goblin markets, outlines, and small business love

who cares about deadlines?

Obviously not me 😅 February was so busy with work and the beginning of this month has been just as swamped with not only work but my writing group and book club. ALL THE THINGS! But I've made it, this newsletter is hitting your inbox, and I have some things to share!

In This Issue

• some books for your TBR, both recs and March releases

• I share a quick overview of my outlining process

• a small business rec and animals!

Books

for your TBR

Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

Releases June 14, 2022

I absolutely picked this book up because it's about the Goblin Market and a take on the poem by Christina Rossetti (I have a slight obsession). This was a wickedly twisted YA fantasy/horror that doesn't pull punches on the grittier underworld of the Market, but isn't being gritty for shock value. There's a level of whimsy to the dark bargains that made it enthralling to read. Plus the protagonist is ace!! (BTW this is the UK cover and omg I love it 😍)

Jade Fire Gold by June C.L. Tan

Out Now!

This YA fantasy is perfect for fans of enemies-to-lovers romance, especially in the vein of Katara/Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Our book club read this for February and I really appreciated the fun worldbuilding and wanted to dive even deeper. It was also nice having a book that definitely has series potential (especially with that epilogue...) but still wraps up in a satisfying way and stands on its own. 

A Scoundrel of Her Own by Stacy Reid

Out Now!

I've had this book pre-ordered for a while now, after enjoying the first two books in the Sinful Wallflowers series (you can read each as standalones!). I loved this childhood friends to lovers romance with a hero who would move the stars for the heroine, and manages to be both alpha male (not in the super toxic way) and a smol cinnabon all at once. And the heroine is no wallflower. She's caring and vibrant and you can't help but love her. Definitely a book (and series) worth reading for historical romance lovers.

giving up on reading goals

Sticking to goals is hard, y'all. 

This year I didn't set myself a Goodreads reading challenge goal. Last year I removed it sometime over the summer because I knew I wouldn't hit it. Since the pandemic hit, I haven't kept any reading goals beyond reading off my backlist.

I'm someone who used to thrive on setting goals, crossing things off my list, and getting that sweet, sweet dopamine rush when I accomplished each item on my yearly list. In truth, I felt like a failure if I didn't hit the goals that no one set for me but myself. As though I should have found more time to read, more time to focus on achieving each goal and taken away time from something else. 

But I've just not had it in me for a while now and reading without the pressure of a goal, of a blog, of deadlines of any kind, has been so... freeing. Not quite what reading used to be for me as a kid, but as close as I'll probably get. 

All that to say, if you're struggling with your reading goals this year, if you're feeling stifled by your TBR or the "plan" you gave yourself, let it go. Give yourself a break. It doesn't make you any less of a reader. And if anyone's judging you for reading more/less than usual, or for what you're reading, ask them how their TBR is going 😉

anticipated march releases

• A Hunt of Shadows by Elise Kova

• The League of Gentlewomen Witches by India Holton

• The Bone Orchard by Sara A. Mueller

• Until the Last of Me by Sylvain Neuvel

• The Kaiju Preservation Society by John Scalzi

• The City of Dusk by Tara Sim

Writing

Project Thistle is in full swing as far as my outline is concerned. Two partial drafts and a lot of re-plotting later, things are finally coming together in a way that is making my brain very happy. If nothing else, this project has taught me that what I thought was my writing process does not work for this project. 

I've also come to terms with the fact that I now need compression gloves to play anything on my Nintendo Switch because otherwise I have hand pain that makes writing... uncomfortable, to say the least 😅

outlining

Since all I've done is outline for the last few months, I thought I'd share my general process for plotting out a book. It's nothing special and is likely shared by plenty of other writers, but it works!

Big Picture Plot Points. I start with a list of the big events that I either know I need or want to have in the story. I aim to have my beginning and ending figured out before anything else, and at least a few points in between. 

Scene List. Once I have my framework, I start filling in the scenes in between, adding/merging as needed. Usually around 1-3 sentences, and sometimes notes in comments. I just do this as a bulleted list. I've tried plotting software, notecards, sticky notes, spreadsheets, etc. and always come back to a simple list. 

Expand the List! I then take that scene list and it expand on it, fleshing out each scene until I have 300-600 words describing everything important I need to write the scene. This is usually when I start finding all those pesky plot holes and have to go back and forth between scenes to fix them. 

Once I've finished this expanded scene outline, I'm usually ready to draft! While outlining, I'm figuring out my characters and world so anything I need to work through that's plot-critical I figure out during that final outline stage. 

Project Thistle is currently in that last stage of outlining (and revealing all its plot holes in true outline fashion) but I'm aiming to finish that outline by the end of March. It'll likely be around 20K-25K words by the end which is a good start going into my draft to build on.

Everything Else

February was both the shortest and longest month of this year so far. I don't know how the panini continues to make time disappear and reappear at random, but it's doing it. I can't say I made much progress on anything I hoped to accomplish for the month beyond my work deadlines, but I suppose that's just life now.

On the bright side, it reached the 60s/70s this past weekend and oh my goodness was it lovely. The sun was out, there was a fresh breeze, and we were able to open the house up and air things out for the first time since last fall. 

Even though we're now expecting snow later this week 😆 I won't miss that when winter is finally over, but I will miss our backyard friends.

On a happier note, my favorite stationary/paper craft store Of Aspen did a mystery Dark Academia themed pack in February and I loved everything that arrived! New notebooks, some fun pens to try out (I do love my pens...), washi tape, a notepad, and a lovely zipper pouch to store everything. I'm obsessed with this shop, y'all, and definitely recommend checking them out for your pen/paper needs.

And completely unrelated because what are transitions, here are Marlowe (left) and Simon (right) being adorable. They've been keeping me company during the work day and always brighten things up.

currently…

• playing… Pokemon Legends: Arceus

• listening… Encanto (complete soundtrack)

• watching… The Gilded Age

have a marvelous march!

💜 austine