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Hello Bookworms,
How is your week going? I have had had a pretty busy week with work and plays, and as such have been struggling with my writing a bit, but at the same time have made some really good progress. Let's take a look at the stats Start of Week: 46,437 End of Week: 56,038 Total: 9,609 Nano Total: 16,298 Goal Words: 18,333 Chapters for the week: 8 My chapters this week were a bit shorter, and I did do some bracketing* so I know I will be expanding on those sections at a later time, but the framework for them is there. I feel really good about where It is right now, and where it will be going. A really cool thing did happen this week, I crossed 300,000 words for my lifetime tracking on the NaNoWriMo Website. Knowing I have also written more that that during the off time, makes it a really cool number to see that is ALOT of words. As far as the next few weeks go I am about 3k behind over all, or about two days, and that is just from being busy and not being able to hit my daily word count every day. But I have been able to write everyday. I can see where things are headed and am working on getting the characters all lined up for the climax of the book! Only 33,000 words to go! I am working on attempting to come up with cover idea and have a general concept! You can see some ideas and the inspiration I take on my pinterest board. And I am hoping I will be able to come up with a synopsis... soonish. I think these are the hardest part for me... how does one some up thousands of words in a few concise paragraphs that will make other people want to enjoy it? Not a clue, not a clue. Anyway, are you doing Nano? How is your project going? I was going to vlog last week, but really it is just cat videos... if you want to see a weeks worth of cat videos and maybe like a summary of the week let me know I can can try to throw that together by the end of the night. *Bracketing is where you write yourself a note to remind yourself at a later time that you need to go back and work on this section. Want a chance to see an early rendition of the first part of Rebellion? Want a signed hard back? Have you read The Frituals and left a review? Well then you should and may have already started to enter this my winter giveaway! This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway. Must be 18+ or with Parental approval 11-15-2018 - 12-15-2018 Post a photo on social media of you reading, your reading progress, whatever but mention The Fituals and use #thefrituals Leave a review on Goodreads and/ or Amazon.com If you have already reviewed the book than you already have half your entry done! Just post a picture and use the hashtag and you are all set! As always I love you and thanks. If you haven't yet please follow my social media links below and see what I am working on. Love, Kate Be my Writing Buddy https://nanowrimo.org/participants/katelyn-costello Order my book: Signed: https://www.katelyncostello.com/store/p1/The_Frituals_%28Book_%231_The_Frituals%29.html Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981463097/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Ebook: \\https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DW8P33P/ref=sr_1_2ie=UTF8&qid=1529540545&sr=8-2&keywords=Katelyn+Costello Follow me on the interwebs: amazon.com/author/katelyncostello https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://www.patreon.com/katelyncostello Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @authorkatelyncostello Facebook: Author Katelyn Costello Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.katelyncostello.com
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 Hello and Welcome my Scripturients to another writing update.
If you are new here Hello! My name is Kayelyn Costello. I am the author of the Young Adult Fantasy novel The Frituals. This is the blog I started nearly two years ago for me post writing updates, book reviews and the occasional educational piece. We are headed into my favorite time of year. It is a combination of the holidays (happy Hallothankmas) and writing. This time every year for the past 8 years I have dedicated my November yo creativity. Through high school and college I dedicated myself to writing at least once a day with the goal of 1,667 words a day for 30 days. And this year will be no different. For the past month or so I've been combing through my Nano document from 2016. From these plot lines I started to develop then I will write an additional 50k and finish the second book in my series, Rebellion. A tip for Nanowrimo. Set clear goals. I am telling you all I am going to do this. Even though I am working every day, co directing my first play which comes out this month, and managing my author business. But by telling you all I am holding myself accountable. Tell people what you are doing. Have a public play you post word counts. You will be surprised by how invested people will get in your journey. I will be doing weekly nanovlogs again this year over on my YouTube channel but I am also going to try to post blog posts here with number updates weekly. So today as of 