2020 Recap for Lilly Avalon

This year has been a year full of ups and downs. The pandemic put us all through a range of emotions and fears. Life was different and we all had to make adjustments. We've had blessings and losses. My husband's job has had down days and weeks, which meant going through the ridiculously long and painful trouble of filing for temporary unemployment to make ends meet. I had an emergency visit to the hospital where it was discovered that I had an ovarian cyst that I had to get removed just this month. On the other hand, my husband and I found success in our eBay business, which meant we were able to stay afloat and start paying down some debts.

Despite it being such a rollercoaster, I was still able to do a lot more than I thought was possible, especially when it came to making progress with regard to writing and publishing.

After nearly a year hiatus, I began writing a new series in November of 2019. I finished writing the first drafts of the novellas in early 2020, then began working on revisions right away. The first book, Desiring the Dancer, released on August 31st 2020. It had been a year and a half since I published a new book, so it was such a good feeling. Enticing the Escort and Seducing the Star shortly followed (on September 14th and 28th respectively).

Writing these books has been such a boost when it comes to believing in myself and my writing. For a long time, I doubted my ability to write a decent story. There were a number of starts and stops along the way, not to mention really (and I mean REALLY) crappy first chapters of stories I never ended up finishing. On my bad days, I told myself I should probably quit and focus on something I'm actually good at. Then on my good days, I reminded myself that I needed time to find my voice again.

The good days were what allowed me to achieve what I did this year.

Even though I haven't been able to start a new story since publishing the novella series, I haven't given up on myself. There have been some speedbumps and some learning about what sort of stories I have the most passion for, but I'm continuing to make progress. It may be slower than I wanted it to be, but that's okay. Good things take time. Good stories sometimes need time to become what they need to be and I'm happy to wait a little bit longer to find out what it is.

Thank you for joining me on this journey and for reading my words. You have no idea how much it means to me that my stories have brought smiles to the faces of my readers and fans. You're amazing and I hope that 2021 will bring you the blessings you deserve.

Lilly Avalon Monthly Writing Update #8 for December 2020

Every month I share an update about what I'm writing in my Monthly Writing Update!

Here's the latest for the month of December.

If you look at my November update, my main goal for the month was to recover from my surgery and outline some books.

Have I accomplished this?

My surgery happened on December 15th, went very well, and I've been recovering nicely. The first few days were difficult because it was hard to lift myself up from lying down. My husband had to assist me a couple times. Naps have been my best friend. I've slowly been doing a little more every day, but making sure to pace myself so that I don't overdo anything and cause myself any pain.

When it comes to outlining, I did do a little bit of outlining for a new project. Not a lot, mind you, given the fact that I had a lot to do before surgery and then not being able to do much post-surgery. However, I still feel like I've been making some progress despite having all these roadblocks and obstacles in the way.

Am I on track?

I still have plenty more to outline in this new story, but given the circumstances, I feel like I've been doing fairly well. Could I have outlined more? Of course. Does it bother me that I didn't? Not really. It was a rough month of various challenges and I feel like I did what I could and I don't want to give myself any grief for not doing more. Progress is progress, and I'm happy with where I'm currently at.

Goals for January

In the midst of surgery recovery, I was thinking about the goals I want to set for the new year. I began writing up an extensive list of things to accomplish. This was a larger than life and basically impossible type of list, lol, but I mostly wanted to get all the potential plans written down, even if I wouldn't be remotely able to handle all of them. Sometimes it's good to just brain dump everything you're thinking about.

As far as what I'd like to do specifically for January, I want to finish outlining my next book and begin writing it. I'm still recovering from the surgery, so I'm unsure how things will be next month just yet. Tomorrow marks two weeks since the surgery and I have a follow-up appointment next week with my surgeon. Who knows? Maybe I'll be feeling extremely well by January and able to do ten times as much as I can do right now. Let's hope that my recovery continues to improve every day so I can reach that point again.

Love you all lots and I wish you a happy and safe new year!

Lilly Avalon Monthly Writing Update #7 for November 2020

Every month I share an update about what I'm writing in my Monthly Writing Update!

Here's the latest for the month of November.

If you look at my October update, my main goal for the month was to participate in a half-NaNoWriMo by aiming for 25,000 words.

Have I accomplished this?

Unfortunately, no. And surprisingly it wasn't me sabotaging myself or losing motivation or inspiration.

On November 3rd, I found myself throwing up and feeling a sharp pain in my lower abdomen. My husband took me to the hospital and I found out that I had an inflamed bowel and an ovarian cyst. The former was treatable with antibiotics, and the latter will require surgery. For about a week after returning home from the hospital, I wasn't able to do much without aggravating the pain in my abdomen from the cyst. Even though I can do more now (most days), I'm still trying to pace myself so that I don't overdo it in any way and cause myself to go back to the hospital.

As of right now, I should be hearing from the surgery scheduler this week. My doctor told me that I should get the cyst removed by the end of the year, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get an appointment soon. My husband will have to take time off work to take me there and take care of me after. I've heard varying stories on recovery times, from a few days to a few weeks. I'm hoping I can be back on my feet as quickly as possible.

Am I on track?

