Rachael asked Elly Blake:

Have you got any plans for another series? I adore your writing style!

Elly Blake I do! And thank you so much for saying that! It means so much, truly. <3

I'm working on a new project, but so much of it is still up in the air, so I don't have too much to report yet. But here is a little update in case you're interested. :)

I've been writing almost every day for the past couple of months. I'm trying to write at least 1000 words/day, but some days I'm only able to get a few hundred words down, and some days I haven't been able to write at all. It has really helped to write at coffee shops with a couple of writing buddies (or my husband sometimes brings his school work because he's a teacher, and he sits with me while I write).

As I write the first (very messy, nonsensical) draft, I'm figuring things out along the way.

I tried to write an outline for this thing. I really did. Ideally, I would like to be able to create an outline that details the world, characters, conflict, stakes, etc. BEFORE I start writing. But unfortunately (or maybe it's ok?) my brain refuses to figure out things like world building and stakes until I know more about the characters. So I'm letting it flow and be a mess and hoping that I can figure out what the story is even about (please universe!). I'm trying to let myself have fun and not be too critical, something that I had kind of forgotten because I was putting so much pressure on myself.

So hopefully I will get this long messy draft done so I can step back and try to make sense out of it. Then I'll probably use my white board and Post Its to figure out what the structure *should* be, and what's missing. When the stakes, world, and conflict are clearer, I might have something to share with you, but for now I'm just figuring it out.

Thanks for your question, and for your patience as I stumble around here! xoxoxo

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