12:03 Am my word count is 39,753 only 50,247 words to go. I also have some news! On November 15th 2018 I will be releasing to new versions of The Frituals! I plan on releasing a hardback of the first book! The Hardback will retail for $17 or $20 for signed. I have signed editions available for preorder on my website and there are copies for pre order on amazon. BUT WAIT THERE IS MORE! Starting on November 15th I will be holding a giveaway!! Reviews are a huge part of the writing industry in that they help to promote our sales, so I want to educate the reading community on it! Keep an eye out for that content! I want a way to give back to my community and educate people on the benefit of reviews. Anyone who leaves a review on either amazon or goodreads will be entered into a contest for a signed hardback, and 6 chapters of Rebellion. This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway. Must be 18+ or with Parental approval 11-15-2018 - 12-15-2018 Post a photo on social media of you reading, your reading progress, whatever but mention the frituals and use #thefrituals Leave a review on Goodreads and/ or Amazon.com If you have already reviewed the book than you already have half your entry done! Just post a picture and use the hashtag and you are all set! I'm really excited for the beginning of NaNoWriMo and the continued growth of The Frituals. As always I love you and thanks. If you haven't yet please follow my social media links below and see what I am working on. Love, Kate Be my Writing Buddy https://nanowrimo.org/participants/katelyn-costello Order my book: Signed: https://www.katelyncostello.com/store/p1/The_Frituals_%28Book_%231_The_Frituals%29.html Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981463097/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Ebook: \\https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DW8P33P/ref=sr_1_2ie=UTF8&qid=1529540545&sr=8-2&keywords=Katelyn+Costello Follow me on the interwebs: amazon.com/author/katelyncostello https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://www.patreon.com/katelyncostello Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @authorkatelyncostello Facebook: Author Katelyn Costello Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.katelyncostello.com  Hello, my scripturients and welcome new friends, My name is Katelyn Costello, I am a young adult fiction fantasy and science fiction author, and today I have a big announcement for you all. Today I will be announcing the publication date and reveal the cover for my debut novel, The Frituals. This project has been in the works on and off for nearly a decade. So I am sure you can imagine the excitement and anxiety that this day has brought me. I would say I am mainly very excited. If you are new here, please let me take a moment to introduce myself.  Author Bio: Katelyn Costello started to write when she was 13 years old out of spite. Her best friend got to go to a writing conference, and she didn't. What she didn't know it was that writing conference was more tailored towards poetry and she had decided to write fiction. The idea for her debut novel The Frutuals came that following summer. Now 22 and with a creative writing degree from Wells College under her belt (go evens!) Costello continues to write fantasy and science fiction. Living in Rochester, New York with her boyfriend and a new kitten when not writing Katelyn can be found reading, attempting to go on a run, or working in the visual arts as a photographer, stage manager, and lighting designer. So what is this project, if you follow my youtube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSEeWBRSsR2aTwC8rDjAXkA) you will know that I have been talking about it for months, giving little details here and there. And you have seen all the different passes of editing I have done. But what is the best way to describe it? We can start by saying it is a YA Fantasy novel with elemental magick, elves, and adventure. Another way is: Is having Magick worth the cost? Each year men and elves are tested to see if the Fritual of their kingdom will be revealed, a powerful person able to control an elemental magick. Shauna Flynn has always wanted to meet a Fritual, but these magick users had all be disappeared the war of men and elves nearly two hundred years before. Shauna has always wanted to meet a Fritual, she never thought she would be the fritual. Shauna is the first human to ever be able to control magick. Forced from her home by a group of elves known as the Dark Ones who want to control the first human Fritual, Shauna has to find the other Frituals and stop the Dark Ones, to save herself, her family, and the home she has always known. Well, are you intrigued? I would hope so! Okay... I think I have talked about it enough to peek your interest. I think it is time to show you the cover!!!! . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  Well, here it is! Isn't gorgeous! This beauty was created by my best friend, Jane Farrell. Having a friend who is a graphic designer is the best! She did a great job working with me and creating a design that I think is out of this world.
