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Long time no talk (and no update 😭).
Recently, I have been wanting to get back into writing and really feel determined to finish my project, Vows of the Sentinel. I originally began writing Vows on my phone notepad at a really boring FT job that I used to have, and slowly this story began growing in my head and I couldn’t stop typing. It was a lot easier at the beginning when I had a path that made sense and certain plot points I knew I wanted to hit. I wanted to be able to share my work for feedback, but I didn’t feel comfortable sharing my writing with my family or friends because it’s a personal work for me and I get embarrassed by sharing my writing with people I know (one time I showed my dad a short story I wrote and I wanted to die of embarrassment after).
The curiosity got the best of me, and I thought I’d post a few chapters to an online space to see what type of feedback I’d get. Honestly, the first few chapters were posted with the intention of getting feedback from creators on the forum (you can still see it in the comments to this day lol), but my work ended up gaining actual readers.
I made the mistake of dumping pretty much all my work in one day, when I really should have spaced it out so I could continue writing and updating consistently without feeling pressure. I want to say about 3/4ths of the way into this work, I started to post to meet deadlines to try to be consistent… and I was rushing myself. I was creating chapters that were up quickly but not quite what I want from this story. I feel like I began to rush and was deviating away from what I really intended to do with this work.
With all that said… I really want to revise my novel and start fresh. I have a lot of general editing to do with the first portions of my novel, but much of it remains how I want it to be. But for the more recent chapters… I’m ready to take them back a bit to the fork in the road where I wished to take another path. (Cont. in reply)
I want to say that I’m back from the dead, but I’m not QUITE revived yet. Basically with covid, working full time while having to transition online, and just my overall mental health... I was overwhelmed in a way my creative side just tucked away. Being online all day made it difficult for me to want to stare at a screen and type more or stare at a screen and draw.
I’ve been trying to adjust, working on myself, making mistakes, trying again, and trying not to beat myself up on the way. I have, but I’m finding ways to cope better to resurrect the creative side of me that I love. I had been in such a motivated and great place before all this happened, but I suppose that’s life!
I wanted to pop in and make it known I’m still here. I began adding Vows of the Sentinel (novel) on Tapas TWO YEARS ago this upcoming Halloween. I am so glad that I made the decision to share my work, despite how terrified I was to do it. The feedback and support have been nothing but amazing. What a great group of creators and readers we have.
If I could go back in time, I’d have already completed my works before I began sharing, so I wouldn’t leave for periods at a time with cliffhangers. But since I haven’t yet developed that kind of time machine, I’m just gonna have to keep moving forward. I’m going to ease back into my work and knock out a bit of it so I can provide with consistent updates and not stress myself out about it.
I hope you’re all well, and if you’re not, I hope your hanging in there. You’re not alone. It’s a tough time, but we’re in this together. Let’s make tomorrow the best day yet.
I'm also still working on my panels for the Second Chance at Fate comic. I'll probably be focusing on this more throughout the week in hopes to get a chapter out soon.
I hope you all have a great week!
The most recent Vows novel chapter is out and I will have one ready for next Tuesday!
I'm actually winding down on the first (long part) of the Vows of the Sentinel novel and will probably take a short break to edit some chapters out so that I have a bit of a barrier and can remain more consistent.
I'd played with the idea of creating a new Tapas novel for the second half, but I may just keep posting with the current story so people will be notified of those updates. I'll make it clear where part one is ending and part two is beginning.
In part two, I'm going to be exploring some of the other characters' POVs along with our three boys, and I really look forward to that!
:D
That said, I have been working on updating my chapters in Vows (novel) the past week. I've been going through and updating chapters of the grammar errors, along with some sentences and quotations I've always wanted to change/update. I know my punctuation isn't completely proper, but sometimes a comma just doesn't hit as hard as a period and I think the point is made :'D. (Also, I read Normal People and she completely changed my idea on how badly I felt by my bad punctuation heh... heh...)
There's kind of a lot I want to update with my past 10 chapters or so. For whatever reason I'm not 100% happy with them. I won't be editing the story much, so the plot won't be missed, but I want to make them flow better and not feel so choppy. Once that is done, I intend to start back up with my new chapters again.
Writing comes as something much more relaxing for me and I've been inspired from reading a lot during quarantine to pick back up on my own story.
I always have been and will likely continue to be an unpredictable updater. If I am capable of making a good dent in my writing, I might set up for weekly updates. I'll keep you all informed if that happens!
I hope you're all keeping happy and healthy and finding things to pass the time during this bizarre year.
Stay well,
-Maps
(Hello dear friens. This Awesome Work. rate My Hot stories here [ a link to some sketchy site, I'm sure, here ] (Look in browser) 18plus).
While I agree with that second sentence ( snort :p ), I've deleted them.
You're all clever people and I'm sure this goes without saying, but in case more show up, do not click on those links.
I hope you're all keeping happy and healthy!
Until the near future...
-Maps
But I will try my best to get something out soon.
Hope you're all well.
-Maps
Hope you all have a great holiday season/break!