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Life and Writing Updates | Goals for 2021

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Greetings, readers and writers of the Blogosphere! Remember me? I took another unplanned hiatus from this blog, Twitter, and the internet in general, so now I get to write a giant update post explaining everything that happened in my absence.

Let’s start with life stuff:

I think we can all agree that 2020 was a weird year. If you can’t agree with that statement, you should probably go read something else. Here’s a quick rundown of my 2020 experience:

  • I went into isolation in March due to Covid and haven’t really emerged yet. I’d rather not find out what Covid would do to me when combined with my multiple autoimmune disorders.
  • The previously mentioned multiple autoimmune disorders decided to act up after being mostly controlled for a while. It made me pretty dysfunctional for a good chunk of the year, (which is mostly why I took an unplanned hiatus from the internet), but I was able to stop some medicine that I thought I’d never be able to stop, so it turned out to be a good thing.
  • I learned that taking three English classes simultaneously, (one poetry class and two literary analysis classes), is a terrible idea, but I’m doing it again next semester anyway. It’ll be fine… my fingers probably won’t fall off from typing so much.
  • I have decided that I really, really like online classes. It’s easier from an accessibility standpoint, (I’m blind if you’re new here), and not traveling to and from campus allows for more reading and writing time.
  • I started a job which is another reason for my unplanned hiatus from the internet.

Now, the writing update:

2020 was actually very good for my writing. I wrote a lot of words while I was avoiding society and the internet, and I’m actually pretty proud of those words. Here’s what I accomplished:

  • I finished another round of revisions on “Scarred Flawless”. I’m not totally happy with it yet, but I’ve decided to put it down for a while and work on other things. It still has some serious issues with world building and tone that I’m not sure how to fix.
  • I outlined “Indie Blue”, wrote half of the first draft for NaNoWriMo, and am now in the process of fixing all the plot holes. My plan is to have the second draft done by the end of January. I don’t have a synopsis up on the website yet, but it’s about a killer manatee cult. That’s all you need to know for now.
  • I wrote a short story called “Stars Fade” that I am currently submitting to literary magazines. It’s about a girl named Nova who burns her mother’s Tarot deck as a way of grieving her mother’s death.
  • I started outlining a short story called “Your Name is Evangeline”. I have no idea how to describe it yet, so more on that later.
  • I wrote two poems called, “The Snow Globe Can’t be Fixed Anymore”, and “Bitter Liquid”, that I am quite proud of even though I do not consider myself a particularly good poet. Those are also being submitted to magazines at the moment.

Writing Goals for 2021

I am only giving myself one writing goal for 2021, and that is to finish revisions on “Indie Blue”. I’ve got a couple of other projects that I’d love to finish, but Indie is my priority right now. I’ll be working and taking creative writing classes as well, so I don’t want to create a ton of writing goals that I probably won’t be able to accomplish. I am quite confident in my ability to finish Indie by the end of the year if not earlier.

What are your writerly plans?

Let’s chat in the comments. Tell me about your works in progress, your 2020 writing achievements, and your writerly plans for the new year.

2019 Writing and Reading Recap

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Hello, people of the Blogosphere! I very obviously did not stick to my 2019 goal of blogging regularly or even at all, and i am not making that a goal for 2020 because college and adulting ate my life, and when I’m not doing either of those things, I usually want to be writing books instead of blog posts. however, I have returned to the internet after almost a year of silence for my annual recap of writing goals and favorite books of the year. I do genuinely hope to post more in 2020 because exciting writerly things may be happening in the upcoming year, but no promises!

Let’s start with a recap of my 2019 writing goals…

◦Finish editing Scarred Flawless: I’m calling this one a partial win! I said in my last recap post that Scarred Flawless had a lot of major developmental problems pertaining to world building because the geography of fictional worlds is one of life’s great mysteries, and maps are hard. Well, the developmental edits are DONE as of a few hours ago!!!! I think the whole thing is logical and coherent now, or at least it will be once I finish the line edits and eradicate all the strange sentences I created at 3 AM.

◦Start drafting Fractured Faith: This did not happen. I don’t even have Fractured Faith fully outlined, but it’s fine. Fractured Faith is the sequel to Scarred Flawless, and Scarred Flawless was my priority for 2019, so I am perfectly happy with what I did accomplish in regards to that series.

◦Start outlining Scarred Flawless Book 3: This sort of happened? I have a few index cards for it at least. Again, this is fine though because at least I mostly met my goal for the first book in the series.

◦Finish outlining Unmarked: That didn’t happen either because I started working on a new book, (Indie Blue), instead of Unmarked. I am quite happy with this arrangement though because i feel like I could sit down and draft Indie Blue right now whereas Unmarked still needs a lot of outlining and research before it’s ready to be drafted.

