(Super Exciting!!) Writing Update: September 2025

September is always hot in Chicago, so even though it marks the end of the summer, we have to keep a few summer dresses, shorts, and tank tops out at least until mid-October. However, I took a risk today and swapped out all of my summer clothes for the fall and winter clothes that I JUST put away at the end of June. I've always loved fall, and have never wished the summer away, but this year I'm quite ready for a temperature drop.

This act of switching clothes has me thinking a lot about fashion and what I wear on a regular day, what I wear on a day when I'm going out, when I'm with my friends, when Z & I have a date night. How the styles I choose represent different sides of me, different things I'm willing to and comfortable with sharing around various people, and sometimes how they act as armor. This summer, I read One Golden Summer by Carley Fortune and the main character, Alice, talks about how she has a uniform for her photography events: all black, severe ponytail, thick plastic framed glasses. She calls it her armor. I think that's an appropriate metaphor for the clothes we wear.

It's also something we should think about when writing stories. How do the clothing and fashion choices our characters make impact the way they act, the way they feel? If a character is struggling in life, do they cover it up with neatly pressed trousers, or do they bare it all with sweats and a t-shirt? If a character is in love with the person who makes them feel most themselves, do they begin to wear bright colors?

Since I've only been writing first drafts, I haven't put too much thought to the clothes the characters are wearing in my stories. However, in Project: Glitter City, Florie, the Madame of the Maison, wears a lot of dark red, and always wears dresses that are more conservative than other women in the city, giving her an aura of power and authority. Nurin, the magician who owns the oddities shop, always wears black and white stripes; I wanted him to seem like a walking illusion.

As a character changes, perhaps their clothing can change, too. As Florie shifts from her current life to her new life in the next book, perhaps she'll ditch her red clothes for something more fierce, more angry. Maybe she'll become a big fan of black.

One thing I've learned from writing first drafts is that all of this stuff - the symbols you choose to represent various things in the story - don't need to be figured out in Draft 1. If you have an idea of what they'll be, awesome! But if not, you have plenty of drafts ahead of you, and plenty of time to think through how to represent your character(s) through symbols like clothing.

And now, since I've gone on quite a tangent, I share with you the most EXCITING writing update I have...

Update #1: A COMPLETE FIRST DRAFT

I FINISHED WRITING THE FIRST DRAFT OF PROJECT: GLITTER CITY!!!!!

That's right!! I wrote an entire book. I cried a little bit, but not too much when I finished. However, when I went to pick it up from FedEx, I cried a LOT. Though I don't plan on doing anything else with this story for a long time, I wanted to get it written. This book probably carries the most of me in it, and I plan to work on it slowly over a long time so that I get it right.

I also have a working title for the story now. The Queen's Secrets (working title) has 113K words and printed out is around 450 pages. I wrote "The End" on September 3.

For now, my book baby is in a binder, resting and enjoying being alive and in the world. I have been celebrating for a solid week, and now I am moving on to other projects.

Update #2: Quill & Cup 180 Program

In March I signed up (somewhat last minute) for the Quill & Cup 180 Program, which promised that participants would essentially spend 180 days (6 months) writing, and come out on the other end with a finished novel. The program ended on September 6th, and I am proud to say that I finished writing my first draft within the program's timeline (see above).

There are so many things I learned while writing this first draft. I'll share them on another post later this month. But I think that being part of 180 was key to helping me get this finished. Besides the lessons, which asked me exactly the right questions and provided exactly the right information when I needed it to move the story forward, having access to the Quill & Cup community where I could join zoom calls and write with others at almost any time of day made a huge difference in keeping me on track. I knew I'd see Lili and Daphne (who also did the program) at 10am almost every day, and I had to make sure I wasn't getting distracted so they'd 1) not give me a hard time and 2) I wanted to be a good role model.

This is the beauty of participating in a "group write" of a novel. There are others interested, invested in your story. They want to see it done, and they want you to succeed. We all cheered for each other and offered encouragement along the way to get to the finish line. It would have been much harder to write this story on my own.

I'm considering doing 180 again! However, there is so much going on...

