I’ve Released a Craft Book/Writing Workbook!
I am excited to announce the release of my Every Day Writing Habit Challenge workbook! It’s a 200-page downloadable workbook–and writing craft book–that will walk a new writer, or someone making a burnout comeback, through from story idea to third-draft revision in under one year.
Whether you’re writing your first novel or making a writer’s-block comeback, following this fun and systematic approach to scheduling and writing will help you build the habit of writing every day while planning, drafting, and revising your novel in less than one year.
This 200-page downloadable (PDF) workbook provides a 48-week schedule that will walk you from developing the idea for your novel through a third-draft revision . . . and getting started on your next book. Alongside worksheets to help you through the process are guidance and advice from years of study and practice and from a broad range of experts in the topics.
Build your daily writing habit with structured assignments
and tried-and-true writing craft techniques throughout.
As a printable PDF, you have the option of printing multiple worksheet pages or adding your own notebook paper to ensure you have plenty of room for brainstorming, tracking ideas, making research notes, and more.
Or upload the PDF to your reMarkable or other eInk or writable tablet or use it on the computer (the PDF includes live links to resources such as a wordcount tracking spreadsheet template and online articles/websites for further reading).
A bonus is a 20-page workbook-within-a-workbook that will guide you through the critical reading process as you analyze a novel in the genre you’re writing to learn lessons you can apply to your own novel in the revision process.
Between each week’s or day’s assignment focusing on a craft-of-writing topic are worksheets and/or notes sheets to give you plenty of room to complete the daily tasks. Not to mention encouragement all along the way!
And until January 31, you can get it for 50% off with the discount code PAPERPLANNERS50! Get yours today at https://www.etsy.com/listing/1624573344/the-every-day-writing-habit-challenge!
Why You Haven’t Seen Me Here | Or, How Deconversion Has Affected My Writing Journey
I posted some of this over on Threads (@kayedacus), but I used to have more of an audience here than I do over there. And I know I’ve probably already lost at least 50% of that audience just from the title of this post. But one of the main reasons why I know I have been unable to write for the past 10 years is because I’ve never dealt with this, and I need to.
As subscribers to this blog already know, my 11 traditionally published books are with religiously affiliated publishers and contain what I consider to be light inspirational content. When my first book came out at the beginning of 2009, I was already starting my deconstruction/deconversion journey—although I wouldn’t recognize it for what it was for a few years. By the time #11 came out in 2013, I was nearly fully deconverted. And not only did that publisher refuse to let me show the characters drinking historically accurate wine with their dinner, they also forced me to go back and add bible verses to the stories which I found to be uncomfortable and personally distasteful, as it wasn’t organic to the story, realistic to the characters, or palatable with my own deconversion-in-progress. Lucky for me, that publisher decided to stop putting out fiction, so they canceled the contract for the third book in that trilogy.
From 2013 until 2023, I hadn’t put more than a couple of story ideas down on paper. Because the one thing that I didn’t bring along with me in my deconstruction/deconversion was who I would be as a writer without being an active member in “Christian” writers groups. Just like I walked away from the only social group I’d really ever known as an adult (the church), I walked away from “my people” by leaving the “Christian” writing industry and community. I do still have connections with my grad school group (plug: Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University), but I led an in-person writers’ group of (what grew to) 40+ people that met 2x/month for more than 10 years. It was traumatic for me to disband and walk away from that group when no one else would step up into the leadership role. And now I live in a city where there seems to be no interest in a face-to-face fiction writing group. I miss that camaraderie and especially the emotional and intellectual support from having a close group of writing friends and acquaintances like that. I miss mentoring up-and-coming writers. I miss teaching 2+-hour seminars on aspects of the craft of writing each month. I miss “my people.”
I’m trying to step up my communication on social media—between the Facebook groups for my grad school group and the writing community on Threads—in order to try to rebuild strong relationships with other writers, but it’s hard when I’m not actively pursuing the “indie writer” career path, which it seems like all the writers on Threads are. (I also haven’t been able to find a contingent of other writers of closed-door, mildly spicy historical romance. But there are tons of other genres/subgenres out there.)
I also don’t really talk about my published books anymore because I no longer believe in the religious worldview reflected in them. It’s not because I don’t still love and support all of my family and friends who still believe—I wouldn’t be able to call myself a humanist if I didn’t fully support every person in having the right to their own personal belief system—it’s because the worldview in those books doesn’t reflect who I am now and who I want people to know me as now. So I don’t talk about them. I don’t promote/market them.
