the series. Plus, we got to see more of the worldbuilding and more of the characters’ backstories in these two books, which was quite fun!

The Story Hunter was an excellent conclusion to the Weaver trilogy! It deftly wrapped up all of the loose story strands, character arcs, etc. and offered a very satisfying ending to everything.

TW: The Story Hunter does contain a scene of attempted SA. It is not sexually explicit, but sensitive readers may prefer to skip it.

A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross

This book sat unread on my shelf for years, despite having been one of my most anticipated releases the year it came out and having gotten a leftover ARC copy from the publisher; I was swamped with reads that year and most of the mainstream books on the list ended up disappointing, so A River Enchanted* got set aside.

I was quite happy when I finally picked it up to enjoy it so much! I enjoyed the Celtic-inspired worldbuilding, the promised magic music, the community dynamics, and the main character’s inner conflict. The world was integral to the story, and the character relationships were definitely a highlight. The way that marriage and family are handled in this book is especially refreshing, especially from the general market.

Content warning: There are 2-3 (brief, easy to skip) instances of sex between married characters.

Leviathan by Scott Westerfeld

Leviathan* had also been on my shelf for years (are you sensing a theme?) and I finally picked it up when it was referenced in a worldbuilding book I was reading and sounded interesting. (When it was referenced I didn’t realize it was this book and I was pleasantly surprised to find it was a book I already owned.)

I loved the characters, they were written with such vivid voices, the worldbuilding of the alternate historical setting is really interesting, and it left me wanting to unravel the mysteries left for the rest of the series.

The Nightmare Virus by Nadine Brandes

I read The Nightmare Virus* in two days. I couldn’t put it down. Such a fascinating world, compelling characters, fun fandom references throughout… and of course it’s Nadine Brandes.

The themes were, overall, really strong as well! There were some places where the worldbuilding was a little odd and affected minor thematic points in a way I wasn’t sure was quite intended, so I do think that was probably the weakest point of the book. But again, it was minor, so “weakest point” isn’t saying that much.

Overall, another excellent Brandes book!

Sailing Magic by Order of the Pen Press

This was a really fun anthology! I was already familiar with Order of the Pen Press and the authors behind it (Helena George and Sarah Rodecker), but the other authors were new to me and many of them I look forward to reading more from in the future!

If you enjoy pirates, mermaids, sailing, etc. and you’re looking for new fantasy authors to watch out for, Sailing Magic* is a great anthology to check out!

You can find my full review of the anthology here.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

This book* sucked me right in, and I found it every bit as enjoyable as I’d hoped it would be. (No, I had never read it before. Yes, I know I was overdue to do so, lol.) It’s so much fun–and much longer than one expects when one is familiar with the story but hasn’t actually read the book yet. After reading it I dove right into comparing adaptations, and so far the ’95 is my favorite (which seems to be the general consensus among readers), but I’ve yet to watch the ’05 version. (I don’t have high hopes.)

Theseus vols. 1-2 by Jordan Holt

I picked these up along with the author’s new card game, Panomachea, and they’re so much fun! If you love Greek mythology, great artwork, and humor, you should definitely check out this series.

Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup

I’ve followed Jill Bearup’s YouTube channel for a while now, and I always quite enjoy her humor and approach to both combat acting (her professional expertise) and storytelling tropes–especially those found in fantasy and romance stories–so I was really excited to read this book that she fleshed out from a series of YouTube shorts she made which poked fun at common tropes. I was especially excited to get my hands on it when I found out she’s a Christian, which put to bed some of my fears about what the content might be like given the bent of some romance tropes. I am happy to report that Just Stab Me Now* was even better than I’d expected! It’s humorous, well-written and well-constructed, does an excellent job of turning romance tropes on their heads, and reflects a refreshingly healthy view of love, marriage, and motherhood! If you enjoy stories in which the author talks to their characters, romance tropes go… almost? as intended?, and the protagonists are adults with their heads screwed on straight, I definitely recommend Just Stab Me Now.

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

A Christmas Carol* was another classic on my “overdue to read” list, and I’m quite glad my husband grabbed it from my parents’ shelf to borrow and started reading it aloud, because I never would have guessed that it’s written with such humor and wit in the prose!

While I already had some familiarity with the overarching story (who doesn’t?), it was quite enjoyable to actually hear read for the first time, and I look forward to reading it to our kids for future Christmases.

World-Building for Writers by H.C. Harrington

I wrote a full review of this book back when I read it, but the short of it is that I was very excited to discover a strong worldbuilding resource in book form; worldbuilding books seem to be fairly tricky to find, and not always as solid or comprehensive as one might like in a worldbuilding resource. Despite some complaints I had with it (which I outlined in my review), this is possibly the best worldbuilding book I’ve read so far in terms of covering foundational elements accurately, drawing in relevant examples, and discussing worldbuilding from a clear love for and understanding of the craft.

What were your favorite books in 2024? I’d love to hear about them!

