Category: writing

05.25.2 lessons learned in the editing trenches – realizing I may be in for more than I thought

writing updates and lessons learned while editing (cross-posted from my Substack)

or, biting off more than I can chew.

the words "the right to write" typewritten on a sheet of paper, in a vintage typewriter
Photo by Suzy Hazelwood on Pexels.com

This update is cross-posted from my Substack. If you would like to receive regular writing updates and future book news, consider subscribing to my newsletter.

✍🏻Writing Updates

I made the brilliant (re: mad) decision to edit two manuscripts simultaneously, and it was sort of working. Is working. Sort of. I mean, I’m getting the edits done at a relatively decent pace (for me), but I’m starting to come to terms that what I thought would be a final proofread for Before You Called Me Baby (Book 1) is turning into a solid final (final) content edit. A mild developmental edit, if you will. Definitely not the simple line edit I thought it would be.

And that’s ok. Whatever makes the book better. I’m here for the long haul, after all. But it does mean coming to terms with the fact that I may not hit my fall release goal. Maybe late fall, if my body cooperates (with chronic migraine and summer storms triggering the pressure, that’s a BIG if). NGL, it’s gotten me a bit down. I amped myself up for a Fall 2025 release since I wrote it in my vision board/planner back in 2021.

If you’ve followed my journey on YT or the blog, you’ll know I queried for two years while pursuing trad pub before deciding that my work stood a better chance in indie. It was a decision I wrestled with (the thought of being a small business is daunting as heck), but I’ve been all in since I made it. Now, here I am, regretting the years I lost querying and, more recently, the time I spent thinking I was done with edits and ready for proofreading.

Still, I’m glad I can make these changes before putting it out into the world, though it will mean some tweaks to my publication plan. I’m also learning that my initial goal to have all three books edited and ready for a (semi)rapid release launch is not going to work. I’m not a fast writer and editing takes me twice, if not three times as long to complete. I’m never going to be the writer putting out 5 or 6 books (or more) in a year. It’s just not in me, unless I quit my day job (and that’s highly unlikely to ever to happen. Hello, I need health insurance). So, I’m coming to terms with having to make some realistic changes to my plan, and focusing on producing the best book I create, given my current reality.

Who knows, maybe I’ll get a burst of energy and push through to the finish line to meet my goal. I’m keeping the hope alive, if nothing else. 🤞🏻

📈Anyhow, here is May by the numbers

Current Drafts in Progress: 2

  • Before You Called Me Baby (Tangled Hearts Book 1)
  • My Favorite Mistake (Tangled Hearts Book 2)

⏲️Time spent working:

BYCMB 💜

  • Reading: 5 hours, 27 minutes
    • Read: 66 pages
    • Revising: 10 hours, 33 minutes
      • Revised: 59.5 pages

MFM ❤️

  • Revising: 7 hours, 26 minutes
    • Revised: 41 pages

Total time spent working on both drafts: 22.86 🎇

These numbers help me recognize the slow, but steady progress I’m making. This month I lost 13 days lost to migraine and/or travel. It also took me a few tries to find the most effective editing schedule to juggle these two projects with life and work, but after a couple of weeks, I found a plan that’s working, even though I missed some days.

As I write this, I’m down with a cold, but still making progress. Fingers crossed that it stays mild and goes away soon.

🎶Writing tunes

📹Latest Vlog

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vlog: Quiet Days 25.9 ✍🏻📑 Life & Writing Updates + Shop with Me Grocery Haul

A short DITL vlog, plus a chatty, sit down update about life, editing, and my current works in progress.

The time has come for a proper sit down chat about life, writing, and the current state of my novels.

The first half of features a day in the life vlog and the second half is a lengthy, chatty writing update.

Timestamps available on YouTube.

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video: My 2025 Life & Writing Goals 📔🖊️ | planning for success

Grab your favorite beverage and join me for a chatty update on my goals and planners for 2025 😄

This year, I’m trying new things and re-establishing old habits to have a more productive writing schedule, improve health, and meet money goals.