So when can you get your hot little hands on this baby? You can start pre-ordering it right now! You can order it here off of my site or off amazon (link). I will have Ebook pre-orders available as well. An exclusive offer on my site is signed editions! So if you want a personalized version, this is the place to be! But Katelyn when will I get my book? You said this is a pre-order. That is right I did. You will receive your book starting on September 22nd, 2018 just three short months away. (* note if you order a signed copy, it will take a week or two longer) I have a goal, and if you would like to help me with it, I think it would be really cool. Pre-orders are really helpful for authors as they boost visibility on publication day. This is something that as a debut author is very much on my mind, so my goal for June and July is to have 22 pre-orders by my 22nd birthday on July 29th, 2018. Wanna get me a birthday present? Order my book hahaha. So that is all for the day. If you wanna watch my cover reveal video and see who won the give away for an arc go here (Video link.) I love you all and thank you so much for all of your love and support. Katelyn Costello Order my book: Signed: https://www.katelyncostello.com/store/p1/The_Frituals_%28Book_%231_The_Frituals%29.html Print: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1981463097/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8 Ebook: \https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DW8P33P/ref=sr_1_2ie=UTF8&qid=1529540545&sr=8-2&keywords=Katelyn+Costello Follow me on the interwebs: amazon.com/author/katelyncostello https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://www.patreon.com/katelyncostello https://nanowrimo.org/participants/ladykate100/novels/wip-1233502 Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @authorkatelyncostello Facebook: Author Katelyn Costello Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.katelyncostello.weebly.com https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://campnanowrimo.org/campers/ladykate100 Hello Scripturients, Happy June 1st friends, this past month has been crazy, it has been exciting and it has been so wonderful. If you haven't already seen... That is right I will be revealing the cover to The Frituals on June 22nd, just 21 days away from today! Do you want to support me by helping share the news? There is a google form below for you to fill it out and you will receive the cover early and will be able to share it how ever you want. You don't have to have a large so social media presence by any means, it is just a plus for me haha. (Working) Synopsis: Is having Magick worth the cost? Each year men and elves are tested to see if the Fritual of their kingdom will be revealed, a powerful person able to control an elemental magick. Shauna Flynn has always wanted to meet a Fritual, but these magick users had all be disappeared the war of men and elves nearly two hundred years before. Shauna has always wanted to meet a Fritual, she never thought she would be the fritual. Shauna is the first human to ever be able to control magick. Forced from her home by a group of elves known as the Dark Ones who want to control the first human Fritual, Shauna has to find the other Frituals and stop the Dark Ones, to save herself, her family, and the home she has always known. GIVEAWAY ALERT I will be holding a series of giveaways leading up to the release of my book. Each month someone will receive a signed ARC of The Frituals. An arc is an advanced readers copy. What does that mean? That means if you win you will receive an exclusive copy of the book that may still get changes before publication. You will be the only person besides like me, lol that will ever see and own that version of The Frituals. All you have to do to enter the give away is sign up below for my monthly news letter. Again thank you so, so, so much for all the support already, this has been a project I have been toiling over for years, to have such an abundence of support before its has really launched has me over the moon. Make sure you are following me on all the my different forms of social media in order to get instant updates.
Much much love, Katelyn Find me on the interwebs https://nanowrimo.org/participants/ladykate100/novels/wip-1233502 Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @authorkatelyncostello Facebook: The Scripturient 101 Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.katelyncostello.weebly.com https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://campnanowrimo.org/campers/ladykate100 Hello my Scripturients, March... March was the month that I told myself I was going to come forward full force for my blog and for my youtube channel... instead I fell off the face of the earth. I didn't read that much that month, I didn't really get to write or edit all that much, however I did have a really great month. I have started the apartment hunting process with two of my favorite people, I have gotten another job which should make me a bit more moolla $$ and make it easier for me to meet my publishing goals... after I pay the bills. This month I stepped into another management roll in the theater for my old high school and have a few new avenues coming up for me. So while I haven't been as productive as I wanted to, and I can't check the box for that goal I can check the box saying I took care of myself and felt genuinely happy. And I personally think that that is all that matters.  I do still have ideas for several videos that I was going to put out, and I still plan on putting those videos out. So you will see newer videos on my youtube. I am also going to be doing Camp NaNoWriMo again, and I will be doing weekly vlogs again this time around. I did want to work on a different project but I will be using it as a push to get my edits done. I am creating a cabin for it similar to what Kristen Martin and Vivien Reis did last year. We all have our own projects and goals but doing these little daily check-in's makes all the difference. It really holds you accountable. If you would like to join my cabin click HERE to go to my account and send me a message and I will add you! This has been open since Monday so I want to apologize in advance if you miss that chance, we could still do buddy messages.
So Katelyn how did your editing actually go for the month? Wellllll.... I finished editing the physical proof *wooooooo* *Insert crowd noises here* Butttt I only transcribed three of those chapters. *Whomp whomp whomp* While it doesn't take me to long to find edits and write them into the book, it takes much, much longer to put those edits into the computer. Much longer than I anticipated. So if you again, if you wanna be able to yell at me if I don't edit join me for Camp Nanowrimo! I am going to try much, much harder to be more active, even with jobs and moving in two months.... HELP Goal: Have book edited and in beta process by June 1st. Make me do this people! Love, Katelyn Find me on the interwebs https://nanowrimo.org/participants/ladykate100/novels/wip-1233502 Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @Scripturient101 Facebook: The Scripturient 101 Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.thescripturient101.weebly.com https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello https://campnanowrimo.org/campers/ladykate100 Hello my Scripturients!