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Happy New Year (just a little early, for those of us in the U.S.)! As 2024 comes to a close and we embark on 2025, the time has come for my annual post of reflection and new goals. Not interested in looking back with me? Jump to the section of 2025 goals for an idea of what to expect from Scribes & Archers in the coming year.

2024: An Overview

2024 has been a year of the unexpected–and, in some ways, a year of disappointment. The attempted launch of the Worldbuilders Guild didn’t go as planned, my timeline for Thunder went very much awry, my husband and I left the church we’d been attending since before we were married, Realm Makers wasn’t quite what I’d expected it to be, etc., etc. Come to think of it, it’s kind of no wonder I hit creative burnout for a large chunk of the year. A lot of the more “ethereal” goals I’d set for the year took a pretty big hit, as a result–relationships and spiritual disciplines in particular.

But it has by no means been a bad year. There have been a great many blessings and accomplishments, as well. My husband and I have found a new, much healthier church to attend; I’ve completed two book-length projects and two short stories, and made progress on other projects that just haven’t come to full fruition yet; I’ve interacted with a lot of amazing authors; I’ve gotten to spend time with long-distance friends; etc. (One of the biggest blessings, I’ll share in the final section of this post!) Despite all the difficulties, God has been beyond faithful in blessing the lives of me and my family, as well as my endeavors in the writing sphere, and I look forward to seeing what He accomplishes in the coming year as well.

2024: Goals in Review

Open the Worldbuilders Guild for enrollment

For those of you who don’t know, I have a worldbuilding mentorship program called the Worldbuilders Guild in development! Worldbuilding-focused coaching is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, but I didn’t have a functional setup for it until after I got married. As soon as I realized I finally had an open opportunity, I dove straight into figuring out the structure and content… and unfortunately dove a little too far, a little too fast. I quickly learned during the beta-testing that the structure I had set up wasn’t sustainable during seasons in which I had less energy to keep up with it, so I’ve been revising the plan to ensure that I can deliver on the Guild’s core purpose regardless of how I’m feeling. But, sadly, I was not able to open the Guild for public enrollment this year and have had to postpone it until a bit later.

Do 4+ blog collabs

Worldbuilding Lessons from a History Major – Guest post by Cate VanNostrand“Graduating YA” collaborative series

I also participated in two freebie swaps via my newsletter! If you missed them and want to make sure you don’t miss any future freebie swaps, sign up to the newsletter below!

Finish the 1st draft of my worldbuilding book and send it to betas

While I did finish the first draft of what is now titled Building a World with a View, it has not yet been sent to betas–and will undergo some editing on my own end before it is sent out.

Finish the 1st draft of Thunder

Thanks to the fall FicFrenzy event and a November writing event in another writing group I’m part of, I was able to complete Thunder‘s first draft in mid-November!

Attend Realm Makers

I did make it to Realm Makers this year! You can refer to my recap post for my overall thoughts on that experience.

While I did not query Lightning to any publishers while I was there, I did query with Twenty Hills Publishing shortly after Realm Makers. While I received a full request, Lightning was ultimately turned down–which is for the best, as it wasn’t really ready to be queried yet and I don’t think Twenty Hills would actually be the best fit for it, either. That said, I’m grateful to have had the experience!

Start a new novel draft

I didn’t end up starting anything new, as Thunder took longer than expected–in part due to burnout, which also didn’t help the appeal of any new projects. But I ended up completing the first drafts of two full books and two short stories this year, so I don’t think the lack of a freshly started novel was any great loss, lol.

Reopen my editing services

I did promote my editing services more intentionally this year, with the result of one query that ended up delayed for later (on the author’s part), an editing swap with another editor to gauge whether we would be compatible for referrals, and a query for early 2025. While I would have liked the opportunity to work with more authors this year, I am grateful for the opportunities that did arise!

Read 52 books

I accomplished this on Christmas! My family gave me Unventing Language by Kristen Stieffel, Strange Planet by Nathan W. Pyle, and Just Stab Me Now by Jill Bearup and I read all three of them within the same day (in my defense, the first two were quite short/quick to read), which bumped me up to 52 reads for the year.

Crochet a garment

I crocheted my first cardigan this year! I also ended up making many more adjustments to the pattern than I had expected when I started (I’d expected to simply crop a longer cardigan pattern, but it ended up needing greater adaptation, and there were some issues of cut that I just wasn’t a fan of and worked to adjust), so I’m pretty proud of that project. I also have a second shawl/cardigan thing in the works, but it’s been much more detailed and slower-going.

Write a short story in French

This did not prove a high enough priority to be accomplished. In fact, my overall French study has fallen behind where it was, though I’ve managed to maintain a 300-day+ Duolingo streak despite that.

Attend an Andrew Peterson concert

Attend Hutchmoot

Neither of these happened this year. As far as I can tell, Hutchmoot was located in the UK this year, so there was no making that happen even if the timing had worked out, lol.

