Kenzie’s Chaotic Return To The Blogosphere!: Ft. Where I’ve Been & What’s To Come

good morning, cyberspace!

*crashes through brick wall*

*skids to a halt*

*whips pitchfork onto the sofa*

I’M BACK, PEASANTS! Didja miss me? Didja not even notice I was gone? Do you wish that I would stay away for the next three thousand years and ne’er return because I am an amorphic blob of a mess who needs continual emotional support?

actually, don’t answer that.

Anyway, anyway. I am officially back, and it feels so so so SO good to finally be posting again! I mean, I realize I was only gone for a total of two weeks, but this past two weeks has been interesting, my friends. I broke a ukulele string (the horror), had a pre-midlife-crisis, and also started drafting a super secret project which I’m super secretly excited about! (shhhhh. it’s a secret. [but also more on this in a moment.])

I’m also still in quarantine. Which–I’ll be honest–is kind of making me lose my mind at this point. I COULD go over to the calendar and count how many days I’ve been in quarantine–I vividly remember my last normal day outside–but I’m pretty sure in doing so I will literally lose my mind. SO. We shall refrain from counting the days and instead focus on the fact that–with any luck–quarantine for my state will soon be over.

Hopefully.

Probably.

Please get me out of here. . . .

. . .moving on.

Seeing as though we are now halfway through May (excuse me, yes, I would like a refund on the year 2020, please. . .), I thought it would be fun to not only look back and reflect on the past two weeks of my absence, but also on the past four months.

If y’all remember, I made a list at the beginning of the year of all my super mega awesome goals for 2020. This post–alongside a giant, totally-doable timetable, also outlined a step-by-step plan that I fondly called The Four Month Fandangle Fantastic.

i am also beginning to deeply regret this name, so let’s just ignore that for now. XD

This plan was to ensure that I kept my aforementioned “totally doable” goals within check all throughout the year, and since we’ve just stepped across that first four-month threshold, I think now is the perfect time to take a peek back at that list and see how we’re doing!

And also make some much-needed revisions, because goodness knows we’re gonna need it.

>>><<<

{ writing }

Because the majority of this section will center around the plans I made at the start of the year–a.k.a. the Four Month Fandangle Fantastic–here’s a bit of a refresher as to what I thought my writing year would look like back in January:

THE FOUR-MONTH-FANDANGLE-FANTASTIC (simplified version):

January-April . . . complete the first draft of Project Sunset (previously known as SK)

May-August . . . re-outline and potentially begin drafting The Girl And The Goblin King (with a heavy emphasis on the outlining)

September-December . . . begin queries on everlost

I don’t know about you guys, but I can already see a glaring plot hole in my foolproof  four month plan: we’re already in the middle of May, and I still haven’t finished the first draft of Project Sunset.

But, shockingly enough, this is actually okay! My main goal for The Girl and The Goblin King during the May-through-August time slot was outlining and hopefully beginning to draft. If all I get is a solid headstart on an outline–if all I get is a feeble headstart on an outline–I’m gonna go ahead and count that as a win.

And to further prove this point, here’s a quote taken directly from that initial post:

If I don’t get any of this story written this year, that’s perfectly fine, but I’d still like to at least have a halfway decent outline drawn up by the end of the year. – Past Kenzie

So you see, I’m definitely not panicking yet.

Yet being the operative word, of course.

Because I haven’t yet completed Project Sunset’s first draft–and because I so graciously gave myself a bit of wiggle room back in January–I’ve decided to extend my deadline for this draft to May 31st. Am I confident in my ability to meet this goal? Yes. But in the rare case that I don’t finish this draft by the end of May, I’m also giving myself a stretch goal of June 30th.

because I’m just that confident in my abilities, lol

If my main goal for TGATGK is to end up with a decent outline by the end of the year, I’m pretty sure two months is going to be plenty of time to do so. I mean, I typically don’t even write outlines, let alone follow them once written, so I’m assuming that ‘outline’ actually means I’m going to be doing some pre-writing prep work and backstory building. Which, again, can definitely be done within two months. <<this will bite me in the rear-end in a couple months, mark my words.

As of right now, the September-December section of the Grand Plan is unchanged, but the closer we creep towards those months, the more I’m confident this whole thing will explode into flames.

(UPDATE FROM FUTURE KENZIE: this post was written, like, literally the day after I started my hiatus. since then, I have completely started rethinking my entire publishing plan–including whether or not I’m going to go traditional or not. but for the sake of consistency, we’re going to pretend like this is NOT the case, and that I am, as of this moment, still totally confident in my pursuing of traditional publishing.)

So, in conclusion, the Four-Month-Fandangle Fantastic now looks a bit like this:

THE FOUR-MONTH-FANDANGLE-FANTASTIC (modified):

January-May/June . . . complete the first draft of Project Sunset (previously known as SK)

July-August . . . ‘outline’ The Girl And The Goblin King, with a heavy emphasis on pre-writing and worldbuilding

September-December . . . begin queries on everlost

It’s not exactly what I thought it would look like at the start of the year, but if I’m being honest, I’m more on track with these goals than I thought I’d be. Now I just need to hunker down and write the final half of Project Sunset, and I’ll be well on my way towards finishing strong!

