Tag: 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.

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the View from Sunday: 7.25

reflecting on loss and regrets

I lost a dear friend this week and his loss got me thinking about all the things I want to do in this little life and the things I wish I had done when I was younger.

One thing I regret is that I didn’t travel more when I was in my 20s, but the reality is that I was in grad school for nearly 5 of those years, getting started on saving for an emergency fund, and paying down my student loans. I focused on my finances and starting my career, and those are choices that I definitely don’t regret, as they contributed to the modicum of financial freedom that I have now in my 40s. But I do wish I had taken more trips, especially as my migraine condition has taken a larger toll on my life. My last flight was at the end of 2019, right before the pandemic started. I didn’t travel at all, even within the state, for at least two years after that, especially as my grandmother’s Alzheimer’s worsened and my mom’s need for backup increased (the number of times I had to make an emergency drive for one or the other… I can’t even begin to count ’em).

I have a conference coming up (🤞🏻for a pain free week), but I really want to take some time to explore places around the state, even if money is tight and life is lifeing (i.e. my elderly parents are having a crisis). Out of state travel likely isn’t in the cards right now, but I hope it will be one day. Like I said, I already have some regrets, I don’t want to have even more as I grow older.

My other big dream is getting my books out. I sometimes regret the time I spent querying trad agents. It was a learning experience; I gained insight on the industry, but I should’ve been brave and committed to indie from the start. What I feared most was my ability to build a business and market myself, but it’s not like trad doesn’t require the same level of industry on the part of the average author.

We don’t all get the luxury of aging and I don’t want to waste more time than I already have… I lose enough of my days to pain. I don’t want to lose more to other people’s opinions.

Hug your loved ones, pet your furry friends, and make the big choices while you can. 🌼

💜

For more, subscribe to the blog.

You can follow my “quiet days” on YouTube or follow for writing updates on Substack.

Visit my linktr.ee or learn more about my writing at emiliagracewrites.com.

Note to longtime readers: In case you missed the last year’s update, I changed my name to Emilia Grace on most of my socials to align with my penname.

video: March Update ☕ Life Lately: thinking out loud and updates on life, writing, and all the things

a sit-down chat

March has been interesting… I’ve been ill, which means everything has been slow and I feel dreadfully behind. Join me for a sit down ramble as I think out loud about life, writing, and the current state of my projects and editing goals. Plus, thoughts on the future of my self-publishing plan, the indie market, and reading as both joy and resistance in light of the current climate.

💜

For more, subscribe to the blog.

You can follow my “quiet days” on YouTube or follow for writing updates on Substack.

Visit my linktr.ee or learn more about my writing at emiliagracewrites.com.

Note to longtime readers: In case you missed the last year’s update, I changed my name to Emilia Grace on most of my socials to align with my penname.

the view from Sunday, 6.25

Recovering from Illness: Finding Balance and Rest

And we’re back! Apparently, my body likes to remind me to rest by going absolutely ballistic and making me crash. I may have caught a mild bout of norovirus or ingested something absolutely heinous… no official diagnosis, but it had me 🤢🤮 for three days and left me with an awful, pounding migraine attack for well over a week. It took me about a week and a half to fully recover (eg. get back to my usual state of low grade exhaustion), during which I mostly became one with my bed (full rotting mode activated), consumed hours of Hulu’s How I Escaped My Cult, read a physical book and listened to an entire audiobook, and engaged in very little activity besides a few walks. It was a lot and left me feeling very behind in work/life/writing/general housekeeping. I hate this feeling, but I also hate I feel this way at all.

musings and ramblings from my sick bed

I am a frequent proponent of rest, so why is it that it takes an illness for me to take the kind of rest I so desperately need lately? Part of it is the pressure to meet the goals I set for writing and publishing in 2025. I’m not the quickest editor and I have three drafts in various stages of revision. I also have a list of to-dos to prepare for publishing. If I’m going to meet those goals, I have to work and that means consistency. Consistency means pushing through the days when I’m not motivated or energized. Lately, that’s been a real challenge. I even suspect I may be cycling through burnout again. The current state of affairs has been a distraction and source of anxiety, making writing even more difficult, let alone concentration. All this to say, the times are tough and my brain is on fire.