So, it is the last day in January. 2018 huh... I don't know about you but for me, 2018 has started by digging in it's heels and refusing to budge. That is to say I feel in some ways I have fallen flat on my face. What can I say? Adulting sucks! I haven't been able to work on the my projects just as much as I would have like to but I am getting there. Like I said in my last update I have been plotting and planning several different books while editing my book. I still want to try and get the edits for this draft formated by March 30th, it just means I need to try to make more time for myself. So how have I been doing? The Goals of the Month: Edit To page 200 - I have only been edit to page 103 so far. Starting work as a substitute teacher, and working on my the musical has caused my life to be locked into a cycle. Sleep, go to school, drive, rehearsal, drive, sleep. I don't have much free time in between. I am actually writing this on a day when rehearsal was cancelled, I am not really sure when I would have written it otherwise.... Start Outline for ISS Project I did this! I am working on a Sci-Fi project and it has been blooming and building in my head everyday. I have been able to make major headway in this due to Evernote! I definitely recommend using Evernote if you are always on the go like I currently I am. So I really only had those two goals for January, and I am going to have similar goals for February. 1. Edit through page 357/ Chapter 37 2. Continue to Outline ISS Project 3.Print proof copy of Silver Manor for future edits. Thank you for all the motivation through out the month. To see more updates from me follow me around on social media the links will be down below. Love, Katelyn Find me on the interwebs https://nanowrimo.org/participants/ladykate100/novels/wip-1233502 Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @Scripturient101 Facebook: The Scripturient 101 Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.thescripturient101.weebly.com https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello  Hello my scripturients,
November sure has been a roller coaster ride hasn't it? As you can see by today's image I am a Nanowrimo winner again this year. This marks the 5th year that I have won Nanowrimo, yay for five years. I do want to say that I feel slightly torn over my win this year. If you don't know, I used NaNo as a way to get back into my novel and do a first rewrite of my novel draft. Not every word or every sentence was new. Some of the sentences stayed the same while others change complacently. But that is the nature of a rewrite, not every word is going to change. And that is something I have had to keep telling myself. Part of the reason I have felt so bad about it, is that I know that I would not have been able to get though a new draft this month. But for me this month rewriting The Frituals was my escape from work and school and everything else that has been getting me down. It has really been good for my own mental sanity and productivity to escape into my world. This week I have been working on planning out the last few chapters and then branching out into outlining the next book in the series. As a present to myself for winning NaNo I have spent the last few days working on formatting my novel in order to print out a proof copy from Createspace to annotate. I will be filming my unboxing of it FOR SURE. I am very very excited about these next steps and to actually hold my book in my hands. I have some thoughts about the next steps for it but that might be a more in depth video/ blog post for next week when I get my thoughts together. I have a lot of thoughts I need to correlate together before I can explain them in detail. But I hope to share my plans for future projects soon as I am sure I will need all your help. My final thesis workshop is tomorrow. Tomorrow is the last day to receive edits. So this weekend I will be hiding and editing. I am also hoping I can set up my office space at home... a bit at least. So my thesis will be done and submitted by Wednesday at noon, but do to my schedule it has to be done a bit earlier. I have one other paper so I need to hide and write, sorry if I am not nearly as accessible as normal. Finishing this semester feels bittersweet. I am really excited to be done, but am also feeling lately like I am not prepared enough but I know I am. It is a struggle. HOWEVER since next week I submit my final papers I will be free. I am working on getting a day job but in the mean time I am going to be throwing myself into this. I am going to be posting whenever I can but at least Wednesday and Fridays. So I will be shifting my reviews to friday's and they may not be every week but there will be more books so be sure to follow me on twitter to know whenever I am going to be posting. I think that is all of the thoughts that I have together for now. Send me a message on instagram or twitter and be sure to subscribe to my youtube channel to hear my ramblings out loud! Katelyn Find me on the interwebs https://nanowrimo.org/participants/ladykate100/novels/wip-1233502 Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @Scripturient101 Facebook: The Scripturient 101 Youtube: The Scripturient 101 www.thescripturient101.weebly.com https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/53086148-katelyn-costello  Camp Nanowrimo, the event that happens twice a year that for some reason I can never win.