Update #2: The Wild Draft

We're now halfway through The Wild Draft program, and since I've finished D1 of The Queen's Secrets, I am turning my focus to Project: Cave House. At this point, I've realized that this book is probably not a romance, but it might be, and it might also be UpLit? There's definitely a romance happening, and there's definitely (hopefully?) going to be an uplifting ending.

Anyway. What I'm most enjoying about The Wild Draft is our bi-weekly zoom calls. If I have to show my face to my writing group, you better believe I'm going to have an update for them. I've always known that I do better with accountability, but having to show up in person just makes it that much more pressing for me.

Yesterday, I submitted my first 10K words to Kailey (have I mentioned before that The Wild Draft coach and I share the same name??) and am looking forward to her feedback on it.

Current status: 23,369 words, 81 pages; into Act II where Felicity and Danny are learning more about each other and the Cave House is preparing to share "secrets"

Update #3: The Novelry

Because I am (potentially) a psychopath, I have also signed up for The Novelry's Big Write and The 90 Day Novel Class. Whee!

I did this because I want to write as many first drafts as I can this year. I may have mentioned that before somewhere, and if I haven't, it's probably because I was worried that I'd write zero first drafts this year. Well, now that I've written one I feel like I can do anything. Also, I really liked a few features of The Novelry's program:

• You get to meet with a writing coach who has written and published multiple books, including best sellers and prize-winning books

• There is a huge community of other writers, which I've learned is invaluable while writing a first draft, so that you know you're not alone!

• Some of those already-published, prize winning, bestselling authors are also writing new first drafts at the same time, which feels like a good way to experience residual first draft magic (lol)

Yesterday, I submitted my "Plan" to my writing coach - actually, I submitted two plans and I'm hoping for some advice on which one to focus on - and, get this, I meet with her on Monday already!!

Current status: Two first chapters written, characters created, I've learned the "Five F's" of story, and am deciding between Project: Mayor and Project: Claude. My goal is to have either of these D1s DONE by December 24.

Update #4: Submissions & Short Stories

#ShortStorySummer is still going strong. We're in our last sprint of the challenge. We sort of lost interest, and I think it was a combination of the season (it's hard to write normally, even harder when kids are home and schedules are out the window) and that we may have given too many options. AJ (my amazing cohost!) and I have started talking about doing a different challenge with individual prompts so participants can get more stories written without the pressure of deadlines, and then they'll have something of a portfolio to use for future submissions and contests. We've also discussed sharing work within the challenge group, because let's be real: all writers love to share their work!!

Since my last update, I've made it a point to track submission dates and to make sure I am not missing deadlines. I'm also using lessons I've learned in the novel writing programs above (The "Five F's", for example) to improve my stories. This summer, I've written 4 new short stories, submitted them and a couple of older ones to nine different magazines and contests. For one, I even paid the extra $3 fee to get feedback, if my story is not selected. Regardless of the outcomes of these, I am very proud of myself for 1) writing. period. 2) going back and applying what I've learned to old short stories to make them better, 3) submitting my work!! Who knows?? and 3.5) not self-rejecting.

Inshallah I will share an update if anything gets accepted or rejected.

Current Writing Routine

My mother in law arrived in August! When she lives with us, she stays in the room that I typically use for my office. Because of that, I forced convinced Z to let me set up a desk in the living room. To be honest... it's a perfect setup for early morning writing, but when the baby is awake during the day, it simply doesn't work. She sees me, and she wants mama. I love that, I am so grateful for that, and also it makes writing very difficult.

A few days each week I wake up early and write from 6am-7am. Monday-Friday I write from around 8:30am until lunch time, and then from lunch on I do anything else that I need to do. Usually cooking, household chores, etc. When the baby takes her afternoon nap, I work on social media and this blog :D

I'm incredibly grateful for this routine at the moment, and I am grateful to have a routine again after a chaotic August.

My goals for September:

Add 30,000 words to Project: Cave House (~12 chapters)

Decide which novel to work on with The Novelry

SUBMIT SHORT STORIES!