{ project sunset }

SO. How’s Project Sunset doing, you ask? It’s actually going very, very well.

So well, in fact, that I have officially decided that something is terribly wrong with me. A tumor, perhaps. Or this draft is absolute garbage fire and I just haven’t seen it yet. Or both.

Probably both.

But anyway, without going into too much agonizing detail, Project Sunset has officially hit the 85,000 word mark, and even though I never know where the true plot points fall until the second or third draft–after which I’ve looked at the story as a completed whole and have flipped it on its head exactly five times–I do believe that I’ve finally hit the midpoint. Or, at the very least, something that, with a little bit of tweaking, could vaguely resemble the midpoint.

(can you tell I’m not a plotter? because I am NOT a plotter.)

This, of course, would all be fine and dandy if it weren’t for one little thing: I wanted this book to rest around the 75,000 word mark. And if I only JUST hit the point that vaguely resembles the midpoint? . . .I don’t even want to think about how many words I have left to write before this thing is done.

But instead of panicking, I have decided to just take everything one day at a time. If I can write ~2,000 words every single day, I’m confident that I will be able to finish this draft eventually.

I mean, I actually have an ending in mind this time around, so I’m one step ahead of 2017-everlost-writing-Kenzie, right?

{ secret project }

As I mentioned before, I’m working on a secret project, as well! And it’s a smol secret project, so it’s not really taking away from drafting Project Sunset.

No, really. I swear this one is small this time, guys. XD

Unfortunately, I don’t want to jinx this project, so I’m going to keep it bottled up for the time being, but rest assured that if anything comes of it–or if anything doesn’t come of it–you shall know!

i really really really really REALLY hope something comes of it….

{ reading }

Next up on our list is reading. And this is something that I have unfortunately been failing at. BUT! I have a list of books I’m trying to read, and that’s kind of the same thing as actually reading, right? Of course it is. But the only one I can really talk about is Persuasion by Jane Austen, because the other two are ARCS. And I can’t really talk about Persuasion because I haven’t exactly been reading Persuasion.

Do you see my problem here?

Oh! I read Tweet Cute back in April and absolutely ADORED it! Does that count? Please let this count, I need this.

Next time I have an update post, I’ll have read more books. Definitely. *sweats nervously*

{ life & other disasters }

Being locked up like Rapunzel for the past two months has been strangely good for my productivity. I know that this isn’t the case for everyone–more often than not it’s the opposite of what’s been happening–but lately I’ve been able to do things that I otherwise don’t feel I have the time for, such as:

• writing my very own song on my ukulele
• writing letters to my friends and coworkers (I’m horrible at getting them sent out on time, but it is fun, nonetheless.)
• painting (if you’re following me on my personal instagram, you might have seen my latest post, which has a couple of the things I’ve made during quarantine. i’ve finally rekindled my love of watercolors, and my hope going forward is to continue playing with it even after quarantine ends.)
• reading y’all’s awesome blog posts (special shout out to Jenelle Schmidt and Christine Smith! I binged some of their blog posts on my hiatus and GUYS. their blogs are perfection, I swear.)
• gardening
• talking to trees (you think this is sarcasm. it is not sarcasm.)
• rediscovering my love of the outdoors
• having an existential crisis when it comes to my career as an author

You’d think I’d have more time to read during this pandemic, as well, but like . . . ? I haven’t been doing this. WHY HAVE I NOT BEEN DOING THIS. I’ve written over 70,000 words towards my novel, though, so I mean??? Progress? Give and take? I’m exchanging one form of storytelling for another, apparently. XD

Oh oh oh!!! I also started a writerly instagram!!! (@thesmudgedthoughts, for anyone interested!) I’m planning on posting every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday about my latest WIP’s and little behind-the-scenes things about my writing process, so COME CHECK ME OUT, PEASANTS!!!! (please, i need this. XD)

>>><<<

Alas! I do believe that is all I have to discuss for today! It feels so incredibly good to be back on the blogosphere, you guys. Words can’t possibly describe it. My hiatus was lovely and good and refreshing, but I think I’m ready to get pulled into the world of awesome epicness that we’ve built here in this corner of cyberspace. <333

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TALK TO ME, PEASANTS

• how have you all been doing since my abandonment of the blogosphere? Any awesome things happen while I was away?
• do you like to make plans & goals for your writing projects, or do you prefer to fly free and make it up as you go along? (and for those of you who DO make plans, do you find that your plans often work out the way you had expected, or do they–like mine–tend to get steamrollered by the rolling pin of life?)
• what kinds of things have YOU been doing during quarantine?

and most importantly of all . . .

(I literally cannot have a comeback to the blogosphere without this GIF being inside of it. someone please help me.)

As always, let’s talk about ALL OF THE THINGS! down in the comments below! And until next time. . .

Featured Photo by Neven Krcmarek on Unsplash