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note to self: i’ll be there for you, always

written june 6, 2021. Photo by Kristine Cinate on Unsplash I have always looked for myself in other people. I think the idea was that they would somehow hold the pieces of me that I felt were missing. That maybe, if I wrapped my identity up in theirs enough, we would somehow make a whole person. It's not healthy to live like this, but I did it anyway — burning through relationships and searching for something I couldn't quite name. It was never enough, not to be myself, but it was never enough to latch my identity to other people, either. I got close, several times — I thought I had reached the pinnacle of self discovery. I thought I had completed myself. But in the end, relying on other people to help build yourself is never a viable way to do things. It's only recently that I've started to become comfortable with the idea of being enough, as I am, on my own. Several years ago, in this same position, I would have searched for another person to attach my identity onto,

Beautiful Books #2: How’s the Writing Going?


Greetings, writerlings! And welcome to another edition of Beautiful Books. Beautiful Books is my blog meme with Cait from Notebook Sisters (soon to be Paper Fury, isn't that awesome?!). Last month we had 51 linkers! Isn't that awesome? Thanks for linking up, everyone!

If you're not quite sure, here are all the details on what Beautiful Books is all about.

The Info

What is it? Beautiful Books is a three-month-long blog event link-up focusing on three different stages of writing: plotting, writing, and editing. (This month, November, is focused on writing.) This link-up was designed with NaNoWriMo in mind. NaNoWriMo is a writing event where you write a 50,000 word novel in a month. Because a lot of writers will be writing a novel this November, we decided to make it easier by helping get your juices flowing! We'll be focusing on plotting in October, writing in November, and editing in December. We also have the possibility of doing a bonus round at the end of the other three months, but we'll keep that mostly a surprise for now!

Do I have to be doing NaNo to participate? Absolutely not! While the general format is suited well to writers doing NaNo, we want this blog link-up to be for everyone! Just pick a work-in-progress and you'll be good to go. If you don't have a novel that works for the entirety of the blog event, you can feature different ones, but we'd prefer you focus on one WIP if at all possible. The point is, you absolutely don't have to do NaNoWriMo to participate, and we really want you to join! Come one, come all!

How does it work? The format is really similar to Beautiful People. Each month, we'll be posting 15 questions, except this time for you to answer about your WIP. These questions will correspond to either plotting, writing, or editing, and are designed to help you with each of these stages. Even if you aren't to the editing stage yet, they'll be designed to get you at least thinking about what you can do to make your book the best it can be--or, you know, the most beautiful book it can be. Either one. You'll take our 15 questions and answer them on your blog, then come back and link up here! And don't forget to go around and read the posts of the other participants--it could be a great way to make friends!

What about Beautiful People? We hope to do both concurrently, since four months is a long time to take off from BP and we’d miss it! But, depending on our schedules, there could be a few breaks here and there. Thankfully, you’ll consistently have Beautiful Books around to fulfill your blog link-up needs, and there’s always the archive if you get the itch to do BP as well. (Note: Due to the business and overwhelming scope of life and NaNo for both Cait and I, there won't be a BP this month. But soon!)

So... what do I do? Sit tight and read the questions Cait and I will post in the next three months, then use them to help you think through one of your novels! Then link back, and overall, be your awesome self! Also, if you want to share this with your friends, we aren't at all opposed! Making this one big party would be really cool.

The Questions

  1. Be honest: how is your writing going?
  2. What’s your first sentence/paragraph?
  3. Do you have a book cover, and/or pictures that reflect your book?
  4. Do you have pictures of each of your characters? If not, describe them for us! (Be as descriptive as you can.)
  5. What scene are you most excited to write?
  6. Share a snippet or a scene that you really enjoyed writing.
  7. Now that you're writing, have any of the plot details, or the process itself, turned out different from what you planned or imagined?
  8. Is there a character or aspect of your plot that's difficult to write?
  9. What’s your favorite aspect of this novel so far? Favorite character?
  10. Have you drawn off of any life experiences or people you know to create your novel and characters?
  11. Do you have a playlist or certain song for your novel and/or characters?
  12. Let’s have some fun for a moment: imagine you are somehow transported into your book’s world. Which character are you most likely to be found hanging out with?
  13. How do you keep yourself motivated to finish your daily wordcount? (Pinterest? Internet breaks? Chocolate?)
  14. What’s your favorite writing quote or piece of writing advice?
  15. How does this book make you feel so far? Are you laughing? Crying? Frustrated?

The Blog Buttons

When making your post, don't forget to add either one of these blog buttons so people can find the link-up! If you have trouble with the image code, linking back to us is an acceptable option, too!

 


The Linky







If you're doing NaNo, how is it going? If you're not, how's your WIP? Any unexpected plot developments either way?

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