Like a bottle of wine?
Okay, that's not the lyric, but August isn't over yet, so we're improvising. July felt like the first month this year that I was making moves, especially in writing.
I think it was April when I decided I wanted to go back to Lost in the Canyon (called The Girl in the Hay Bale back then) and it took a while to get my bearings, but in July, I wrote half the book. According to Notion, it was about 35,000 words.
That's easily my best month in 2024 and probably my best month since last November when I did NaNoWriMo because I was not working and had plenty of time.
But now, we turn our focus August. I'm turning my focus back to Project Whisper, but first, I'm focusing on story. I talked about this a few months ago, but this is the year I want to get a good grasp on story structure in general, and I'm spending my week reading another non-fiction book about story. My goal is to read 5 craft-related books this year, and I need to figure out what my last two will be in the next month or so.
I'm putting all this focus into story telling and the craft this year because I want to know my craft inside and out. I want to know story structure at such a deep level as instinctively as I understand Storm Prediction Center outlooks or LLCs and Corporations (if you understand that second part, you must work with me in my day job, love y'all ๐).
The reason I know those two topics so well is because I took the time to really learn them. For severe weather, it was watching an absurd amount of tornado coverage (even as a teenager, I would watch it any time I could on local TV much to the annoyance of my parents). When I was unemployed back in 2017 after the election, I needed some background noise during the day and started watching storm chasers and TV coverage, especially in Oklahoma. I picked up the lingo and the language over time, but I did it by immersing myself in the resources I had.
Also, side note, I did see Twisters last month and enjoyed it for a variety of reasons, but for the most part, it was fairly accurate. Not always, but it did get a lot of the lingo correct.
For LLCs and Corporations, which are two types of business entities, I know those in and out because I have worked in an industry for six years now that focuses on those. I was submerged into that information through training for jobs and experience as I've spent many years discussing those with wannabe business owners.
I could spitball about those two topics for hours, upon hours upon hours. But story structure? Not really. Because I have never taken the time to drown myself in the different options. Not since I went and got my useless creative writing minor in college (yes, useless, but I digress).
So this is the unofficial year of story for me. The year I know story structures inside and out, not just on a surface level. I know them a little bit, but I could understand my craft so much more.
So, I'm reading this book right now, I'll re-review my other craft books I've read this week, too, and then after, we tackle the outline of Project Whisper head on.
I hope with a better understanding, I can plot and write faster. I find my stories to be tighter and better when I write them faster, so that's the goal.
And who knows, by the time August slips away like a bottle of wine, I might have a good chunk of this next book done.
Also, I know I've been in your inbox a lot lately, and I'm hoping to keep that up. I'm trying to release myself from this idea that I can only email you if I have something super interesting to say (something that I would consider super interesting).
You voluntarily gave me your email address, so I hope you find many things I say to be interesting, so you're coming along for the ride while I try to get over myself (but more on that next week).
P.S. - Thursday marks nine years since I bought my domain name, Laurateagan.com, which means it's been nine years really since Laura Teagan was unofficially born or at least adapted. I think most of you on this email list know, but if not, "Teagan" is a pen name (Laura is not - that's my actual first name - and I have a fun story about that, too, for another time) because my legal last name is super long.
So, to know that it's been nine years of grinding and writing and trying to be silly and fun on social media and trying to figure out how to talk to you and to the people in my life about my books, I'm grateful. Obviously those nine years were mostly in my twenties and we all know what's happened in the last few years (especially in the 2020s), but to have almost a decade of this pen name with me in life just feels really good. And I hope that I get to be Laura Teagan for a long, long time.
Okay, enough from me before I start crying from being too sappy.
Pango Books
Want to read some of the books I've read at a discount? You can shop my actual bookshelf on Pango.
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