December – Q4 Writing Update

It’s my last writing update of the year! *cue the squealing and confetti*

As I sat down to write my last newsletter of the year, I was reflecting on the projects I worked on this year. Despite several personal life curveballs, despite all the editing for SnowRidge Press and personal clients, despite juggling an infant and toddler, despite EVERYTHING, 2024 wound up being the year I wrote/edited more on my own projects probably since before I had kids.

Yeah, don’t ask me how that happened – I’m as shocked as you LOL!

So here’s my 2024 writing/editing wrap-up, I guess?

-I made three or more different writing schedules and all of them got completely screwed up due to life things and kiddos’ schedules. I am still learning how to hold my goals loosely and work on my writing in the in-between times, but I want to celebrate the fact that I think I’ve gotten better at this as the year has gone on. 🙂

-I finished drafting Project Summer is a State of Mind, my Adult contemporary novel. Not only did I write 2/3rds of it this year, but it wound up being my longest rough draft to date at 79,000 words.

-I sent Project Summer is a State of Mind to my editor, and once she got her feedback to me/after I’d let the manuscript sit for over a month, I printed it out and did my preliminary markup. I now have an editing plan in place for when I have the time to allocate to this book again!

-I plotted a holiday romance novel set in Park City, UT and have so far drafted nine chapters – a little over 1/3rd of the way through! (And there’s still a couple weeks left for me to up that number before the new year!)

-I purchased a cover for my Cinderella Retelling even though the book wasn’t done at the time LOL!

-I announced my pen name, Savanna Raine, that I plan on publishing all my contemporary novels under.

-I started brainstorming some ideas for other spin-off books set in the Tales of Nottingham universe.

-I attended a writing retreat with two amazing friends, Jenni Sauer and Austin Ryan, and while I didn’t get any writing done on that trip and also wound up having the WORST cold ever, spending time with them meant EVERYTHING. ❤ Cannot wait for the next writing retreat!

And my latest biggest news/update:

-I finished self-edits on my Cinderella Retelling!!! This little novella is one of my favorite things I’ve ever written, and it’s now sitting at a cool 33,700 words, give or take. The perfect little bite-sized romantic book with two characters that I adore with my entire soul. ❤ I can’t wait for you guys to read about them 🙂 And speaking of… I’ll have an announcement about that on the 18th on my social media!

That’s about everything on my end! I’ve started thinking about my goals for next year and wondering what will be feasible for me to get done. But I’m not sharing about those yet – those will come in a blog post in the new year. 🙂

Hope you have a gentle holiday season ❤ And if you’re interested in the news regarding my Cinderella Retelling, be sure to check out my Instagram (@booksbysr) on December 18th!