My planners for 2025: HB90 quarterly and yearly goal planner, Inamio (Hobonichi dupe) weekly planner, and Commit30 for 30-day fitness goal planner.

My goals include:

  • Growing this channel hint hint
  • Publishing my debut novel/starting my self-publishing business (and all that comes with that)
  • Save twice the amount I saved in 2024
  • Increase strength and progressively overload
  • Weekly Pilates practice
  • 30 days of Yoga in January (and regular yoga for mobility support)
  • Less dining out, more cooking at home/regular meal prep for my health and wallet
  • Setting the foundation for future home ownership

writing: revealing my not so secret project

In honor of Valentine’s Day (my favorite holiday, matched only by Halloween), I thought it would be fun to finally share some details about the romance novel I’m currently querying. Before You Called Me Baby is my mid-2019 NaNoWriMo U-Turn, a story so vivid in my mind that I set aside another project to embark on a whole new journey in a genre that I love, but had never written. It’s gone through multiple rewrites, edits, proofreads, and betas, and now we’re in the query trenches…

Before You Called Me Baby moodboard aesthetic

Yane has spent years pining for her best friend, James. Right when it looks like James noticed, his ex walks back into the picture. But with less than three months to put together an art show, or kiss her grad degree goodbye, the last thing Yane needs are messy feelings distracting her from her goal. Too bad life never goes as planned.

BEFORE YOU CALLED ME BABY is a slow burn, friends-to-lovers romance featuring a Cuban-American art student on the brink of graduation secretly pining for her best friend, who may or may not be back together with his ex.

lately, a list.

Writing a novella while querying the project I started writing in 2019.

Struggling with family stuff – health, mental wellness, housing insecurity, the whole she-bang. It’s been a lot.

Teetering on the edge of burnout at work.

Let’s not even talk of recent unexpected expenses.

Most of my recent reads are audiobooks. Maybe I’ll post about them, maybe I won’t. The most fun was the second series in Ilona Andrew’s Hidden Legacy series.

Started PT for my arm after two years of diagnosis guesswork. It seems to be helping. Still looking into other issues (like the weird pain I get in my jaw that goes beyond TMJ).

Sitting here, trying to figure out how I’m going to fix my mom’s latest disaster.

Still vlogging as an exercise in creativity and joy seeking.

quiet day diaries: week of September 13

Monday

Out of isolation now that my test results were negative. Back to the office and ready to catch up on all the work that I didn’t have the brain space for last week. It was a genuine struggle to be able to focus between the low-level migraine I was nursing and the sense of unease as I waited for my results, all while acting like everything was ok when interacting with people remotely.

My lymph nodes feel a little swollen after my flu shot, but otherwise no reaction beyond the initial arm soreness.

Tuesday

Started the day with a meeting. I cannot understand why anyone chooses to schedule meetings at 9am or 4pm (especially on a Friday). Those are terrible hours. No one wants to meet at those hours. Stop it, you’re a sadist.

Wednesday

Worked from home today because I had back to back meetings from 10 to 4:30 and I like the flexibility of being able to move around without needing to be locked in my office.

Thursday

A day off to deal with mom stuff. The cats were not pleased, but it made for a nice change of pace. Spend the morning reading, then did some tidying and finished up with a few writing sprints. It was a nice reset.

Friday

off to work, off to take another test. The cycle continues.

Saturday – Sunday

Back to writing and a bout of intense dusting. I even wiped down the walls (an easy task I put off for way too long). Next week, I deep clean the bathroom…

Test came back negative, but the boy has been going through something that may or may not be the panini (I heard someone call it this and I love it). Waiting on his test, but he’s doing ok so far. He helped me deal with some of the cat drama on Thursday, but it was a limited exposure so I’m keeping my fingers crossed.

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quiet day diaries: week of September 6

Monday

I’m starting to think that what I’m struggling with is the lack of change re: editing. At this stage in the process, I would normally be writing in public spaces (libraries, coffee shops, etc.) to give my brain a sense of space that I can associate with work, but every day is the same and every draft has been written inside the same four walls for the last year and a half. Maybe that’s why I’m struggling. It feels like I’m not making any progress because nothing changes. Rationally, I know that’s not true—I’m definitely making progress—but coming to this stage of the draft, where so much of the work is in the minutiae, it feels like it’s dragging along.