I started editing this week but it’s going at a snail’s pace. I want to do more. I want to write. But I pull up the draft and I can barely get the words to come together. 😞 Even writing about this has been difficult . Thinking through the mess of feelings/doubts, wondering if the effort will be worth it… It’s paralyzing, but there’s no way out but through. I’m going to keep chugging along and doing my best, because giving up isn’t an option for me. Rest, however, needs to be a top priority. It’s been too easy to fall back on old habits and doomscroll before bed. I need to re-establish a solid nighttime routine minus screens. I have a pile of print books. Let’s turn to reading instead scrolling. Reading is and has always been my greatest source of comfort. Back to books! Back to tea! Back to getting in bed before midnight and actually getting a solid night’s sleep! We can do this!

If you’d like to follow me on this journey, stick around and subscribe. 💗 You can also subscribe to my “quiet days” vlog series on YouTube or learn more about my writing at emiliagracewrites.com. I also post about my writing process on Substack. For more, visit my linktr.ee

Note to longtime readers: In case you missed the last year’s update, I changed my name to Emilia Grace on most of my socials to align with my penname.

video: quiet days (25.5) a chatty writing vlog ✍🏻 More Quiet Days In February

A chatty sit-down update on writing and my publishing goals/plans

A chatty sit-down update on writing and my publishing goals/plans

Updates on the current state of the draft, my life (and mental health), and decisions regarding my indie publishing career.

How I’m working through edits, managing my time, and prepping to embark on an indie publishing career.

Plus, thoughts on past edits and the direction of my upcoming contemporary romance series.

the view from Sunday, 3.25

on distractions, dread, and not doing much

my latest read, journaling and migraine essentials

I’m stuck.

The events of the last two weeks have taken a sledgehammer to my carefully laid out writing goals. Try though I might not to get sucked into the spiral of bad news, bad thoughts, and bad dreams, I can’t help it. I’m in that weird place between needing to know and knowing that there’s not much I can do. It’s also been a week at work, so I’m feeling extra vulnerable. As an elder millennial, I’m definitely part of the generation that always feels on edge about the future. I’m a generally optimistic person (or, at least, I try to be), but there are no guarantees in life and never does that feel more true than right at this moment.

One thing I noted during the course of my low/no buy, I never feel like I’m doing well. All my needs are met, but I always carry this sense of dread that I’m one stumble away from total disaster. Partly, it’s the ghost of growing up poor. Partly, it’s the very real truth that most Americans are one emergency away from total disaster. I’m doing fine. I know I am. My financial advisor tells me I’m doing fine.

It doesn’t change anything. I still carry that seed of dread.

So, here I am. Trying to keep the anxiety at bay, resisting the extremely counterproductive urge to buy stuff I don’t need for a hit of dopamine (the only thing I need is a new pair of shoes), and moving today’s to-do’s to tomorrow.

The growing list:

  • start editing Book 2 (started today)
  • edit and post two videos
  • publish the weekly blog entry
  • deep clean the bathroom (I’ve got a mold issue that needs extra attention.)
  • clean the apartment
  • print my new decluttering tracker and schedule 15 minutes a day to declutter
  • do my taxes
  • start the business of starting a business… (and all the steps therein)

and those are just the personal tasks.

I’ll get to them. It’ll be fine. These are the small things I can control, I’ll take them one at a time. It’ll be fine. For now, I’m reading The Stand-in by Lily Chu, cozying in bed with the cats, and not worrying about it.

I’ll get unstuck tomorrow.

Tonight, I’m going out for ice cream. 🍨

If you’d like to follow me on this journey, stick around and subscribe. 💗

You can also subscribe to my “quiet days” vlog series on YouTube or learn more about my writing at emiliagracewrites.com. I also post about my writing process on Substack. For more, visit my linktr.ee

Note to longtime readers: In case you missed the last year’s update, I changed my name to Emilia Grace on most of my socials to align with my penname.

video: Quiet Days ✨ (25.1) Cozy weekend reset before heading back to work

The first vlog of 2025! Spend a cozy weekend with me.

It’s the first vlog of 2025!

Catching up on my goals, reading self-help books, and sorting out my life—wrestling with past life choices, meal prep, planning, and more.

Spend a cozy weekend at home with me before I head back to work after the winter holiday.

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.