When Death Is Coming won an award!!

The best motivation for editing my book 3 draft

Welcome to Rooted in Reveries! Each newsletter, I share something I’m learning, something I’m celebrating, how I’m struggling, and how I’m resting.

🧠 LEARNING 🧠

Sometimes, cutting a scene is what allows others to shine!

In my last draft I book three (When Death Is Hiding), I had two fairly similar scenes near the end of the book. One character meets an important character at a significant spot... And then not long after, another important meeting happens in that same place.

Both meetings are important... but we only need to see one of them on the page.

It’s hard to say goodbye to a scene I enjoyed. Writing it out while drafting helped me understand the characters and resolution better.

But in the end, cutting one scene will allow the MOST important scene out of those two to shine. I’m about to rewrite it, and I can already feel it blossoming.

🎉 CELEBRATING 🎉

When Death Is Coming won a Realm Award!! I’m still in disbelief.

• Sci-fi Category: WINNER!

• Debut Category: Honorable Mention!

• Book of the Year: Nominee!

Realm Makers is an organization that celebrates Christian authors who write speculative fiction. I received my award at the Realm Makers banquet in St Louis, where I got to meet some of my Bookstagram friends!!!

I’m also celebrating that I have an upcoming author event this Saturday, June 27th in Peoria, IL. There will be 20 authors with booths selling and signing our books at the Book Nook from 11am - 3pm. I can’t wait!

😫 STRUGGLING 😫

Oh man, I was exhausted after the Realm Awards. It was AMAZING, but I really needed to crash afterwards.

Relatedly, I've been in a reading slump for a while now. For some reason, I cannot get into anything sci-fi/fantasy right now. Maybe too much editing?

🧘‍♀️ RESTING 🧘‍♀️

I am currently reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry and arc reading On A Flight to Sydney by J.A. Forde (coming out in August) - both are SO GOOD!!

I haven’t been doing a great job of resting… but I am obsessed with this adorable self-care app called Finch. It’s so cute (this is not a paid promotion lol). You get a little bird (I named mine Happy), and you set daily goals for yourself. As you complete goals, you get “rainbow stones” that you use to buy clothes for your bird and furniture for your home. You can travel the world, and your bird learns things along the way!

My little bird is helping me take small steps toward slowing down and taking care of myself.

As you can see, I still need to beta read and edit today… off to it :)