I might try music. This is not quiet sprint work.

Test came back negative but my anxious brain won’t let me stop wondering what if I tested too early. 😣

Tuesday

Test done. Hoping my results come in faster than the last time. My throat tightness feels better, but I’m not willing to chance it when I can wait for results. We’re too small of a department and too open to the public.

Wednesday

The place where I work has this absurd cybersecurity training program that happens every year. Well, this year the IT department made such a crap effort at sending out the initial message that I missed it. And so did everyone else in my department. Because it looked like a freakin spam message! Good job newsletter writer who buried the lead and did not even include a link to the training site(!). FFS. It’s due this week and I have a million other things to finish and no time for an hours-long training program that repeats the same information I had to learn last year.

Thursday

Test finally arrived late at night. Negative! Yes! Two scares in as many weeks is two too many. Also, I’ve gotten somewhat used to working on certain types of projects in my office again and this week has dragged.

Friday

Reported my results so I can return to the office next week. As I write, my neighbor is pace-stomping across the other side of my bedroom and I want to hit something. He does this for HOURS and it drives me bonkers. I swear he’s wearing work boots while he does it because it’s beyond loud. This is the guy who also thinks it’s okay to deadlift and slam his weights down in a second story apartment, so I wouldn’t put it past him. (I often wonder at the state of their floors. While my place has terrible carpet, theirs has the original wood floors.)

Saturday – Sunday

A super productive weekend! It was a working weekend, which pushed me to make the most of the non-work hours. It’s like the pressure before a deadline, I often find my focus when time is limited. Not a procrastination thing, just a pack as much as I can thing… not sure which is worse TBH.

Anyhow, I cleaned my car and got it washed (after spending 💸 on maintenance work), got my flu shot, and started going through crutch words I’m culling out of the draft. All in all, a good weekend for life projects.

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quiet day diaries: week of August 30

Monday

Back at the office, feeling like I didn’t get any time off because of my weekend shift (because I didn’t). I planned poorly and should’ve cleared my schedule this week, but no rest and all that. I’m taking a little extra time off during my WFH day this week to make up for it (and to rest my brain because, let’s face it, my work is purely cerebral).

Tuesday

Stormy day with a persistent migraine in my cervical neck area. Sigh. I’m definitely susceptible to the weather. Also, driving stress. It’s been an achy start to the week and I’m extra puffy from water retention because of the advil and the migraine itself. I hate it.

Wednesday

Mom’s test came back negative! 🥳

Thursday

Worked from home today, which was the right choice because I did not feel well during my afternoon meeting. Hurray for Zoom. And the mute button.

Everything feels so unsettled at the moment; it’s getting harder to focus when so much of the future is in question. Honestly, at this point, I’m just waiting for the day I get covid because so little is in my control with our current political situation. And don’t get me started on the latest wave of attacks to women’s rights. Every headline is a real-life nightmare.

Friday

Did I spend most of my day in traffic? Yes. It was one of those days. Just lots of driving. And another covid test. 😞

Saturday – Sunday

Am I avoiding my latest look at the draft? Maybe. Or am I just burned out? Likely, both.

Saturday started with a lost dog adventure courtesy of the boy and ended with a semi-planned jaunt across county lines to buy black sugar milk tea mix at my favorite Korean market. It was a worthy effort to procrastinate. Tomorrow, I will face the damn draft once again.

On the bright side, it’s been cool enough to open the windows for the first time in months. At least there’s a silver lining to the very wet weather we’ve had this week.

Sunday. Still waiting. It’s highly unlikely that my results will be available until after the holiday, so I’ve been put on the quarantine list at work. My throat feels tight and has for a few days, which is how my mom’s infection started and my coworker’s too. I’m hoping I’m wrong, but this may be th one.

No writing yet. Taking care of housework and trying not to fixate on possible symptoms.

Meanwhile, I’m catching up on the vlog.

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