JUNE 2024

Let’s catch up…

Is it really June already?

I feel like I blinked and spring shifted into summer.

Last time we checked in, the cherry blossoms were blooming and I was about to begin writing the last act of my romantasy manuscript. Four weeks later, the pink petals are nothing but a memory and…

I FINISHED MY BOOK.

Well, technically speaking, I finished my manuscript. A first draft. There is still plenty of work to be done over the coming weeks and months before this new brainchild gets turned in to my editors and agents and publishers. But I remind myself it is important to celebrate the milestones along the way, not just the finish line at the end of the race.

I am trying to be better at actually acknowledging my achievements, rather than immediately moving on to the next task on my magically replenishing to-do list.

So * deep breath * consider this me officially celebrating. Cue the confetti canons. Pop the champagne. After 136,000 words, book two in my fantasy series is officially down on paper.

YAY ME!

Anywho, now that that’s over with, we can discuss more important matters. Grab a cup of coffee or your favorite fizzy drink and let’s dive in, shall we?

Authors are all about words. But today, I want to talk numbers for a moment. (Don’t worry, I will not attempt to do math. What happens between me and my calculator app is intel that not even a secret agent could torture out of me.)

I wrote 70,000 words since my last newsletter went out on May 8th.

70,000 words.

For context, that’s roughly the equivalent of a 285 page book. Which, by any metric — or, at least, by my metrics — is a lot to crank out in one single month. Especially when we compare that number to my word totals for previous 2024 months.

JANUARY 2024: 14,449 words

FEBRUARY 2024: 5,244 words

MARCH 2024: 0 words

APRIL 2024: 21,804 words

MAY 2024: 70,020 words

I know what you’re thinking. “JJ, you are so inconsistent!”

Fair enough. But, if you bear with me, I’ll break this down for you and explain why some of those numbers look so crazily lopsided.

At the start of 2024, in January and February, I was working mostly on another book — my witchy rom-com AT LAST SIGHT, which came out March 1st — so I set this project aside for a bit. After that book release, I focused on promo/marketing and took a break from writing entirely. (Hence that big fat goose egg of a word count you see for my March total.)

Once upon a time, I would’ve felt guilty for stepping away from my laptop for that long. No more, no more, no more. This break was 100% intentional. I’ve been doing this author gig long enough to recognize that my brain often struggles to shift gears from one project to the next. Rather than force it, I now give myself a few weeks to naturally recalibrate. (Deadlines permitting, of course.)

Since I started writing fantasy, this shift is even more difficult. I’m not just jumping into a new project, I’m jumping genres. I’m jumping worlds.

Fantasy uses a whole different portion of my brain than my romantic comedies or angsty contemporaries…

The vocabulary is different. The descriptions are different. The pace is different. The structure is different. (For the Swifties amongst us: it reminds me a lot of the almighty Taylor Swift, who describes writing her songs with different pens depending on her moods — glitter gel pen songs vs. fountain pen songs vs. quill songs.)

So, why am I confessing this to you, you ask? Why am I lifting the curtain and revealing the nitty gritty of my drafting process, rather than remaining a creature of mystery?

It is difficult to describe what life as an author is like to anyone who doesn’t do it for a living. Even after 20+ novels, writing remains a highly variable schedule, often impossible to predict with any consistency. There are months of intense productivity followed by stretches of quiet recharge. A pendulum swing from full immersion to totally unmoored.

In or out.

Writing or decidedly not writing.

I think it’s important for the aspiring writers out there to know that even established authors still struggle to find balance. It’s okay if you don’t sit down, crack your knuckles, and crank out precisely 2,500 words each day before clocking out and going about your life. (Power to you if you are this kind of writer — I know they do exist and I envy them for their consistency!)

But, for the vast majority of us out there… This is not a normal job. It does not follow normal business hours. We are beholden to the whims of our brains, and the mysterious muses which fuel them…

Did I even have a “life” outside writing 75,000 words, you ask?

No. No, I did not.

But, since finishing my manuscript the last week of May, I have given myself the gift of June before diving back in. See, here in New England, June is a perfect month. Not sweltering hot, not too humid….

Perfect.

Come August, I’m sure I will be sweating and swearing and eager for autumn’s arrival, but for now I am drinking in these warm, windy days of early summer as fast as I can.

I am out of my writing cave after several straight months of nothing but words and deadlines and edits and…

It. Is. Glorious.

I am stopping to smell the peonies. I am walking barefoot in the grass. I am leaving out snacks for the multitude of baby bunnies that roam my neighborhood. I am feeling the sun on my (extremely pale) skin. I am planting my ass in a beach chair, drinking a crisp glass of sav blanc as the sun sets, and reading books written by someone other than me.

Like I said.

Perfect.

As for what I’m reading…

I devoured an advanced copy of K.A. Linde’s The Wren in the Holly Library, a fast-paced contemporary romantasy set in a monster-infested alternate NYC. It’s an excellent read. (I highly recommend picking up a hardcover copy because it has one of the most beautiful covers I’ve ever seen, with sprayed edges and amazing jacket art.)

I also lost myself for several days in Emily Wilde’s Encyclopedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett, which quickly stole my heart with its rich prose and unique heroine. And I’ve just started A Fate Inked In Blood by Danielle L. Jensen, which has been on my TBR since it first released.

As for shows, I recently watched Baby Reindeer on Netflix, which is a fascinating (if rather dark) series based on true events, along with Dancing for the Devil, a new documentary about the viral TikTok “dance cult” called 7M. I’ve also been deeply obsessed with the ongoing Karen Read trial, and watched too many hours of the live-stream court testimony to count.

Now, after ten days of pure mental recharge, I find myself refreshed, relaxed, and (slightly) less pale. I’m ready to dive back into revisions of my manuscript. The rest of June will be spent polishing this raw gemstone until it shines. Hopefully, by the next time we check in, it will be ready to send off to my editor at Penguin Random House for feedback. (And that’s when the real fun begins!)

Wish me luck.

And enjoy the June perfection while it lasts. xx

Until next month…