Send a Raven: Newsletter #2
Summer ramblings, closing chapters, current reads/watches, top secret ARAC update
Happy summer stoltice, Ravens! (that’ll be funny in 10 months and 30 days)
I hope you’re all basking in the sun, dining on the patio, and drinking by the pool (or, if it’s more your style, hiding in the AC). Personally, I like to think that I’ve mastered a balance of all of the above. However, this year, it doesn’t seem that the weather has…
Though I am a lifelong Alberta resident and should be thoroughly conditioned to expect the unexpected, I have to say… This summer feels different. I remember as a kid, spring was from March-May, 10-15 degrees average (that’s 50-60 for you foreigners). Summer was June-August, with anything over 25 (77) being considered a rare treat. Thanks to global warming, I’ve since grown accustomed to the bypassing of spring altogether. Winter is longer, more mild, until one day you wake up and suddenly the snow is gone, the trees are green, and the sun is out. 25 is still considered a rare treat, but not because it’s a warm day, but a cool one. A shock to the system, I’ll tell ya. But just as I’d come to expect that shock, here I am, mid-June, shivering in the temperatures that I used to be swimming in. The days have been long for weeks, but the stretch of the sun does little to follow. April showers have become June showers. Which, I can’t lie, has been wonderful for keeping me confined to the writing cave, but awful for preparing me for the social season.
Not only am I an Alberta resident, but a Calgary resident, at that. So with Stampede (a 10 day bender, essentially), multiple birthdays, celebrations, and roadtrips just around the corner, there is no way that my still thoroughly chilled bones have thawed enough (though, there is no thickness of ice that Nickelback concert tickets can’t melt…).
But I can’t say that I haven’t been chipping away at it, because this month I’ve officially decided to close my tattoo books. A bittersweet decision, and one that I’ve been delaying for months, but one that feels right (I just wish it’d felt right before I dropped $350 on new carpet for my studio room). As a taurus moon, a virgo mars, and a fuck-ton of validation-seeking libra, “admitting defeat” and “giving up” hasn’t been easy, but as my sister so graciously reminded me, tattooing was never meant to be something more than writing is. When I decided to take up the craft, that was exactly what it was, a craft. A different medium in the height of covid hobbies. I always knew that it wasn’t something I was passionate about… Being an artist. Not that kind, at least. And as much discomfort as I feel as I try to reconcile that fact, I felt more discomfort in trying to reconcile the opposite. And, uncoincidentally, mere hours after making the decision, this happens to be what I come across.
So, here’s to releasing what no longer serves us.
Aside from gearing up to rejoin society with little to no rejuvenation from the sun, I’ve found myself in the depths of TV binging… Something I haven’t done much of since, well, you know…
Bridgerton has (un)shamefully been the cause, I’m afraid. Though I loved the first season, upon the release of the second, I just couldn’t get into it? Probably because it was popular at the time… And yes, I am indeed, unfortunately, one of those girls. But with everybody in my life urging me left and right to finally catch up for the release of the third, I decided to give it another chance.
It is with great disdain that I announce myself as an Anthony Bridgerton stan, and a Kate Sharma apologist. Jokes aside, the season was a beautiful portrayal of the burdens of eldest children, and the surrendering that we must do to break the chains that we’ve, in some ways, shackled ourselves in. I don’t think I can call it my favorite season (season 1 has my heart on the smut scale, and Queen Charlotte on the break-my-heart scale), but it’s the one that spoke to me the most. I also must say that after being convinced I wasn’t going to like season 3 (simply because I hate the trope and Colin for how he treated Penelope) they managed to change my mind and restore Penelope’s worth in a very smart and organic way, and I’m glad she got what she wanted (and deserved).
Oh, and the new season of House of The Dragon has started, so I also need to finish the first one…
As far as what I’m reading…
I’ve given into the Butcher & Blackbird hype, and I’m not sorry about it (I’m only 70 odd pages in and I’ve already ordered the second book lol). I LOVE me some light-hearted murder, which, soon you will see…
Fun fact! My city actually has a whole bookstore dedicated to romance books! Dark, fantasy, sports, bully, you name it. I’ve been meaning to check it out for a while, and Brynne Weaver gave me the perfect excuse.
Add me on Goodreads
Okay… Now onto what you all really want…
ARAC.
I told myself I was going to hold off on applying to have the first book listed on Goodreads, but with the excitement of getting the site up and the newsletter going, I couldn’t help myself. I’m the kind of person who, once I get something in my mind, I need it done now (a lesson in patience that I’ll be forced to learn one day, surely - perhaps during the months-long approval process… So maybe applying '“too early” wasn’t such a bad idea after all).
However, after a conversation with my lovely pioneer of a best friend, I was reminded that not long ago, there was a period where I worried I would never write again. Never finish my books. Never get back to a place of riding the high. So it’s one that I’m not going to shame myself for taking advantage of.
And I’m glad that I did, because if I didn’t, I probably wouldn’t have figured out how to get it published. Yes… You heard that right. A Raven Among Crows book #1 is OFFICIALLY A PUBLISHED MOTHERFUCKING TITLE. The book itself is not yet done, and will not release until… The day I’ve chosen… But the title is fully registered and the distribution site is ready when I am (AHHH!!!)
Once ARAC is on Goodreads, there will be an official announcement with more details both here and on my Instagram, but for now, I’m hoping you will all keep the secret for me…
As far as actually finishing the book goes…
I have about 25% of the rewrite finalized at this point. And though that may not seem like much, half of that has been completed in the last month or two (I started this final rewrite in September). They say that the first 10 chapters of a book are the hardest… And man, they weren’t kidding. These first 10 chapters have looked a thousand different ways at this point, but I’ve finally gotten to a place where I’m fully happy with them. The only thing that I can’t say I’m fully confident in, is having to make cuts. I know that fanfic gets a bit of a pass on being exceptionally longer than traditional novels, but the entire point of converting ARAC into an ebook, is for it to be recognized as a traditional novel. And in having read more traditional novels lately, I’ve become increasingly self-conscious about its length (yes, apparently size does matter). So though I do feel relatively good about the cuts I have made, I’m coping with the rest by trying to frame it as if it was a film adaptation, where less necessary scenes get cut all the time for the greater appeal of the general public, with room for the true fans to find them.
The remainder of the rewrite from here on out should be smooth sailing (and I would know… Because I’ve done it multiple times :/).
Pioneer! *Blushes* Thanks for the shout out <3 Even as your best friend, as someone who knows the goings-on of your world, it’s so refreshing to hear about your life in this format. Love the way your essence shines through in your writing. Cheers to big things~
omg i cant wait, i love ARAC so much!!