It's Time to Celebrate

I often advise my clients to be sure to celebrate all the small milestones of their creative lives. It’s not just the big book launch or the completion of a passion project - there are lots of little wins along the way. Recognizing and acknowledging them helps us keep our creative momentum.

I’m celebrating having released an old pattern around my fiction. Just this year, I’ve gone from slogging through the final writing of my cozy fantasy novel, Persimmon’s Dream House, to joyfully devoting time to my contemporary fantasy series. The feelings I have around releasing my fiction into the world have changed so much!

While I’ve been waiting for the beta readers to send their feedback about Persimmon’s Dream House, I’ve been doing additional editing on the various manuscripts of my Patterns series. By choice. For FUN. This is definitely new. Editing and revising used to be something I dreaded, or tolerated at best.

The main celebration, along with having shifted my old fears, is that these are actually really good stories!

I’d been thinking of them as unfinished, and it’s true that they still need some work. But as I read through them, I’m delighted to discover that they’re entertaining and captivating. No, they’re not the pinnacle of profound, life-changing literature. I’m not yet at the level of mastery. But they’re solid tales that readers will enjoy. I’m so relieved!

As of now, I have three and one-quarter books written, in a series that will be comprised of at least six books. The first book, Patterns in the Void, has been through the beta reader process already and is pretty close to ready for publication. Book 2, which needs a new title, is nearly ready for a beta reader round. I’m currently doing another editing pass of the third book, Patterns on the Sea. I started writing the fourth book, Patterns in the Dark, a couple of years ago, and need to return to it.

That feels exciting, because the writing, to me, is the best part. I have the basic series arc planned out, but still need to figure out the specific plot points for books five and six. Brainstorming ideas is also a super fun thing for me.

My current plans are to start working on the revisions for Persimmon’s Dream House during my upcoming retreat, as the beta reader feedback will be in my hands by then. My son-in-law is currently working on a cover for the book. If all goes well, I’ll be launching this stand-alone novel into the world in November.

I’ll also continue to work on getting the Patterns series ready to launch starting in 2027. This winter, I’ll continue to write book four and brainstorm ideas for the final two books, and figure out how the series arc will be contained within each individual book. The idea is for each book to have its own story that comes to completion, but also move the overarching series plot forward.

If that all sounds like a lot, it is. It used to feel rather overwhelming, but at this point, I’m just super excited. I’m looking forward to all of the components of bringing this series together.

If a client was telling me these things, I’d ask them: how are you going to celebrate this new level of achievement?

I think I’d like to give myself the gift of a solo weekend getaway. I think Labor Day weekend might be an ideal time for that. I’m going to look into where I might go. I’m a Virgo, so the planning and anticipation will be nearly as fun as the trip! This sounds like the perfect celebration.

How has your creative journey been unfolding? What are you celebrating? What inspired actions would you like to take towards your creative dreams? If you need support with a long-form writing project, reach out to me via my website.

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