2020 Writing Goals:

I am only giving myself two major writing goals for 2020 because I am taking Creative Writing I in school this semester, and I’m not sure how much or what kind of writing that is going to require. My two goals are:

◦Finish line edits for Scarred Flawless and get it in the hands of beta readers

◦Finish the zero draft of Indie Blue

2019 Reading Recap:

I read 60 new books in 2019 and failed to review all of them because book review formatting is hard and adulting/school/Scarred Flawless took priority over that. So… here is a list of my top ten favorite books of 2019 with links to Goodreads instead of my own reviews!

1. Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo. The people weren’t kidding when they said this one was graphic and intense, but man was it good! Yet another work of literary genius from Leigh bardugo!

2. Call Down the Hawk by Maggie stiefvater. This one was my 20th birthday present to myself. It was well worth the audible credit. I don’t have anything more to say about it other than Maggie Stiefvater created another literary masterpiece, and I want to reread it now.

  1. The Dragon Republic by R.F. Kuang. This is an absolutely fantastic sequel to The Poppy War.

  2. Sadie by Courtney Summers. This is not my usual genre, but I absolutely loved this book! It is dark, and suspenseful, and it has a very unique writing style.

  3. Wicked Saints by Emily A. Duncan. This one has people who can talk to gods, and creepy mages, and it is amazing.

  4. How to Make Friends with the Dark by Kathleen Glasgow. This is the only book that made me cry in 2019. Kathleen Glasgow is really good at making me cry, but her writing is fabulous, and I will read everything she writes.

  5. The Gilded Wolves by Roshani Chokshi. To be quite honest, I really don’t remember much about this book because I read it whilst curled up in bed with a sinus infection trying to drown out my roommates with the audio book, but I gave it 5 stars, so it must have been fabulous!

  6. Two Can Keep a Secret by Karen M. McManus. I will read everything Karen McManus writes because her first two books have both been 5 star reads for me.

  7. The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black. This was a stunning conclusion to Holly Black’s “Folk of the Air” trilogy.

  8. King of Fools by Amanda Foody. This was an excellent sequel to Ace of Shades. Amanda Foody did not disappoint.

2020 Reading Goals

My only reading goal for 2020 is to finish 75 new books. I’m not starting any other kind of reading challenges because I definitely will not stick to them. Feel free to leave some of your 2019 favorites or 2020 books you’re anticipating in the comments though, and I’ll add them to my terrifyingly long TBR! Also, if you’re a writer, let me know what you accomplished this year and what you hope to accomplish in 2020.

2018 Writing Recap | 2019 Writing Goals

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Hello, people of the Blogosphere! I disappeared from the internet for a very long while! To those of you who messaged me to ask if I was still alive: thank you! Y’all rock! To those of you who didn’t notice my absence: it’s fine! I’m not bitter at all…

Why did I disappear, you ask? Well, to cut a very long story very short, life happened. I started college in August, and let’s just say that being blind as a bat and having a variety of other strange medical disorders made transitioning to college… interesting… for lack of a nicer word. Because of that, I didn’t have the time or energy to dedicate to blogging or really anything other than classes and just enough writing to maintain what was left of my sanity. Next semester should be a lot smoother though, so to kick off 2019, I am going to attempt to return to the Blogosphere and the Twitterverse because I miss writing for an audience rather than just filling pages upon pages of composition books with words that will probably never see the light of day. I seriously doubt that I will be able to maintain a regular posting schedule like I used to, but I’d like to try to post at least twice a month. We’ll just see what happens…

Anyway, (life updates aside), it's New Years Eve, which means it's time for me to tell the world whether or not I accomplished my 2018 writing goals and outline some writerly goals for the coming year! Spoiler alert: I sort of achieved my 2018 goals, and my 2019 goals are probably a bit too ambitious, but I'm a Slytherclaw, so it's fine!

Cheyenne’s 2018 Writing Recap

I had three writerly goals for 2018. They were:
◦Finish the beta reader process for Scarred Flawless
◦Outline Fractured Faith, (Scarred Flawless Book 2)
◦Outline Nevermore Forever

Yeah… okay… obviously the first goal didn’t happen! The fact that I thought that was doable is beyond laughable! Scarred Flawless really needs an update post of its own, but I’ll try to condense it for now. Basically, fictional geography is one of life’s great mysteries, and fixing the disaster that was my first attempt at creating a fictional world is proving to be WAY more difficult than anticipated. I had to resort to making maps, and maps made by the blind girl are more entertaining than useful! I have world building woes, okay! I don’t know when Scarred Flawless is going to be ready for the eyes of other humans, but thank you to all the people on Twitter who have inquired about it! It makes me very happy to know that other people want to read my book based on a couple of quotes from it. In all seriousness, I do hope to have Scarred Flawless ready for betas by the end of 2019. I am currently in the process of finishing what I hope is my final read-through before I start making the final revisions.

My second goal was a bit more of a success. I don’t quite have a scene by scene outline for Fractured Faith, but it is detailed enough that I could start drafting if I so desired, so I’m calling that one a success!