I did manage to get 1453 words in before everything happened. After I was home and attempting to do work on the computer, I realized that I needed to take a step back from writing until I was more able to focus on it. Instead, I've been working ahead on my online businesses so that I can have as much done as possible before I get the surgery. I've also been getting all my Christmas shopping done early so that everything is ready to mail or drop off at houses.

Goals for December

My surgery is likely to be in December and that means most of the month is shot as far as writing goes. However, I did take a moment recently to plan out what I'd like to publish in 2021. It's a makeshift schedule, which I'll likely have to change around depending on how things go in the near future, but it felt good to make plans.

I would like to, at the very least, spend some time in early December writing outlines for 2021 books. I've changed my mind (yet again) about which book is next. But that's okay! I have ideas upon ideas, and sometimes certain ones take longer to fully form into complete stories.

If you could keep me in your thoughts and your prayers, I would greatly appreciate it. This has been a bit of a wrench in our life, but my husband and I are hanging in there and staying positive.

In the meantime, please stay safe out there! Take care and I love you all! 

Lilly Avalon Monthly Writing Update #6 for October 2020

Every month I share an update about what I'm writing in my Monthly Writing Update!

Here's the latest for the month of October.

If you look at my September update, my main goals for this month were to decide on which book to write next and get started on writing the book.

Have I accomplished this?

Sort of? I debated on which book to write next for most of the month, but then had an epiphany about which one it should be. For the last couple of months, I've been forcing myself to write stories I wasn't passionate about. They weren't bad stories... just weren't stories I needed to tell at this time. Stories that needed work. Stories that needed to be fleshed out more.

This new story is going to be a big task because it's much different than my usual stories. It will be packed with emotion, hard doses of reality, and will more than likely make me cry. It's still a romance, but will have a lot centered on my main character and how she discovers her true self outside of what society told her she needed to be.

Am I on track?

Years ago, I started to write an outline for this story. It was a really simple one, with only a few sentences per chapter. I pulled that back up and began tweaking it more to detail each scene, as well as coming up with all the characters I knew existed in this world. I created character profiles and setting profiles, and will be writing them down on index cards to have handy. I even created a secret Pinterest board (which I'll be sharing someday, of course) for inspiration.

After reading 2000 to 10,000 by Rachel Aaron, I know I can get back to writing on a regular basis and increase my daily word counts if I outline well enough. I'm hoping I've been able to outline this new story enough to start putting what I read into practice.

Goals for November

To start this new story! November is NaNoWriMo, so I'm planning on making the most of it by cheering others on and taking in all the daily motivation from my fellow writers. I may not get 50,000 words (spoiler alert, there's a 99.99% chance I will not), but if I can at least get some words that would make me happy. I would like to aim for a "Half-NaNo" with 25,000 words, but we'll see if I can manage it.

In the meantime, please stay safe out there! Take care and I love you all!

Lilly Avalon Monthly Writing Update #5 for September 2020

Every month I share an update about what I'm writing in my Monthly Writing Update!

Here's the latest for the month of September.

If you look at my August update, my main goals for this month were to write 10,000 words in 30 days (or about 333 words a day) and to continue to prepare for two new releases.

Have I accomplished this?

My new releases went very well and I'm super happy that I was finally able to share these books in the Risqué series with you all. If you missed getting your copies, you can go here to get them.

As for the writing...

Well... I tried.

Early on in the month, I was doing okay. In fact, I managed to get 5000 words written total in the new story. Then I hit a snag... at the same scene yet again. You see, this story was one I tried to write before. However, this time I changed around circumstances to make the plot make sense. Which was good, but the scene is just so DULL. It made me think that maybe I need to step away from it and reconsider this as my next project or find a way to flesh out the details so that the characters aren't so flat and the dialogue isn't so boring.

Then near the end of the month, I got sick. This definitely didn't make progress on writing easier. I'm currently on the mend and it likely was a head cold or something else that isn't COVID.

Am I on track?

I'm getting back on track again. Even though I didn't meet my goal of 10k words on this new story, I figured out early on that this story wasn't quite ready yet. And that's a good thing! Sometimes it's better to set a project aside instead of pushing through it and being dissatisfied with the end result.

Instead, I've been going through all my story ideas. The ones I've outlined, the ones I wrote scenes for, the ones that are just general ideas with and without a plot, etc. I have a bunch of them started in my Google Docs, but they were so jumbled I couldn't remember what I wrote for what. So I went through each of them one by one, reading over my notes. Then I added to the titles whether they were outlined, if they were short stories, novellas, or novels, or if they have been started. That way I can tell at a glance what's what in my folder.

September ended up being more of a regroup and rest type of month. It's the last month of the third quarter and I accomplished a lot more than I thought I would. So, I'm excited to plan ahead for the rest of 2020!

Goals for October

Figure out what's next! There's a possibility the story I started might be next if I can work out the details, but I may set it aside for now. I have SO MANY ideas that I'm sure I can find one to write.

Once I decide, then I can outline and make notes on important details of characters. I may start writing the story in October, but I think I'll try to get the bulk of the story written in November during NaNoWriMo. I don't think I can handle a 50,000-word month in November, but I'm going to aim for half that at least. I wrote 20k last year during NaNo, so 25k shouldn't be too much of a stretch if I outline right! And even if I can't reach that goal, any writing would be a good thing.

In the meantime, please stay safe out there! Take care and I love you all!