But I think I’m also trying to block the years I spent writing them, the years I spent teaching writing within religious writing groups, the religious-language content I have right here on this blog from my memory. And I think that’s blocking my creativity more than anything else—denying myself from being proud of the fact that I WROTE 11 NOVELS that publishers liked enough to pay me for, whether they had religious content in them or not.
I know it’s unlikely anyone will read this entire post before unsubscribing, but I needed to write it all out and send it out publicly, just in case someone else is in the same boat. And because, before I do start putting any writing out publicly again, I need it known who and what I am/am not and what will/won’t be reflected in my stories from now on. I know a lot of people are probably scandalized/horrified that I no longer believe in a deity of any kind and that the worldview I align with is that of Secular Humanist. But that’s who I am now. I understand if you want to leave and if you won’t read anything I write from here on out. I won’t apologize for my journey, but I hope you will accept me for who I am and what I believe as I do you. (But I will mute/delete any proselytizing or abusive comments toward me or anyone else, if there are any.)
I guess the question that I’m struggling with, and for anyone who reads this far, is: How do I regain the pride in the books I wrote from a worldview I no longer subscribe to (and that makes me uncomfortable now) and keep that from blocking my forward progress with writing from now on?
Nov 1st One Sentence #nanowrimo21
The wine went down much more smoothly than the truth.
Repost: November Writing Challenge | #nanowrimo #nano2021
Originally published November 1, 2020
November 1 is once more upon us, which means millions of published, unpublished, and first-time writers are picking up the challenge to write 50,000 words of a novel in 30 days. Many times in the past, I’ve signed up for this challenge, assuring myself that even though I haven’t created a daily writing habit in . . . ever . . . I’ll write at least 1,667 words per day for the next thirty days. I’ve even written a NaNo prep series in order to help prepare myself and others for this daunting task.
In October, I was supposed to be doing a writing marathon with a small writing group I’m in. My goal was to write something every day—the idea was at least five to seven hand-written pages on my reMarkable tablet, which would be about 500 to 750 words. I even had a story idea I was interested in working on.
Then October came and the motivation didn’t. And instead of following my own advice, given countless times to aspiring writers over the past couple of decades, instead of making myself sit down and write whether or not I felt motivated to, I just didn’t write.
So now, in a month where it seems that half the world’s population will be focused on writing a story, I’m making a commitment to myself.
I will write at least one sentence of a story—any story—every single day in November.
And my secondary commitment is that I will share one sentence of what I’ve written every day here on the blog. No context, no explanation. Just a sentence of whatever fiction writing I did that day. I may even have to use the daily blog post to compose my sentence for that day.
So if I don’t do this—if you don’t see a daily post from me here—hound me until I do it. I want to go from a water pump with a handle so rusty it won’t move to a flowing fountain by the end of the month. (And by “flowing fountain,” I mean writing at least a paragraph or two each day, LOL.)
What’s your challenge, writing or otherwise, for November?
Wait . . . I Wrote This? Revisiting a Partial Manuscript Eight Years Later
Some of you may recall Stephen Brightwell from Follow the Heart and An Honest Heart and rightly suspected that he was to get his own book. That was, until my publisher decided to stop publishing fiction. But before they came to that decision, I’d started writing The Heart that Waits—what was supposed to be the third book in the Great Exhibition series. That all happened during a really difficult time in my life, and I’d put it far, far out of my mind.
While cleaning out my office for a major reorganization this weekend, I came across a printout of the eight-and-a-half chapters I’d written, along with some handwritten notes on the characters and story idea(s) for it.
Stephen Brightwell, Lord Thynne, & Mrs. Mercy Timperleigh
(character templates: Daniel Craig and Rosamund Pike)
All I really remember about it when I gladly put it aside to focus on getting back into working full-time after several years of “writing full-time” (a.k.a., mostly unemployed with sporadic, increasingly infrequent freelance editing projects to try to make ends meet) was that I’d hated every single word of it that I’d been forced to write by the contract I’d signed and partial advance I’d accepted—and already spent on rent and food—and that it would never have been an acceptable story/manuscript if I had made myself finish it.
