Blogging A Book in August

For those of you that have followed me for any length of time (either here or on my Facebook and Instagram pages) you know that I AM A WRITER! I know, that's not shocking, but it is something that drives what I do almost ever day. I'm either writing for freelance clients, working on my own books, critiquing my friends books, or reading books. 

The thing you haven't really seen from me is my writing. That's not including my blog posts 😉 So, I'm jumping in on something with my friend Christen Krumm. I'm going to blog a book in August! Yep, right here! 

 

"Emilie, you're crazy."

I've heard that before and it's never stopped me. In fact, I should share the story of how I proved my teachers wrong my senior year of high school with regards to writing. But that's another blog post. 

When Christen told me what she was joining in on--writing a book in August--I thought...I can do this! But it's going to be a little different than what you might be expecting. 

First off, credit goes where it is due. She gained the idea from this blog and I'm just hopping on board, not as a part of their group at this point, but mostly on my own and just joining in on the idea because it's a great one. 

Why this challenge? 

I know I could just continue working on the book I'm writing right now (yep, it's a new one and I am stoked about it) but when I heard about this idea I realized that it would be a fun add-on project for me. At this point I think "eh, what's another thousand words a day" (which is maybe slightly ridiculous *hehe*). 

I also liked the thought of getting my writing out there. Granted, it will be 'off the cuff' type of stuff and not as polished as it usually is, but that's part of the point. I hope that it'll be a fun way to show off a little of one of the worlds I've got swimming around in my mind. 

What will you be writing? 

This question has two sides. On the technical front, I think I'm going to keep each post to between 700-1500 words. I know that's quite a range but I have a feeling that will work with the story idea I have. Which brings me to the second part, the idea. I've not hammered it all down yet BUT I know that it's going to be a 'prequel' to a book that I've had the idea for since early 2015. I won't give it away until later this July, but it is in the YA Science Fiction category but will read a little like fantasy due to some of the elements. Or that's the hope at least. 

What's the first step? 

During the month of July (which I'm a little late getting to) is going to be prep time. I've got the idea, but the execution is what I'm trying to hone. I'll have 31 days to share a story with you with an end product of a 28-35k novella. I think it's going to follow one specific character but there'll be some guest appearances from other characters to give you additional perspective on the story itself. 

That means a lot of planning on my end. While I am a plantser (pantser and planner) I tend to like a bit of discovery writing on the front end to get me to the next planning stage, but I can't really wait until August to do that, so I may prep a bit more before than and then be able to plan the rest. 

I'll also be sharing some light character sketches here, some world building aspects, and fun things along the way as I prep to start the story August 1st! 

My hopes for this experience are: 

1. Give readers & followers a taste of my writing style
2. Create an entertaining story with dynamic characters and a fleshed out world (in only 1k a day!)
3. Pull you all in to the process - I'll be hosting Q&A's, suggestions, and polls to see what could influence my characters next steps
4. Challenge my creative side to write every day 
5. Have a finished product at the end of it all that I'll offer to newsletter subscribers (new and old)

The question now is - will you follow me on this journey? I'd love nothing more than for you to join in and get involved in the story. It'll be easy to catch up if you miss a few days and I'll do my best to post a link on IG each day of August so access is simple. 

Let me know what you think! If you're a writer, consider joining us! If you're a reader, I hope you'll be reading along. 

Check out Christen's announcement here!