My third goal is a bit more complicated. I did not outline Nevermore Forever, but I did start outlining Unmarked instead! The original idea for Nevermore Forever is still sitting in a Scrivener file somewhere because I do want to come back to it some day, but I care about Unmarked more right now. Unmarked is a young adult thriller, which is not something I ever expected to write, but I kind of love it! The fast-paced vibe is very refreshing after the deep darkness of Scarred Flawless. The outline for Unmarked is nowhere near done, but I have the big picture and a few drafted scenes, so I’m calling this goal a partial success.

Onward to Writerly Plans for 2019!

I only have four writerly goals for 2019. They are:
◦Finish editing Scarred Flawless
◦Start drafting Fractured Faith
◦Start outlining Scarred Flawless Book 3
◦Finish outlining Unmarked
Honestly, I will be more than happy is I only achieve the first goal. Scarred Flawless is my priority right now, and I am ready to be able to hand it over to other people. Outlining and drafting will be my reward for the many hours spent resolving my world building woes.

Share Your Plans

Did you accomplish your goals for 2018? Do you have any writerly plans for the coming year? I want to know in the comments! Also, please let me know if you want to see any specific kinds of posts from me in the near future. I need quick and easy stuff that I can write and schedule, because school is starting again soon.

Snippet Sunday | Soundlessness

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Snippet Sunday is a weekly post in which you share a snippet from your current writing project. This snippet is from Scarred Flawless, (the young adult fantasy novel that I am currently editing).

“The soundlessness swirled with the kind of simmering, viscous energy that forms when many people collectively hold their tongues out of fear, rage, and raw, untempered hatred.”

Snippet Sunday | Fire

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Snippet Sunday is a weekly writing post in which you share a snippet from your own writing. This snippet is from Scarred Flawless, (the young adult fantasy novel that I am in the process of editing).

“Fire is a fickle thing. It smolders, flares, and fades upon its ever-changing desire–answering only to those who hold power over it. Vivian Devereaux holds such power. She wears flames like cloaks and sparks like diamonds, but the only eyes that will ever rest upon her fiery splendor are her own. There are two kinds of fire in this world: one is wicked; the other is sacred. Vivian’s fire is the wicked kind.”

Snippet Sunday | Oblivion

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Snippet Sunday is a weekly writing post in which you share a snippet from your own writing. This snippet is from Scarred Flawless, (the young adult fantasy novel that I am in the process of editing).

Oblivion is a kind thing. Sinking into it feels like slipping under cool, dark water. It is soft and silent beneath its numbing waves, and the nothingness that it brings is the closest thing to peace that Niko Devereaux has found. Perhaps it will kill him some day, but for now, it is the only thing keeping him alive.

Snippet Sunday | Silence

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Snippet Sunday is a weekly writing post in which you share a snippet from your current writing project. This snippet is from Scarred Flawless, (the young adult fantasy novel that I am currently editing).

“Silence is a strange thing. There are many kinds of silence, but tonight is humming with the kind of silence that is louder than many loud things. It is a thick, viscous thing, and its presence in the Council Hall says more than any words ever could.”

2017 Writing Recap | 2018 Goals

~ Cheyenne Raphael ~ Leave a comment

Greetings, writers!
It is time for me to do my annual writing recap and announce some writerly goals for the upcoming year! This year has been pretty crazy, so…

Let’s see what I accomplished!

I had three writing goals for 2017:
◦Finish the rewrite of Scarred Flawless and have it ready for beta readers by January.
I’m calling this one a success! I had the rewrite, (I had to put it in third person instead of first), finished by April, and I should be finished with the last round of edits tonight! I still have to export it from Scrivener and make sure everything is formatted correctly, but I technically accomplished my original goal. I hope to be starting the beta reader process in the next couple of weeks.
◦Outline Fractured Faith, (the sequel to Scarred Flawless).
I sort of accomplished this? Kind of? Okay not really! I have a few scenes written that I know I want to include, a big-picture plot, and a rough summary, but I do not have an official scene-by-scene outline.
◦Write five short stories.
I technically did this. I finished the first drafts of five short stories, but only two of them got edited because I turned them in for class work. The other three are in some random folder that I will probably never find again.

Writing Goals for 2018

I only have three writing goals for 2018 as well because… three is a magic number! They are:
◦Finish the beta reader process for Scarred Flawless and start seeking publication for it. insert terrified emoji
◦Outline Fractured Faith because I didn’t do it last year!
◦Outline my new novel idea that is currently under the working title, “Nevermore Forever”. I haven’t talked about this much because it was literally a tiny spark of an idea until two nights ago, but I will have a post up on it soon!

Reading Goals for 2018

◦Read a minimum of thirty books. That was my goal for 2017, and it didn’t happen, so I’m trying again!
◦Keep up with writing book reviews instead of getting eight reviews behind like I am now.
◦Actually use Goodreads. I have a terrible habit of not updating Goodreads for months at a time and then spamming the feeds of my followers with a million updates at once. It would be really nice if I could end that this year!

What are your goals?

If you have writerly goals of your own, let me know what they are in the comments, or drop me a link to your own blog post! Also, if you’re interested in beta reading Scarred Flawless, keep an eye on my blog and Twitter feed because I will be posting updates.