#bookupdate

Considering the last update was me announcing I finished writing Chapter Eight, I felt it was finally time to write another, considering...

I FINISHED CHAPTER TWELVE? OOPS?

Haha, sorry for the (VERY) late update! As I'm sure most of you are well aware, I'm in my last year of University, so I've been very busy juggling the existential dread that comes with that fact. I also have about 40 days left of school which is horrifying, since I was one of those kids who actually liked learning (still am). Grappling with the horrible job market, the idea that I might never return to education, and the numerous job and internship applications I've submitted as well as everything else in my life has been exhausting, but I'm getting through it.

Writing has always been a way to relieve stress for me, and that hasn't changed; it's only evolved. Writing something with the intention to publish it is so very different than casual writing, it almost hurts. But I love it, and have been keeping up semi-consistently since my last update.

When I'm not worried about ALL OF THAT STUFF, I'm thinking about Project Hail Mary. That movie has fundamentally changed me as a person. I will never, ever be the same. I know a LOT of people feel the same.

Sorry for the late update! Kind of was a bit out of it, but anyways, here we go!

Unfortunately, we didn't quite meet our goal of 9K words, and I apologize for that. I even pulled an all-nighter, but it seems it just wasn't enough (that's what she said 😔 ). The most I managed was 8.2K words, which is pretty good, but not quite as great as I'd hoped. However, I promise you all that I'll double down and give it my all next week! :D

On top of that, my university is starting again, but no worries, folks! I have a schedule in place that will ensure I write twice as much as I do now!

So, here's the official word count update: 4K words were written in the short story, and 4K words in the main book, bringing the main book's total to 125,214 words and the short book to 14,023 words.

In other news, I've also commissioned character art for a cute 19-year-old character who you'll be training with in my upcoming femboy dating simulator book (available on Patreon). I'll be sharing all the character art once we hit 20K words or once the demo for the second book is created, haha!

I am officially FINISHED editing Chapter Eight!

(yes you can clap)

Thank you to everyone who has interacted with these posts, it truly means the world to me. I'm in contact with a good friend who plans to start beta reading these chapters for me. For now, I'm focusing on remembering why I'm doing all of this in the first place:

I love my book.

It's hard to remember when things get difficult. Then I read back over everything and get reinvigorated. THAT'S why I struggle. I love writing. I love my characters. I love my story. This jog to the finish line reminds me every day that I am a writer because I love to write, not because I pump out "perfect" writing all the time (not that I do, of course).

I finally... did it.... Chapter Seven is DONEEEEE!!!!

*cue the celebration*

Anyway... this chapter was actually not that hulking as I thought it would be. I was being overdramatic. But damn was it hard. I blame all the class work I got the last two weeks. Plus... you know... helping launch an entire Student Fellowship program at my college... which is the first one to exist here...

I've been trying to brainstorm some fun post ideas to keep active here involving writing/the SR universe. Clearly I've made a character post-- here, if you haven't had the chance to check it out-- with more to come, but besides that I don't know what else to do! Let me know if you have any fun recommendations or ideas!

Trying to make a habit to write updates for my book, even if I'm shouting into the Tumblr void, so here it is:

Just HYPOTHETICALLY completed Chapter Five. Feeling tired but good. I haven't written every day like I planned but when I do write I'm in a good mood so I often write way more than what I would from forcing myself when I don't feel like it. My goal of finishing a chapter a week is actually going pretty good, despite everything.

Anyways, I wanted to throw stuff out there as spoilers so it actually looks like I'm writing instead of just WRITING about writing. Here are the first sentences of each chapter so far:

C1: The night Sole's world expanded started with the pointy end of a knife against her back.

C2: Felix's life finally began twenty-one years after he was born, at the precise moment his bare feet pressed into living grass and his lungs filled with unfiltered air for the first time.

C3: A moment ago, Sole had stood next to her brother in front of a Guard, scared that her life as she knew it was about to end.

C4: A long time ago, Felix had been introduced to color— though only in the most limited sense of the word.

C5: As soon as Sole understood what had happened, she started to laugh.