Dear Writing Diary Entry #23

The Last Dear Writing Diary Entry of 2024!

December 11^th, 2024

In this entry, I talk about preparing a special digital art piece for my ARC readers, several current writing projects I’m working on, and other publishing preparations before my debut fantasy release in only 2 months!

After over a decade of wishing to be published, it felt absolutely magical to be able to read my soon-to-be published book beneath the Christmas tree lights in my childhood home.

*Reminder: If you would like to read and review a free advanced copy of my debut fantasy THE FATED, you can apply here. Those selected to receive an advanced copy will also receive a free short fantasy story as well as some fun graphic artwork I created.

Dear Writing Diary,

These last couple of weeks have been tough due to unpredictable circumstances, but one of things that has helped me the most is focusing on my writing and publishing preparations. When I encounter difficulties and tragedy in my life, I can’t help but pour myself into my stories. While I can’t deny there is definitely an escapism aspect to this process, I believe that for me at least the most therapeutic and empowering action I can take is to create something of my own in response.

Here are a few things I’ve been working on lately:

1) A special digital art piece for my ARC Readers.

I had a lot of fun designing a fun piece of digital artwork for the ARC readers of THE FATED who leave reviews. I won’t yet reveal the artwork in full since I want to keep it a surprise, but I loved being able to incorporate sections of the book cover I designed into this artwork as well. Here is a sneak peak of some of the art piece’s elements below:

2) Software for Amazon keywords & key categories

I jumped on the Black Friday Deal for buying Publisher Rocket, a software that helps authors choose strategic keywords and key categories for the books they publish on Amazon. It’s too soon to say whether or not the keywords and key categories I selected were effective since I haven’t published yet. But I can say the software was easy to use, and I found the included tutorial videos very informative.

3) Preparing my ARCs

Now that the February publishing date of THE FATED is only 2 months away (I can’t believe it!), I’ve been working on how I actually plan to distribute my ARCs to readers. To do this, I will be using BookFunnel, which is a service that distributes ARCs and books to readers in a variety of ways. So far, like Publisher Rocket, BookFunnel seems easy to use, and I especially appreciate its ability to watermark ARCs for anti-pirating purposes.

4) New Novel(s?) and Short Story in the Works!

Last but definitely not least, I’ve been writing, of course! I’m in the process of revising a previously completed novel that went through several rounds of edits with my former literary agent. This will be an urban fantasy and the first of a duology that I am so excited to bring to life. I also accidentally started a short story. I say “accidentally” because I originally intended to jot down only a few notes and a very broad outline of the story one day—but then I kept writing. As of now, the novel will take priority, but this fun new fantasy short story seems to keep barging in on my thoughts, so we will see how it goes. Here is a photo I took while writing on an early morning flight a few days ago:

Just me writing and dreaming among the clouds.

Well, that’s my recap of what I’ve been up to recently amidst life’s upheavals and the increasing holiday festivities. I’m looking forward to taking some time off at the end of this month to relax and recharge, so this will be the last Dear Writing Diary entry of 2024! Thank you, everyone who reads these diary entries and who has supported my writing journey throughout its ups and downs this year. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all who celebrate, and I so look forward to writing to you in the New Year.

Here's to seeing what 2025 holds.
-K

P.S. Whoever’s reading this, if you’ve enjoyed these glimpses into my writing life, could you please hit the subscribe button? I would love to share more of my writing journey with you in the future. :)