Hello, my friends! I have returned from a most refreshing August hiatus and thought I’d pop in for a quicky post with some updates and announcements.

I seriously cannot believe we are nearing the halfway point of September and fall is just around the corner, but I am not complaining one little bit. Though life itself had a lot of goodness during the summer, the weather was brutal and my body does not do well in extreme heat and humidity. But temperatures are finally slowly inching downward and I’m feeling myself come alive again, and with that coupled with a restful August, I am feeling ready to tackle some exciting fall projects.

A Little Writing Update

As I mentioned in my last post, I had hoped to use August to take an intentional break from things to really dig into some good creativity and settle on some projects to focus on during the fall. Though I didn’t do quite as much story work as I hoped, I did see some good progress on things. Words are being written, plans of things are underway, and the beginnings of a new story idea maaay have sparked…

Do I have three different big projects I want to work on? Maaaybe. *whistles innocently* I’ll probably keep my focus on just one or two for the next few months, but I am so pleased to really feel my excitement for stories blossoming again after a bit of a dry spell over the summer.

I’m keeping my projects pretty hush-hush right now. But let’s just say I am VERY excited and hope to see a lot of progress these next couple of months. (I know, I’m so cruel not sharing anything. Sorryyy.)

But while we’re on the topic of writing things…

FicFrenzy’s 2023 Fall Event is Coming!

We’ve nearly made full circle, my writing friends!

On October 15th, 2022, I launched the month-long, virtual writing event, the Fiction Frenzy Writing Challenge. It was such a grand time, I decided to host a spring and summer session as well. And now we are nearing the main fall event once more!

Fall 2023’s FicFrenzy event takes place:
​October 15 – November 15

And I’d love to see you there.

Each participant sets their own goal and all are welcome! This writing challenge is all about inspiring writers to carve time in their busy lives to invest in their creative pursuits all while offering a community for encouragement and accountability.

The shining star of FicFrenzy is its Discord community. There participants gather to share about our WIPs, cheer each other on, join in word sprints, encourage one another during all the ups and downs of the writing process, and just chatter about anything and everything (there is an entire channel dedicated to sharing cute pet photos because sometimes you just need a picture of an adorable floof to keep you going amid the drudgery of writing).

You’re also more than welcome to combine it with any other writing challenges you’re participating in this season. The true point is to motivate you to write and provide a place to connect with other writers.

If you’re interested, tap the button below for instructions on how to join!

I seriously cannot believe it’s almost been a year since I launched this event. It has been such a blessing to me. The community is the most delightful, welcoming, encouraging, fun crew. I could not do this without each of you, and I’m so excited to gather together again for another event!

Alsoooo, keep your eyes peeled, because the annual Know the Novel blog linkup is coming at the beginning of October!

The Silmaril Awards

One more exciting thing going on right now is the Silmaril Awards! This epic annual blogging event is rolling around the blogosphere as we speak for the eighth year in a row!

If you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about…

The SilmAwards is an annual blogging event that celebrates literary fantasy characters where you get to nominate and vote for your favorite characters across all sorts of different categories. It’s basically the Oscars of literary fantasy. Yes, it’s that awesome.

For the past four years I joined in as one of the hosts, and though I chose to bow out this year due to other things taking up my time, I’m still so excited about the event and cannot wait to see what sort of fantastical shenanigans are gotten up to. There are 11 amazing hosts taking it on this year and two brand new categories!

Though nominations are closed, the voting round started TODAY and runs all week. So if you want to get your vote in and give your beloved fantasy characters a chance to shine, you can find the links to all the hosts’ posts to see who made it to the voting round over on Jenelle Schmidt’s post or go straight to the voting form on the official Silmaril Awards website!

And I think that’s it as far as updates to share!

BUT. If you want to keep up with my goings-on, I regularly post on Instagram (where much life musings, bookish fangirling, & writerly chatter takes place) and I offer a full update of life, writing, and everything in between in my monthly Newsletter.

(Because, look, I’m way more consistent with IG and my newsletter than my blog these days, let’s be real.)

This fall is looking to be pretty full, but I am genuinely excited about all that is coming!

I do believe that is plenty about me. How are you, my friends?? How was your summer? Any exciting things going on for the fall? What all have you been up to? I’ve missed you all, so do please come tell me all the things!