The Moonlit Quill | June

new beginnings, sunburn, and bookshelves, oh my!

Welcome back! 🫶

I’m so sorry for missing last month, it was wild as I’m sure May was for many of you. But now we are in the heat of summer and I am ready to jump back into things! Grab a nice iced beverage and lets dig in to some fun updates together.

Ink Stained Adventures 📦

We are now officially residents of Spring Hill, Tennessee, and we are loving life in the country so far! A few furniture items are on their way, but I will be doing some reveals soon! The most exciting part of this move is that I now have a writing room, and I cannot wait to bring you along to see it come together!

From the Quill 🪶

(What I’m working on)

Now that we have turned in the keys to our old place and have gotten the basic things we need for the new, I am turning my focus back to editing my novel. I have a meeting with my book coach next week to talk about the next draft, and I will be starting on my outline for book 2 soon!

This is now my fourth and final draft I will be editing to send to agents this fall, so be sure to follow along as I prepare for this next phase of my publishing process. See below for an exciting update to look for in next month’s newsletter! 🤭

Also, have you checked out my latest short story about Sister Vera? I would love for you to read it and let me know your thoughts! ⛪️

Snapshots 📸

(Bits and pieces of my work in progress)

I did a thing and printed a proof of my book in its current form, and I have cried many tears of happiness seeing my hard work in a format other than regular printer paper or on a screen! It is wild to see it in an actual book form even though I know I have a ways to go before it is ready to be shared in this form. Either way, it was the push I needed to see it come together and give me hope that it one day will be in bookstores for you to purchase and will be a lovely addition to your bookshelves.

SPEAKING OF BOOKSHELVES.

I just bought some bookshelves of my own and I am SO excited to put my collection on them. Just look at how pretty they are!

I didn’t realize how badly I wanted bookshelves of my own until I saw them put together and ready to be stocked with my precious reading collection.

Muses 📚🎙️📺

(What’s inspiring me lately)

This month, I read the book Shield of Sparrows, and it was DIVINE. I could not put it down. It gave me so much inspiration for this next phase of editing. The world it was set in was familiar yet unique. For my fellow fantasy lovers, I highly recommend it! 🪶

SUMMER. I love summer. I spent a weekend at the beach with my sister and nephews, and I have been spending a lot of time outside and by the pool. It’s been lovely, and I am thankful my spring allergies have not followed me to June. 🌻

Thanks for the Feedback has been an invaluable read at this point in my writing journey. It is prepping me for a season where people will be free to judge my art. And it’s helping me not be as terrified about that prospect! 📝

Now that I have a longer commute, I have taken up listening to audiobooks and I am really enjoying it. I am currently listening to House of Sky and Breath by Sarah J. Maas to complete my rereads before FINALLY reading House of Flame and Shadow, the third book in the series. 🪽

A book I am looking forward to reading is Immortal Consequences by I.V. Marie. The book description got me HOOKED and I can’t wait to read this right when it drops at my door next month. 🌹

You can follow me on Fable if you want to see the books I’m reading and what I think about them! Check out my profile here.

Quill Workshop 🪶🛠️

(Writing tips, tricks, and resources)

I wanted to do a deeper breakdown of where I am at in my writing journey with my debut WOWS for any of you who have had the thought “WHAT DO ALL THESE DRAFTS MEAN?”

I am currently working on my fourth draft 😅. Before I started this draft, I was sitting at 120k words. This translates to somewhere around 480 pages in a US standard published book. WHEW.

So, what have the past drafts looked like, and why am I doing another one?

Here’s a quick breakdown to explain what each draft has looked like for those of you who are curious.

Draft One: (sometimes called the Zero Draft) was me sitting down, getting the bones of the story out of my head. It was a MESS. 60,000 words of my consciousness stream that was basic nonsense, but it honestly was the joy of my life. Writing a book from start to finish was a moment I had been waiting for for a long time. But I knew when I wrote THE END, I was far from finishing this book. This draft was basically the sketch on a napkin of what I wanted to build. A sketch that took nine months of my life.

After this point, I was feeling VERY overwhelmed with what to do next or how to get my book from where it was (a nearly intelligible stack of papers) to a book that people want to read and share with their friends, and not to mention deeply connecting with what is happening on the pages. So I hired a book coach. How she chose to work with me after reading that first chapter I will never know, but I am forever grateful. Shoutout to

Rochelle Sangabriel

!!

We then got to work on clearing up the book outline, digging into character motivations and plot holes- essentially organizing the chaos in my brain, and getting a clearer blueprint of the finished product.

Draft Two: This was where we broke down the outline by sections to make it easier to edit. I completely rewrote the book during this draft, taking VERY little from the first draft. This version took my word count from 60k words to 90k. Also, I completed this in about 6 months, which gave me a lot of momentum for the next round. This was the part where we got the supplies together and started building the actual project using the blueprint as a guide.

Draft Three: This is the draft where we deleted a bunch of things and added a bunch of things. It’s where I got to have fun filling out scenes with more intentional things, and took out parts of the story that didn’t fit anymore. We worked on getting closer to finding out how each character would respond in different scenarios. Basically, sanding down the rough spots and adding some embellishments to it.

Now that brings us to….

Draft Four: This is the doozy. The last chance to fix what needs to be adjusted before I send my book to agents. (This is a self imposed deadline to keep me from forever editing)

Right now we are finishing up worldbuilding, picking apart every plot hole, reevaluating dialogue and character arcs to make sure they fit within the story, all while keeping book two in mind. This draft is kind of like looking over the project with a magnifying glass and testing the foundation. It’s the coat of paint and the tiny brush details to make it look like something someone would want to buy. I’m working on putting my stamp of approval and quality on it for someone to champion it to publishers.

That’s where I currently find myself. Cleaning it up, and beginning the process of prepping my pitch documents and blurbs.

Next month I will have book jacket blurbs for you to vote on! You won’t want to miss it! This will be the first look at the book plot that I will share publicly. I would seriously love your thoughts so keep your eyes peeled! 👀 🍊

Do you have questions for me or feedback about something in this newsletter? Or something else you want to know? Message me! I would love to hear from you!

Thanks for joining me. I hope you enjoyed this little peek behind the curtain of my little creative life. I hope you have a wonderful weekend and a great June! Until next month….

-Sarah G.