That’s a wrap! October 2020
October 2020 has been a long, hard slog, but things are starting to look up! This month I began a new role at work, announced my brand new writing project, and read 7 amazing books. Come check out the details and share your own updates with me!! →
October 2020 has been a bit of a long, hard slog to me. With the end of this eventful year just around the corner, I’ve felt a little worn down, despite a couple of positive and exciting developments. The key highlights from my life throughout the past month are as follows:
Life in lockdown. October pretty much marked the eighth consecutive month of some kind of lockdown in my home city of Melbourne. But with daily new case numbers now so low, restrictions have eased over the last several weeks—not as fast as some might have liked, but we’re certainly on the right track. Keep it up, fellow Melbournians!
New role at work. I rotated into a new role at work earlier this month, and I’m really enjoying it so far! I’ll be in this role until the end of May 2021, which is a great opportunity to get some experience in another part of the organisation. One thing I’ve learned in my eight months of full-time work is that trying out different things is the best way to stay engaged!
Managing fatigue. I’ve been pretty tired these last few weeks. Like…struggling-to-get-out-of-bed and struggling-to-write kind of tired. No doubt it’s been a combination of the new job, the start of daylight savings, and the cumulative impacts of so long stuck in lockdown. To be kind to myself, and recharge for NaNoWriMo, I took the last two weeks of October off writing!
I published 2 full blog posts this month, and am therefore still on track to meet my blogging goal for 2020. You can catch up on these new posts out below!
In other good news, with the help of the WordPress.com team I was able to sort out a few notification and synchronisation issues remaining from my site migration. Woohoo! I haven’t otherwise spent a great deal of time online this month, but I have come across some great content by my fellow bloggers. Check these posts out:
- The final countdown by Tomas K. “Grizzly” [CONGRATS ON YOUR BOOK RELEASE, TOMAS!]
- Surviving writer’s guilt by Lorraine Ambers
- The organised writer toolkit by K.M. Allan
- NaNoWriMo 2020: The ultimate survival guide by Madeline @ The Story Soul
- Maps in fantasy fiction: Tips and tricks by Energyflux2012 @ Ethereal Seals
October was a slow writing month as a result of the aforementioned fatigue. I didn’t have a lot planned in the first place, and I’m reminding myself there’s no reason to feel bad. The current status of my three key writing projects that span four separate novels is as follows:
Holding Up the Sky
“The weight of the sky—of the whole world—was pushing down, and it was crushing me.”
Status: Querying
Word count: 84,878
What’s new: The main development for my YA novel Holding Up the Sky this October has been drawing up a ROUGH timeline / plan for the next 12 months. In summary, I intend to spend the first half of 2021 submitting direct to Australian publishers (because we can do that). I will then forge ahead with the self-publishing route and look into professional editing etc in the second half of next year!
Blood of Old (Graceborn #1)
“The Old has returned…and what once was, will be again.”
Status: Beta reading
Word count: 195,170
What’s new: This month I touched base with my remaining beta readers of Blood of Old, the first book in my fantasy series Graceborn, and shored up my plans for the beta process. It will conclude in early December, after which I will compile all the wonderful feedback I’ve received and start making some changes. I’m super excited about this! Already I have brave new ideas bouncing around in my head and I can’t wait to explore them!
First the Song (Graceborn #2)
The story continues…
Status: Writing 1st draft
Word count: 143,287 (68.2%)
What’s new: While I’d planned to draft three chapters of First the Song, the second book in the Graceborn series, this October, I only managed to draft two. My brain power was near non-existent, and I decided to take a longer break to refresh myself before NaNo. The other challenge I’ve been dealing with is that this book will probably change quite drastically as a result of the changes I’m planning for Blood of Old. So do I still forge on with this draft?
The Layers Beneath Us
Two boys. Eight days. A disaster in the making.
Status: Ready to draft!
Word count: 0
What’s new: This October, I officially announced the top secret project I’ve been working on this year. The Layers Beneath Us is a standalone YA contemporary novel, which I will be starting to draft in November for NaNoWriMo. I’m not entirely sure how many words this first draft will be, but if I can’t finish it during NaNo then I intend to keep going in December until it’s done. It’s been a while since I started something new, so I’m super keen to jump in!!
I finished reading a total of 7 books this October, and am now well in excess of my 2020 Goodreads challenge goal of 40 books! For something different, I tried out a fascinating non-fiction called Sand Talk, written by Aboriginal man Tyson Yunkaporta and which I received for my birthday. Highly recommended! The other titles I read this month are:
NOT RATED
NOT RATED
NOT RATED
What have you been up to this October? How are you feeling as we near the end of 2020? Read any good books or made some progress with your writing?
Rebecca Alasdair
I'm an Australian indie author who hoards books, loves dogs and coffee, and has a tendency of staying up all night!
11 Comments
K.M. Allan
I hope the fatigue lets up Rebecca. You’ve been doing great just doing what you can, and now we’re out of lockdown, which is definitely a shift in the collective mental load. Good luck with the rest of 2020 and NaNo. Thanks also for including my blog post 😊.
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you!! I’m already feeling much better now that I’ve had a two week break from writing and I’m set to go for NaNo. And I’m definitely looking forward to getting back out into the world!! 😁
Tomas
Thanks for the shout out, and good luck with your new project. I hope it brings you a lot of fun and some fresh writing energy!
Rebecca Alasdair
No worries at all Tomas! It’s been a while since I started something brand new but I’m very excited about it!! 😊
Andrew McDowell
I haven’t gotten as much writing done as I’d like, but today one of two anthologies featuring my work is now available (actually the second of an anthology trilogy); the other anthology will premier next week. On my blog this month I shared my appearance on the Merry Writer Podcast.
Rebecca Alasdair
That’s great news Andrew! How exciting!! All the best with the releases 😊
Andrew McDowell
Thank you, Rebecca!
Energyflux2012
Sorry to hear you haven’t been feeling well, Rebecca. It’s been a tough several months for all of us. Aspectä rey’lief, may the Aspects walk with you.
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you for your kind words! It’s nothing that a break and some time to de-stress hasn’t taken care of. Feeling better already 😊
Lorraine Ambers
Thanks for mentioning my blog. Best of luck with your NaNo project, I hope your creativity and vitality comes back this month. Xx
Rebecca Alasdair
You are most welcome!! And thank you! 😊