Visit the Library of Congress

Visit the Wayside

These, too, ended up pushed off ’til next year. (For those who don’t know, The Wayside was the home of Nathaniel Hawthorne, Harriett Lothrop/Margaret Sidney, and Louisa May Alcott, at various times.)

2025: Concrete Goals

Open the Worldbuilders Guild for enrollment

While this won’t happen until the fall–if it happens this year–I want to at least aim for this and make great progress toward it this year. My hope is that full enrollment is open by January 2026 at the absolute latest. (More on the timeline of this–and other projects–the “2025: general hopes” section.)

Get Building a World with a View fully polished for publication

Now that the first draft is done, I’m excited to go back and fill in gaps, edit where needed, and send off this book for its first round of feedback in the spring! Beyond that, I have a full month-by-month plan for this book that should have it polished for publication–though not published–by the end of 2025. But, as always, plans can change, so I hold the timeline loosely.

If you’re interested in beta-reading the book, join the street team below!

Edit the Lightning duology and send it to beta readers

Again, I have a month-by-month timeline for this that may or may not prove reliable. However, I’m particularly excited to dive into the worldbuilding for this series and shore up that element of the duology in preparation for story-specific edits!

If you’re interested in beta-reading this, you can find the opportunity for that through the street team above, also.

Finish and release a reformatted edition of The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles

The formatting of the current edition of The Mirror-Hunter Chronicles is… not great. I started this reformatting project early in 2024, and in fact almost finished it. The only problem is that KDP won’t print the grayscale cover pages quite straight or (as a result) quite all the way to the edge of the page. As this is quite overdue, however; the error is slight; and even with the small error this formatting is way better than what’s currently available; I intend to just figure out which proof copy has the cover pages closest to perfect and move forward with that file. So this should be available early in 2025.

Do 4+ blog collaborations

I have a couple of collaborations halfway planned ahead, but if you’re interested in exchanging posts or doing some other type of collaboration together, feel free to reach out via my contact page!

Get my books stocked at a local bookstore

My husband and I have a particular favorite local bookstore that (sometimes, at least) accepts books from local authors, and it would be super cool to get my books in stock there. I just have to get over myself to make an appointment to pitch them to the owner, lol.

Guest post on Kingdom Pen

I’ve guest posted on Kingdom Pen a number of times, and I always enjoy the process, so I’d like to guest again in the coming year.

Start a new novel (or short story collection)

Now that I’m moving into the editing stage with both my current book projects (the Lightning duology and Building a World with a View), I’m more seriously turning my attention toward something new to draft. This may end up being an existing project that I pick back up (such as the Dark War Trilogy), or something I haven’t started drafting yet. I’m also intentionally leaving open the option of focusing on a short story collection, in case that ends up being more doable for this season than a full novel.

Write 5 new short stories

This will include a story for the secret Santa short story swap I participate annually, as well as a short story/novella related to a published project and possibly a brand new short story for submission to an anthology. If I work on a short story collection, I may well exceed this number, but we’ll see how things shake out.

Write an essay about the phoenix

I have a recurring interest in the mythological phoenix and the historical context surrounding it, and I have a full outline already for an essay I’d like to write about the phoenix, its color, and its potential connection to the feathered serpents that crop up in mythologies around the world–just for fun. If I do get this written in the coming year, I plan to publish it on my (very sporadically used) mythology-focused blog Splintered Fragments.

Read 52 books

Attend an Andrew Peterson concert

Visit the Library of Congress

Visit Monticello

I haven’t been to Monticello since I was a very small child too young to remember it, so I’d like to revisit it now that I’m old enough to appreciate the experience.

Visit The Wayside

2025: General Hopes

While I have a lot of goals set for 2025 and a lot I’d like to accomplish–and even plans for how to accomplish those goals–I’m holding all of my plans quite loosely because I know a great portion of next year, especially from the summer onward, will be somewhat unpredictable. Why? Because my husband and I are expecting our first baby in June! We’re very excited, and look forward to seeing what this new season holds–but, of course, it throws all of the writing plans that I tend to share up in the air. I’m already planning to take a summer-long hiatus from writing and blogging surrounding the baby’s birth (hence the Guild’s expected fall launch), and my editing timelines are planned out in such a way that the least attention-demanding tasks fall during the summer. The remainder of this winter and spring will likely go as they would in any previous year, so my plans for that season are more concrete; anything after the summer hiatus, I’ll be playing by ear and doing my best to set expectations for as the time arrives.

My overall hopes are generally to accomplish what I can, release what I can’t, and enjoy my family and its growth as the second-most important thing. As the first most important thing, I want to renew my spiritual disciplines with more, well, discipline, as I’ve been easily distracted for much of this year and I want to be more faithful in the coming year. Which is maybe the best focus word for me in 2025: Faithfulness.

How was your 2024? What are you looking forward to in 2025? Do you have any exciting goals or plans for the year?

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