But now, eight years later, once I started reading it I couldn’t stop. It was strange going back and re-reading something I have almost no memory of writing. And it brought up lots of … feels. I remembered (vaguely) my main characters—there are several; and as I did with the other two books in this series, there are two romance storylines—and I remembered (vaguely) where each of the two main storylines were going. I mean, it is a romance novel, after all. But I did not remember the specific scenes or the dialogue or the minor characters, or the fact that I featured name-drops of a couple of previous-book characters (Nora from FtH and Caddy and Neal from AHH).
Pippa/Sophie (hadn’t settled on a name) & Ben, the couple for the secondary romance storyline
(character templates: Sarah Bolger and Colin O’Donoghue)
It’s one thing that I was able to read it and enjoy it. It’s another that I picked up a pen and made a couple of corrections and changes as I read.
The Two Big Questions
Will I ever go back and complete this story?
I don’t know. I’ve been thinking a lot about that time period recently—along with ideas for additional Royal Navy/Regency–set stories. But the creative flow/urge just isn’t there when I sit down to try to write. But, maybe if I go back and start by rewriting something I’ve already written it might help . . .? insert shrug emoji here 😉 I’m up for trying it.
Then, if I do complete it, would I ever publish it?
Again, I don’t know. I might, if I decide I like it and it completes the trilogy the way it was supposed to. But I’d have to work with my agent to ensure that I actually have the right to do so, since it was originally under contract to a publisher that’s no longer publishing fiction but still has the rights to the first two in the series.
April 2021 Scribbler Subscription Unboxing
As mentioned last week, there are two monthly subscription boxes that I’ve stuck with after trying out a multitude of different ones over the past year. Last week, I featured my planner box. This week, it’s my writing kit from Scribbler. Without the option of having a writing group to get together with monthly, this may be the next best thing!
April 2021 The Planner Society Kit Unboxing
During lockdown, I’ve become something of an online shopping/subscription box addict. I’ve tried multiple types of subscription boxes over the past year — from food to makeup/nail art to “variety of mostly stuff I ended up having no use for” (or however you would describe boxes like Fab, Fit, Fun that tend to focus more on “aesthetic” than “useful”; or maybe I’m just not their target audience).
I’ve settled on two subscription kits that, for the most part, hit the sweet spots for me between “I just want to get boxes of stuff in the mail to open” and “hey, I’ll actually use that!”
Here’s a video of me unboxing the first of my two subscription boxes for April — The Planner Society Kit sub box, which is their big box. This one works for me because during this time while I’ve struggled to find my way back to creative writing, I’ve kept my creativity toned up and healthy by creative planner design/journal keeping. So anything to keep myself doing something creative on paper helps!
Next week, I’ll post the unboxing of my other subscription box!
The lifelong legacy of Beverly Cleary, children’s author
I recently reread the Ramona books (for the first time as an adult), and I’d forgotten what an impact this author had on my life as a young reader that set me up for a lifelong love. what a legacy!
Beverly Cleary, the celebrated children’s author whose memories of her Oregon childhood were shared with millions through the likes of Ramona and Beezus Quimby and Henry Huggins, has died. She was 104.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/mar/26/beverly-cleary-dead-104-childrens-author-ramona-henry-huggins
2021 Reading Goal and Monthly Challenges | #amreading
After feeling like I lost most of 2020 due to . . . well, not keeping track of things well, and after bingeing a bunch of videos on YouTube watching people set up or flip through their reading journals, I decided that I wanted to keep a paper reading journal this year, in addition to logging my reading stats in Goodreads. But once I got into Goodreads and noticed I had ten years’ worth of reading tracked, I couldn’t just ignore that and start with 2021. I dug up an old, hard-cover, full-size journal I’d picked up a couple of decades ago and started filling it in. It’s taken me a couple of weeks, but I’ve finally finished all of the archiving of 2011–2020 and gotten my tracking pages for 2021 set up. Here’s video walkthrough!
In creating this book, I learned a lot about my reading habits, not least of which is that I’ve started consuming a lot more books via audio than I used to. But my biggest takeaway is that I’ve read a lot more in years when I set specific, categoric reading challenges and goals for myself. Since I really need the stress relief this year that escaping into a book gives me, I’m setting a few specific goals and challenges for myself in 2021.
My first challenge is the number. I challenge myself to finish three titles each month, or 36 books in 2021. Since I’m currently in the midst of three books right now in mid-January, this shouldn’t be a problem!
I’m also going to do another A to Z challenge this year — try to read a book by authors with names running the alphabet (X is optional, as always!).
