#mapweaver chronicles

I hope, even in all this craziness, that you have a great day and meal with family and/or friends.

What I’m thankful for:

my family and friends

my job

this Tumblr

being able to write most nights

reading (right now I’m reading Windswept and I’m in loveeeee)

having a critique partner who will help make my story even better when I’m ready to hand it off to her

having a story to tell (!)

being relatively happy and healthy

thankful for everything in my life right now

What are you all thankful for? I’d love to hear your comments down below!

And more to come...

I’ve rewritten the first chapter about a million times and still have more rewrites of it ahead of me. Now that I understand self-editing more, I’m going through each of my chapters before sending it off to my critique partner. Making sure I show don’t tell; cutting long monologues; making sure dialogue is streamlined and easy to read; cutting out extra unnecessary words, paragraphs and sentences; and just making sure the whole piece flows better.

It’s hard work. I was up for 6 hours at least from late afternoon to about 1:30am with a short movie break in between editing the hell out of one chapter. I completely cut a lot, me being such a wordy writer, and I still had to break the chapter into two chapters, it being extremely long and unwieldy. 

But my critique partner, although giving valid criticisms, keeps on reminding me this is my first book. There are bound to be first-timer mistakes, and, boy, are there a lot already. I thought I understood the notion of “show vs. tell” better until she went through my manuscript so far and told me point blank what it meant. Now I understand and I feel downright silly. 

Taking a long break this weekend and then starting up self-editing again on Monday. Hopefully I’ll figure out some problems with the manuscript before she takes a look at it. Trying to shorten it now because my third draft was 134K and that’s a lot of unnecessary words. 

On top of that, I’m also obsessing over Harry Styles more. As any of my followers know. It gives my brain a rest, and been watching lots of his live performances on Youtube now, which I’m in love with. That BBC performance of “Carolina” is on point!

So, this weekend, I’m taking a break and obsessing over Harry Styles instead of my work. Gonna read more and started Bridgerton and The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix, so gonna watch those as well. But, then, Monday or Tuesday, it’s back to work again!

I know some writers look down on the Fantasy genre. It’s big, unwieldy, and has a lot of exposition. But, personally, I’ve always loved the genre and what it has to offer. From Tolkien to Rowling to Lewis, it’s escapist fun, with some serious themes written throughout. 

Fantasy is a genre that you can do anything you choose with it. It is about magic, but also about the human spirit. Usually, there is a great evil who needs to be vanquished. And I personally love these tropes.

There are tropes I’m avoiding too, of course, that I feel are overdone: the Chosen One, a prophecy, etc. But, still, the stakes are high in fantasy and that’s how I like my stories.

I’m picky about what fantasy I like to read, but I think that’s a good thing. I don’t like the Tolkien copycats and avoid those. Recently, I read the Riyria Revelations and loved that story. Now, I’m going through the Mapweaver Chronicles, and I’m adoring those books. 

Writing fantasy is freedom for me. It’s fun, it’s a relief for me, and it lets my imagination run wild. I love putting characters in a fantastical setting and see what happens. 

This is a tough question. I usually use music as my inspiration more than books. 

But some books that definitely helped shape my current project are Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter (when I was younger), Chronicles of Narnia, and most recently, the Mapweaver Chronicles.

Hi Nikki!! I just wanted to give you a congratulations as you’re my very first ask on this Tumblr! So thank you! :D

Ok...now onto your questions.

My top 3 favorite movies as a kid?

- The Lion King

I absolutely adored this movie as a kid. The somber sadness of most of it; Timon and Pumbaa, of course. And Simba was such a great, flawed protagonist to look up to. This movie always made me cry without fail as a child. The Circle of Life, indeed.

- Lord of the Rings

These movies first came out when I was in fifth grade, so I’m counting that as childhood, of course. They simply blew me away, and began my love of fantasy I still have now. I had such a big crush on Elijah Wood as Frodo Baggins when I was little too. I mean, come on, just look at those baby blue eyes!

But, all in all, these films simply blew me away. Fellowship will always remain my favorite, but the whole trilogy is almost flawless.

- A Hard Day’s Night

My mom was a big Beatles fan, and passed on her love to me. I first saw this film in third or fourth grade, and fell in love with the Fab Four. They were funny, adventurous, had good humor, and were just a lot of fun. I’m so glad my mom shared this movie with me in my childhood, as it still stands as one of my favorties.

And a highlight of this past week? I’m going to sound really boring, but probably just revisions for that part I posted about earlier in the week. I didn’t know doing revisions for it would affect me so much, but yet here I am, still thinking about it days later. I also slept over at my dad’s house over the weekend, which was a change of pace. And, yes, Windswept just keeps on getting better and better! So, a few highlights.

So, I finally started Inkspice by Kaitlin Bellamy, the sequel to Windswept in the Mapweaver Chronicles, last night. So far, I’m only two chapters in, but the writing is beautiful and the characters are still lively and fun. I can tell this is going to also be a fun ride.

I’m also listening to Fine Line by Harry Styles any chance I get. I’m in love with this album and it’s just a really great piece of work. I’ve never been a One Direction fan at all, but Harry Styles on his own is pretty damn cool. I was listening to it last night while outlining Book Two, and I was just blown away by the music, so it was hard to concentrate on my work, but it was worth it. This and folklore by Taylor Swift are definitely my two favorite albums in recent times.

And I’m going to continue with revisions tonight, and hopefully finish the chapter I’m on, no matter how long it takes. I’m really excited about this particular chapter and really love this story I’m creating with all my heart, and pray that I get it published some day. 

I just finished Windswept tonight and I’m completely in love with this story! And I want everyone to read it. It’s such a fascinating, unique fantasy story, and the best part? It’s an indie book!

Windswept is the first book in the Mapweaver Chronicles. And although I had some problems with it, for the most part, it was amazing!

So, without further ado, here are my personal reasons why you should be reading this amazing book series! (And I only finished book one tonight. Books two through four I’ll be reading soon enough!)

Fox, the main character, is a really well-drawn character with flaws and all

The magic system is unique and fun to read about

The story took a decade to come to fruition so you know a lot of love was put into it

It’s a very warm, loving story with characters who just exude warmth, which is a welcome relief in the often cold fantasy genre

Even though it’s YA, it’s extremely mature and is a very wise read

Did I mention how much I love Fox before???

It takes it’s time getting to the climax, so be ready to be reading this book for awhile, which I think is a good thing! Nestling with a good book for a month or so really lets you stay with the characters and setting for a long time

It has a very unique take on the fantasy genre

I know there are loads more reasons, but this is all I have now. So, do yourself a favor, and pick up this book at your local library, or better yet, buy it! I promise, just like me, you won’t be disappointed.

Oh, yes, and here’s my Goodreads review of Windswept in case you want to read that, too:

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3587896848?book_show_action=false&from_review_page=1