Quarterly wrap: July – September 2025
And just like that, we’re three quarters of the way through 2025! Between writing, beta reading, work drama, and running training, the last few months feel like they’ve gone on forever. All the details are here in my third quarterly wrap of the year!! →
What’s new in my life
And just like that, we’re three quarters of the way through the year! Can you believe it? It’s time for my third quarterly update of 2025, and I must admit, the last few months have felt like they’ve gone on forever. Some of my life “highlights” from July, August and September:
Dealing with work challenges. There has been both good and bad stuff going on at my day job. I took on a two-month higher duties secondment, which was an overall great experience, but they also announced a massive restructure that means I’m going to have to reapply for my role again. So yay 🙃
Getting more obsessed with running. I have well and truly caught the running bug! In July, I ran my first half-marathon in 10 years, and I have another one lined up next month. For something a bit different, I also did my first trail running event with some friends at work, which was heaps of fun.
Juggling multiple priorities. It’s not that exciting to say so, but I’ve really felt the juggle struggle these last few months. Between the aforementioned work drama, running training, dog raising, writing, beta reading, and a few winter blues, it’s been…a lot. At least life hasn’t been boring?
Author update
There’s not a whole lot to report on the authoring front this quarter. Except for this update, I didn’t publish any new blog posts, though I have kept my newsletter subscribers in the loop with all my behind-the-scenes developments. There will be plenty more of those—and some exciting announcements—over the coming months, so make sure you sign up if you want to be the first to hear! 😀
Writing progress
Blood of Old (Graceborn #1)
Status: Pre-publication
Word count: 190,000 (approx)
What’s new: Blood of Old, book 1 in the Graceborn series, is inching closer to publication! Proofreading has now been completed (big thanks to my cousin) and I’ve been working on formatting the paperback. It’s probably around 90% done now. The next thing on my list is to properly plan out my publishing roadmap and figure out what I’m going to do about the cover. 😱 I expect this baby to come out in late 2026.
Graceborn #3
Status: Writing 1st draft
Word count: 136,814 (62%)
What’s new: It’s been tough going with book 3 in the Graceborn series given my attention has been split in so many directions. But I’ve kept chipping away at it and managed to finish a further 6x chapters, or around 24.5k words. With my non-sequential method of drafting, the climatic sequence is now complete, and I’ve started work on a new POV sequence. I’m behind where I wanted to be, but I’m getting there. Slowly. 😅
Books I’ve read
Reading is another area where I’ve been falling behind recently 😭. I read only one published book this quarter, but I did take on two separate beta reading projects for some author friends. So that took up quite a bit of time, but it was a very rewarding experience. Here is some of what I read…
What have you been up to over the last three months? Is life just plodding along or has there been some drama? How are things on the writing and reading front?
3 Comments
alexwriter25
GO REBECCA! 😀 Exciting progress with Blood of Old!! I’m so excited for you!! 🙂
I’m sorry to hear about how rough and busy things have been and how tough Book 3 has been. 6 chapters is good. All progress counts. You got this. I support you :).
Life is hectic and it’s understandable that you weren’t able to read as much as you wanted. And beta reading is a great way to help people. I am intrigued by the books you read :).
Life has been up and down for me the last few months. As you know, I got my first rejection…that was rough. But the other two rejections after that didn’t bother me much :). I think I’m getting more resilient. I’m working on an origin story for one of my superhero characters (Steph). It’s meant to be a short story, but I’m having a feeling that it may end up being part of the basis for the main story or end up causing the main story to be split into different stories! Eep! Lol. But we’ll see how things go! I’m also walking a lot and helping out with brake light repairs. Busy with book clubs and conventions (I met the voice actors for Ekko, Powder, and Isha). Drawing too. But the fun stuff has helped me keep my head up. That’s been key because I’ve felt demoralized by current events… But I’m hanging in there…
Rebecca, I know things have been really tough the last few months, but you have my full support, my friend. I’m here for you. I care for you. I am rooting for you. I believe in you 🙂 Take care :).
Rebecca Alasdair
Hey Alex, thanks for your kind words!
I’m glad to hear you’re feeling more resilient after the rejections. They suck, for sure, but are also a part of this writing thing, right? So looking for opportunities and lessons learned is a great way to deal with it and keep moving forwards.
That’s so cool you got to meet the voice actors!! I feel an Arcane rewatch coming on now. 😅
All the best with your writing and the origin story, whether it ends up being part of the main story or not. I’m sure it will be great!
alexwriter25
Hey Rebecca!
Sorry for the late reply. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t get a notification about your reply. But, I really appreciate your message :).
You’re right. Rejections are definitely part of writing. I agree that looking for lessons learned and opportunities are a nice way to deal with it. I think I’m learning and growing :).
It was so fun meeting the voice actors. They were really nice 🙂 I felt comfortable talking with them. Let me know if you rewatch Arcane :).
Thank you SO MUCH 🙂 I really appreciate your encouragement 🙂 Best wishes with your writing and formatting too! YOU GOT THIS 🙂 You’ll do wonderful! GO REBECCA! :D!