Hello, lovelies! I hope you are having a wonderful summer! I’m writing this post from a fancy-schmancy hotel lobby in Stockholm, where I’m enjoying my summer holidays. The main goal of this trip is to set aside the busy-busy of the first half of the year. I want to take a step back from the hustle and bustle of my daily life and re-assess what I want to dedicate my time to during the next six months. Since I spent the first half of 2024 investing in my day job and my orchestra, I want the second half of the year to be more about “me” and the stories I’m working on. Let’s see where I’m at re. my writerly goals for 2024!

Query REBEL PRINCE

I planned to re-start querying my YA fantasy, REBEL PRINCE, in February. Yeah…that didn’t happen. Even though my query package got a major update, I didn’t jump back into the query trenches. I couldn’t find to courage. I love REBEL PRINCE: it’s my first finished novel and the book that taught me how to be a writer—it will always hold a special place in my heart for that. BUT I’ve come to realize that the story simply isn’t “special” enough to win over an agent (let alone an editor at a traditional publisher). Sooo, I’ve decided to shelve Moon’s story and focus my energies on my next project: BLACK CAPTAIN.

Complete two revision rounds for project BLACK CAPTAIN

As I’ve mentioned in several of my previous posts, I’ve completed a first draft of my second novel: Black Captain. I’ve meanwhile done a very messy structural revision, and I’ve started another round of revisions to prepare the manuscript for beta readers. In addition, I want to take the first few chapters with me to the Writing with the Soul retreat in Scotland, in October.

Outline Project X

I had hoped to spend my summer break outlining my super-secret YA project. Think: a summer music school, an ancient rivalry, an enemies-to-lovers romance arc, and Leonard Bernstein’s grumpy ghost dishing out crude relationship advice that NO ONE should take to heart. Even though plenty more ideas have been stirring in the deep recesses of my writerly weird-ass brain, I’m not sure whether I’m ready for them to be written down. I feel like I need to find my way back to BLACK CAPTAIN, first.

Get over My Fear of Creating a Newsletter

Nothing’s happened yet, but there WILL be a first newsletter in 2024—mark my words!

Read 35 Books

I’d promised myself not to put too much pressure on my reading goals: I am allowed to read whatever I want, as long as I read 35 books in 2024. So far, I’ve managed to read 17 books, so I’m still on track to reaching my goal 🙂