Mentorships, mayhem, and... lots of revisions

Welcome to the second issue of my newsletter! If you forgot it existed, well, I kind of did too. But that’s fine! I set this up with the intention of sending out missives only when I felt like it and/or had news to share. So, here we are!

Personal stuff

Honestly, the last month or so has been one of my worst episodes in a long time. I unexpectedly got hit with a lot of medical stuff—two cardiac-related ER visits, my first-ever concussion (I now have a lovely new scar smack in the middle of my forehead from fainting and whamming my head on the shower door—see ER visit #1), and getting sick on top of that.

This has all been quite stressful, probably needless to say, but hopefully I’m on the upswing now. I have a heart monitor that makes me feel like Iron Man. I have electrolyte supplements. I’m cleared to exercise again, which is vastly improving my mental health, and hopefully I will have some answers soon to prevent future episodes.

I tend to forget that I have disabilities most of the time because I’m so used to dealing with them, but then occasionally it’s impossible to avoid. It makes me even more keen to get my books out there so readers like me can feel seen.

Writing projects

The last few months have been very focused on revisions! I’ve done two rounds of revision with my wonderful agent and will be embarking on a third soon. This book will be going out to editors in early 2024!

In between rounds of edits, I’ve been drafting another fantasy project—a romantic adventure romp set in an alternate version of the southwest US that I’m describing as DnD: Honor Among Thieves meets American Gods, with a dash of Arthuriana. I’m aiming to add 10k words to the first draft for NaNoWriMo this month, which will bring the total word count so far to 50k. Here’s a mood board for that project:

And I finished my first draft of my first ever contemporary rom com in September! It’s on the back burner right now, but I’m planning to revise it soon and send it to beta readers.

Mentorship

In case you missed it on my social media, I’m mentoring for Round Table Mentor! It’s a *free* mentorship program with an emphasis on community and underrepresented voices. Applications opened on November 7 and close November 21!

There are 38 mentors across all age groups and genres! I’m mentoring adult and new adult fantasy. If you think of an unagented writer who this program might be a good fit for, please encourage them to apply!

Reading challenge

I started a reading challenge to encourage myself to actually read the books I’ve purchased but haven’t gotten around to yet “because I have plenty of time to read them later.” It’s called #OwnYourTBR, and the goal is simple: each month, from now until July, read at least one book you own.

If you want to join me, just post what you’re reading on any social media platform with the hashtag!

Book recommendations

I am apparently incapable of limiting myself to just one, so here are two books I loved recently, both novellas:

If Found, Return to Hell by Em X Liu is a charming novella about a wizard stuck in corporate hell who is charged with returning a demon prince to literal hell… a demon prince who definitely doesn’t want to go back.

Even Though I Knew the End by CL Polk is a queer noir novella about a detective who has only three days to track down a supernatural serial killer and reclaim her soul, which she sold to save a life. The last line of this one unexpectedly made me cry, in a good way.

Finally, a note about world events…

It feels wrong to send this newsletter without acknowledging the grief and horror of what’s happening in Palestine. If you can afford to donate, a few organizations doing good work are Doctors Without Borders and the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. I’ve also found this website to be a fantastic resource. It takes less than five minutes to sign the petition and contact your members of Congress.

That’s all for now! Stay bright as the days grow short,

Marina