I'M BACK!!!

April.

April 30th, 2018 was the last time I posted. 😱

I AM SO SORRY, GUYS! THIS IS SO BAD OF ME!

After April, the whole busyness of summer sorta kicked in and, after that, I never got back into the daily rhythm of blogging and weekly posting.

I hereby take complete responsibility for this lack of posting. I can only hope that you guys haven't completely left me after I was gone for so long and that you still read and enjoy this blog.

SO, that being said!

Where have I been and what have I been doing?

Here are some things that have happened in my life since posting-

• I turned 15 in May
• My wonderful baby brother was born
• I went to an AMAZING camp (Shoutout to Camp Victory! 🙌) 
• We had our last year of the Bible Conference we go to

These are just a few of my non-writing highlights since the last update on life. 

A few things that happened in my writing life are- 

• I became a Community Assistant on Y-dubs
• I completed the first draft of Henry's Story (I don't think I ever gave you that update on here) 
• I completed the first draft of a sequel to Henry's Story named, "Here We Stand"
• I made the decision to rewrite both of the previously mentioned books

Hopefully, I'll be able to expand on some of these topics in a future post, but just a quick update is all you're going to get, for now. 😉

Obviously, these haven't been the only things I've worked on over the latter half of 2018, but I just wanted to give you some of the main highlights. 

SO...

What are my plans for 2019? 

• Well, for one thing, I'd like to get onto rewriting Henry's Story (And maybe finding a good title for it so I no longer have to call it by it's working title!😂) and Here We Stand. 

When I wrote the first book, it was originally going to be a short story but ended up becoming a novella (as pretty much all my short stories end up being 😏). 

I ended up not having a very good plot, so that's something that needs to be sorted out- not to mention that fact that I've written a sequel that needs certain elements of getting to know characters better, needing certain foreshadowing, etc. 

As well as all that, I'd like to think that I've also become far better at writing itself (It would be quite sad if I hadn't after these few years of it 😆), so I'd like to be able to start again with better foreknowledge of everything and a better set of skills. 

This is THE series I want to publish. I used to think I'd want my main goal to be to write and publish a book set in a Victorian household- and I still would like to do that someday- but I've actually become really attached to my characters, the storyline, and the whole happiness I've gained from writing this series. I want it to be good enough to publish, so that means a rewrite. 

• Another thing I'd like to do is get back into blogging regularly.

Since school started back, I've been trying my hardest to get out of any lazy habits I've gathered over the years and to put on new, productive ones. In doing this, I hope to be able to keep up with my regular posting schedule, so you have that to look forward to. 

The schedule might not be exactly the same and I might post on a different day, but that is yet to be discovered. 

• Last on my list is that I would like to read more. 

I think I've given up on reading challenges at this point. It really doesn't work for my pitiful brain. I'm not against them, but they just don't seem to motivate me like they do others, which is totally fine!

I looked back at a post I wrote at the beginning of 2018, where I said that one of my goals was to read more. 

Let's just say that I failed miserably. 😐

This non-bookworm life isn't good for me as a writer, and I know that. 

All through last year, my mum and aunt kept on prompting me to read more and I kept on not really reading anything. This year I'd like to change that. 

I think that even if I could count the books I read this year on one hand then that would be a start I'd be happy with. Everybody needs to start somewhere. (Of course, I really hope I would at least need two hands to count the books I read this year, but we'll see).

So, there you go- a very brief overview of what's been going on and what my 2019 plans are. 

I really hope you guys enjoy following along my writing journey this year. 

As always, I would love to hear any suggestions for fun post topics. What would you guys like to read? Feel free to comment away with your suggestions!

You can also go follow my writer Instagram page, @behindthepenblog. On there I will be posting smaller topics and blog updates that don't quite make it onto here. I plan on doing fun lives, posting book quotes, showing my reading progress, etc. I'll also have some behind the scenes of my writing. It's just like any other author insta but with the blog's name! 

I can't wait to see how my writing journey continues this year and I look forward to sharing it with you all!

In Christ, 

Beth x