Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

Hi everyone,

How is everyone doing? Good I hope. I’m doing great. The writing is going well. My classes are going good and I’m learning so much in them. I’m taking my first teaching class. So, far I’ve put together a syllabus and now I’m working on lesson plans for the type of writing class I will teach in the future. I’m also taking a class about publishing and have created a rough draft of a query letter, book jacket copy (blurb) and sample covers for the story I’m using for my thesis project. Also, speaking of the thesis project I have a fiction writing class starting in July and I have to have the plot outline, character sketch, and between 2500-3500 words for the first chapter written to submit during class and I have to have the first 25k written by October for my first thesis class. So, I’m going to be doing a lot of writing over the next few weeks and months.

Now, moving on to the news of the short story. I’m currently finishing up a short story that I don’t remember if I talked about on here or not. It’s a story about twin sisters who are wizards and inherit their parents’ wands. One sister is evil and the other good. I don’t want to give anymore than that away right now. I have a deadline of submitting by August 31st. I have about 5000 more words to go on it and then edit it and create a cover for it as well. It supposed to be published in October.

Wish me luck that I can get everything done by the beginning of July. 🙂

Look forward to reading your comments. 🙂

Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

Thanks to one of my classes last term I now have a new story idea and it involves elementals. I had to post a story idea based on some pictures the teacher uploaded and came up with the elemental plot and the teacher and my classmates loved the idea and suggested I move forward with writing it.

So, I’m outlining it now and am thinking of revamping the vampire series to be not just about the vampires but elementals and other paranormal/supernatural beings. It would still be a series and the series title would change. I’m also thinking about making the Witches of Raven’s Nest series one that will kind of overlap and involve characters from the new series and the characters from Witches would be in the new series but each book would be an individual story about a character.

I think the two series will be written in the pen name. Of course other than the one story I have coming out later this year I’m thinking everything will be written under the pen name after that.

Let me know what you think. 🙂

Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

Hi everyone,

So sorry this is being posted so late in the day. I admit I forgot about it until a few minutes ago. I have been busy with school. I have two final projects due next week that I’m working on as well as two stories that are due to be submitted soon.

My goal for Camp NaNo is off to a good start I have a little over 4K written of the 15k goal I set for myself. Also, this term has been teaching me a lot about the different genres like speculative fiction. I have read some interesting articles and books this term as well.

For one class I was able to share my knowledge and love for The Lord of the Rings which my goal is to teach classes about Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings, and even The Hobbit. For the other class I have read Stephen King’s On Writing. It was very interesting.

Have some things I’m working on behind the scenes that I will share at a later date.

That’s it for now. 🙂

Look forward to reading your comments. 🙂

Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

I have made some decisions regarding some of the stories I’ working on which I hope will make things easier for me in the long run. I have decided to set aside the older stories like the vampire series and the shapeshifter series for now and focus on my newer stories like Town Curse and the epic fantasy story. I will still work on the vampire series and the shapeshifter series as I get the time and after I finish the newer stories that are due soon.

One story I’m working on right now is called Thornheart Legacy and it will be included in an anthology later this year. A new novel I’m working on has the tentative title of Dragon Fury. Thornheart Legacy will be published under my name. Dragon Fury might be published under my pen name. We will see. Town Curse will most likely be published under Diane Riggins as well. I won’t know the final decision on it until near the end of 2019 because I’m using it for my thesis project in Grad school.

The epic fantasy will be published under my pen name and other stories will be a case by case basis. One reason I created the pen name is to keep my teaching separate from the writing. I will still publish some things like I said before under Diane Riggins but since I write fantasy and paranormal novels as well as YA I want to keep them as separate as possible if that makes sense.

Also, for those interested here is my new pen name and link to her site. Not a lot there yet. Please give her a follow.  The pen name is Jordyn Elliot. Let me know what you think of her name.

On that note I will end here with some other news as well. I’m participating in the A to Z challenge this year. I just have to come up with a theme and the topics now.

Look forward to your comments. 🙂

Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

It’s February and personal things have finally settled down. I can start concentrating on writing and school again. We moved at the end of December/beginning of January and have been unpacking and trying to settle back into normal routines. Had no real time for writing other than for school.

I have a short story that I have been working on for one of my classes this term and the feedback from the instructor and my peers has been great. I definitely have something to work with because I need to add some more words to it before I can submit it but I can say it will definitely have gone through revisions and editing a lot before I have to so that is a good thing.

Also, I have decided to write under a penname for at least one of the genres I write if not both. I will announce the penname soon. I hope to have an exciting announcement to make in the next couple of months as well.

IWSG Day Question:
What do you love about the genre you write in most often? The thing I love the most about the genre I write in is creating the worlds that my characters will be living in. Creating those worlds is so much fun. Seeing the maps that I draw become more detailed as I add locations, landscapes,and other things is so exciting. I’m not the best drawer in the world but that’s okay I like to do the initial maps myself when I’m ready to publish and want to include a map I will find a professional to do the final map but will let them see my maps so they know what I’m looking for in the map.

Look forward to reading your comments. 🙂

Thanks to Alex for hosting this each month. Here is the complete list of participants.

I meant to have this up this morning and just realized I didn’t. So sorry about that. Had a post already written about things that are going on with my writing, etc but it’s on my laptop which at the moment is packed up because we are in the middle of  moving to a new house.

I mentioned school, my writing, and other goals for 2018 in it so I most likely will post it this weekend or next week when my laptop is unpacked. One of the things I talked about for sure had to do with school and the fact I changed to the MFA program and that it has a online teaching component to it. I will get a certification to teach online through the MFA program as well as learning more about English and creative writing. I start the new program in February.

More about school, what I’m working on, and goals for 2018 next time I post which will be soon. I plan to start posting more often on here because I know that I was a little lax in 2017 but I now have a routine for everything so I should be able to keep up with posting on a weekly to bi-weekly basis like I used to do. I may even do the A to Z challenge this year. Already have some possible theme/topic ideas for it. 🙂

Look forward to your comments. 🙂