Bookworms, I come to you again on the side of defeat when it comes to Camp Nanowrimo. I talked with a few people in my writing cabin this year and we all felt the same. Camp Nanowrimo in April and in July has no where near the same feeling as it does in November. There isn't the same urgancey to write when you make the goals, and sometimes no matter how high the goal is, you just can't seem to reach it. There were several days last November where I was writing close to 3000 words. This past July? I couldn't get down more than 1000 a day sometimes every two days if I was lucky? Why is it different? I don't really have an answer for that. I had plenty of ideas in mind for the story since it is my thesis. I had a start of an outline, at least a general path I could mosey my way though, and I had a cabin filled with some wonderful people including Kristen Martin and Vivian Reis on youtube. But for some reason when ever I sat down to write the ideas would hit a wall and refuse to flow. My goal for the summer is to write 55,000 words by August 31st. As of right now I am on my way, trying to sit down and write a few hundred words everyday, but it has been a struggle. I have changed things as I went and thought of new things for my characters that requires deleting and rewriting several scenes. But progress doesn't always have to be linear. That is something I learned this past month. Even if I can't get through a scene I can still write others. It is taking me weeks to get through one plot point. It just won't come out, but I know others will so, I bounce around. Editing me may absolutely HATE this action later. But for now it is what I need to do to get the words on the page. I want to get back into doing these writing updates more regularly if this is something you want to see too, let me know on twitter at @scripturineting or on instagram @scripturient101 Thesis Stats Start of July: 3,000 (ish) words End of July: 16,771 words Words left for summer goal: 38,229 Katelyn Costello Twitter @Scripturienting IG: @Scripturient101 Facebook: The Scripturient 101 Youtube: The Scripturient 101 Hello Bookworms,
I don't know about you but I woke up thinking it was Friday! It is in fact not Friday! This week I wanted to share with you something fun! This Friday ( you can see why it is on my mind) my thesis proposal is due. Now this is going to be a fluid document, that is going to be changed and edited over the summer. But this first round is a sort of guideline for what I want to do. So what is my proposal? Working title: The Last Fritual Genre(s): Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy Topic:For my senior thesis, I want to create a prequel to a fantasy series that I am currently writing on my own. This piece is a first-person POV story telling a story of an elf named Matron who is born with a natural affinity for all five elemental magics (Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit), powers he doesn’t really wish he had. These powers, make him a fascination and an outcast in the city. On top of these powers that exile him, there is a war between elves and man that has ended. There is still an underlying level of tension between the races. This tension causes some people to be uncomfortable with his friendship with a human girl names Serena. I am currently outlining a draft of the story to write it this summer after I complete this draft I will decide which section I would like to focus. Research Plan: Reread:
Read: The next few books are YA or Adult novels that are fantasy and have elemental magic as a “element” (hehe) of them. So far I have found it to be a small niche in the the writing community. Something that would be helpful for me would be any books written from a male perspective. I was talking with a friend the other day and realized many books on my radar YA/ Middle Grade wise are female protagonists. Aside from Rick Riordan and a few more, most of my male protag are in military fiction like Clive Cussler.
I am currently working on outlining this bad boy, then as it says come June 1st I wanna start writing!!! Katelyn https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSEeWBRSsR2aTwC8rDjAXkA twitter @scripturienting or on Facebook The Scripturient 101 and Follow me on instagram @scripturient  Hello my little writing fiends, I have to admit I didn't do a terrible amount of actual writing this week. If you didn't read my update from last week I finally finished my draft after spending nearly fifteen weeks editing it. I took it so slow in an effort to get things right. I realize now I called it draft two. But it should be like draft 4 with how many times I have gone over the first part of it. But a trip to get paper, and using most of my moms ink, I have my 153 page manuscript. I have gotten my first beta reader woo. Thanks Martha for jumping on board the bookworm army. I know I would still really love to have more readers. So, if you would like to help me out let me know I will stick a little form below for you to fill out and it will send an email directly to me! Some of you may be working on your own projects and I would love to help. I know I personally cannot take on 10 beta swaps but I would want to help you with a few. It would really mean a lot to me if you would help. This is a project that I have been working on for so, so, long and I want to get it so right before I start moving toward querying as I plan to do this summer. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSEeWBRSsR2aTwC8rDjAXkA twitter @scripturienting or on Facebook The Scripturient 101 and Follow me on instagram @scripturient101 |
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