Hello dear readers!
I’m sorry I missed my October newsletter. I had burnt out at the end of September, and all I could really do was go to work, stumble through my workout, and then fall asleep while trying to write (I may have almost given myself a concussion falling asleep while writing on my tablet. Yes, I can play rugby for 14 years with nothing close to a concussion, but try to write and…)
Don’t worry, though. September was a relatively boring month with nothing much to update. I have lots to update now, though!
The first big thing is that I finished my first draft of my novel-in-progress, now tentatively named the Marvelous Makeover Murders (a name I will forever resent because I had been trying to name this novel for A FULL YEAR and Brendan just casually spouted that off as I whined to him about my inability to come up with a name for this novel). The climax came out even better than I imagined, all the threads braiding beautifully.
I’m supposed to get it to beta readers by the end of the month, and… maybe? I usually work on more stylistic issues after the beta read, as I don’t want to spend a lot of time making the language perfect only to have to cut a chapter. And since I’m working with my editor while writing, I think I’ve ironed out most of the plotholes.
There is a 4-chapter section where the characters are just standing around talking, and while all the dialogue is good and important, it needs some variation. I have an idea of an active subplot the characters can do while they have those conversations, but that will take time to write. How much time? We’ll see.
But I am going to Toronto this weekend to research my novel! It takes place in Casa Loma, which… I’ve never actually been in. So now that I’ve written the climax, I need to actually visit the location and make sure that everything I wrote makes sense.
But what else have I been up to besides writing?
My Life
The past two months, I’ve been doing lots of things besides writing. I’ve been trying to get back into running now that rugby season is over, which is going… OK. I’ve been aiming to run twice a week, but mostly making it once a week.
I had my anniversary with Brendan, and we went axe throwing:
I’ve still been baking! One of my favourite recent experiments were cheeseburger bites:
Finally, I got invited to speak at a online conference! I had a really fun time, and several writers told me they really liked my presentation. I recorded my dress rehearsal, so click the photo if you’re interested! (there’s also a 2-minute version on TikTok):
Also, I know you probably had enough about rugby in my last newsletter, but one of the best rugby photos of me ever came to my attention after that, so here you go:
(confidential to Jennifer Harris: Yes, the uprights-destroying one is still better)
And that’s most of what I have to say today! Hopefully, next month I’ll be able to report success on getting my book out to beta readers! Then I’ll go back to perfecting On The Shoulders of Demons, which has received fantastic feedback from my beta-readers. Either way, I’ll keep trucking along.
~Payson