Welcome back to my Monday’s Mug where you will hang out with me for a little bit, and I will catch you up on what has happened. I am drinking some tea tonight because I just like the warming feelings and it makes me feel like fall is closer than it really is. Would you like some tea as well? Let's go out to the deck and sit for a while there is a gentle breeze tonight. 

I have been doing StoryADay for September you may have heard me talk about them previously. This is an event that happens in May and September, but we keep in touch all year round in the SuperStars group. I have been writing short stories consistently for the month. I will have a lot of stories to go through and revise. It has not always been easy nor have all my stories been the length I am used to writing in college, but it is progress. I think growth is what matters.

I am looking forward to editing a chapter of my book and sending it to a writing friend of mine. It has been a couple months since I have looked at my book and worked on it again. I have the first draft completed, but I am not sure what else should happen in the story. I will be doing a full edit of it December. Though my writer friend does not know yet, she will be getting a chapter, I hope she won't mind. I had promised her a paragraph months ago, and I still haven't gotten one to her. I think maybe I should send a paragraph first to be fair. 

I have another story I am editing for some other friends to look over about a talking cat. I usually don't write about animals talking, but it was a fun experiment, and I am out of my comfort zone. I need more opinions about it. It has been a long time since I have been through these types of workshopping groups, and I am a little nervous. However, no one has accomplished anything in their comfort zone, and I am throwing my zone out the window. 

I'm grabbing some more tea would you like some more? I will get a blanket as well it is getting cool tonight. 

I am working out a plan for the last few months of the year. It is a break down of what I need to finish top priority (revisions) and what I really need to get completed in this last quarter (outline and new novel). There is a 30-day plan I will follow for character and plot development for my new book next month, so all my ducks are in a row for NaNoWriMo. Then, in November, when I will be cranking out my novel. In the fall and spring are when I feel like I do my best work, perhaps in the world of transition. I want to send a few things out to publish as well. I have messed up and gotten off my plan for sure this year. However, it isn't the number of times you fall down but that you get back up again.

This has been an exciting time for getting to know people in my writing community even though I am quieter than most I have enjoyed my time this year with the StoryADay community. I would advise you to get involved in NaNoWriMo is you are a writer even if you don't want to write the novel. It is nice to have a community when you do something that usually is a solo adventure. 

Don't forget to just write.