And I’ve also set category challenges for myself for each month. The idea is to pick two or three from the categories in addition to re-reading a “lifetime favorite” each month. I’ll list the monthly challenges below.
What’s your plan for reading in 2021? Do you keep a reading journal? Are you on Goodreads? Are you participating in any group challenges?
_______________________________________________________________
My Monthly Reading Challenges for 2021
January
Long read (more than 500 pp)
Short read (less than 120 pp)
Backlist title by an author I like
Goodreads winner from 2020 (any genre)
Acquired in 2020 but not yet read
Historical Era: Medieval (937 – 1484)
Nonfiction: Biography
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
February
Recommended/review posted by a friend
Published in the 1970s
Adapted for screen
Non-romance with strong themes of platonic love
Historical Era: Dark Ages (402-937)
Nonfiction: Travel
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
March
Genre I don’t usually read
Cover design incorporating purple (favorite color)
Children’s Classic
Book purchased used
POC/Indigenous author
Historical fiction in an era/setting I’m unfamiliar with
Historical Era: Gilded Age (1880s -1890s)
Nonfiction: Self-help or psychology/sociology
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
April
YA Fiction
Last book in a series
Published in the 1980s
Award winner
Autistic main character
Classic literature
Historical Era: WWII/Boomer (late 1930s–early 1960s)
Nonfiction: Essay collection
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
May
Classic I’ve never read (Rory Gilmore Challenge?)
Historical romance (not U.K., not 19th Century)
Nurse Main Character
British crime/mystery
Fan Fiction
Book from “Sounds Interesting” Goodreads List
Historical Era: Industrial Revolution (1850s – 1870s)
Nonfiction: Professional Development (CPTM certification studying)
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
June
Suspense/Thriller
2021 bestseller
Coauthored (not an anthology)
Published in the 1990s
Romance
Humor
Historical Era: Stuart – Early Georgian England (1600s – early 1700s)
Nonfiction: Science-related
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
July
Set in Tennessee
From DNF list
One-word title
Fairy tale retelling
Christmas theme/setting
Contemporary fiction (not romance)
Historical Era: US Revolutionary Era (1760s-1790s)
Nonfiction: History/biography
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
August
Celebrity author
First read in high school
Set at a school/teacher main character
Indigenous culture
Published in the 2000s
Historical Era: Tudor Era (1485 – 1603)
Nonfiction: Hobby, art, writing, etc.
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
September
Set in a country I want to visit (not UK)
Local author
Time Travel
Fiction based on real person/event
Historical Era: Ancient Ireland, Wales, or Scotland
Nonfiction: Food (book, not cookbook)
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
October
Book with the color orange in the cover design
Supernatural or paranormal
Science fiction/Star Wars/Other Media tie-in
Set in autumn
Published in 2010s
Historical Era: Witches/witch trials
Nonfiction: Halloween/other unusual holidays or observances
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
November
Book with autumn scene in cover design
Recommended to me by Amazon
Own but have not read
First book in a series
Outside my normal genre
Historical Era: Arthurian/Fantasy/Supernatural Historical
Nonfiction: Mental Health
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
December
Christmas setting/theme
Long-term TBR
Bestseller from 2021
Shortest (page length) from TBR
Backlist title (never read) from a favorite author
Fantasy
Romance published in 2021
Historical Era: Pirates and/or Royal Navy
Nonfiction: collection of historic figure’s letters
Unused category from previous month
Not optional: Lifetime Favorite reread
December Challenge Day 6 (12 Minutes per Day) | #amwriting
She’d started drawing them as soon as she’d been able to hold a crayon. Rudimentary at first, then with more and more detail. By third grade, her skill at drawing the scenes in her head had her school talking to the foster agency about getting her into specialized classes or art lessons. But the foster agency was too overwhelmed to be able to pay that much attention to one little orphan girl.
It hadn’t been until college, when she’d taken a class on Industrial Revolution–era art in advertising and journalism that she’d realized what she’d been drawing her entire life: London in the 1850s.
Sometimes street scenes. Sometimes images from newspaper articles. Sometimes near identical advertisements for products she thought she’d made up.
But more often than any of those had been scenes from the most magnificent event of the mid-nineteenth century. The Great Exhibition.
Thinking she’d created an impossibly large and grandiose museum that could never have existed back when women wore long, bell-shaped dresses, as soon as she’d seen the first image from…
KayeDacus.com 