2K Tuesday & The Silmaril Awards!

Hi, hey, hello there!

So.

I have not written a blog post in almost a month.

Whoops. XD

This is what happens, I suppose, when life gets busy and one is neck-deep in rewriting one’s novel — one can sort of forget that they have a blog. :’) At any rate, my sincerest apologies, my dear readers! Know that I did not abandon you all and that I am still well and alive and that I hope you’ve all had a wonderful summer!! <3

However, though I may have neglected this blog for a bit, this does not mean I haven’t been doing anything, and today, I thought I’d pop back in with a brief, little writing update for y’all! This is a rather chaotic, not-so-polished update, so please don’t mind if I ramble on a bit too much here. XD

But first, do let me know down in the comments how you’ve all been! I’ve missed you guys! How have your novels been faring? Hit any milestones? Read any good books? I’d love to hear from y’all! ^^

(Oh yeah and also, HAPPY SEPTEMBER!!!!!!!!)

Writing

I WROTE TWO THOUSAND WORDS TODAY HUZZAHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (And today happens to be a Tuesday! Making this a 2K Tuesday!!!)

As I’m sure you can tell, I’m just a tad bit overexcited about this. XD Lately, I’ve been working on rewrites for my middle-grade fantasy, Island Keepers, and things have been going surprisingly well! Though I put this project down in January because of stress and burnout, it has truly been wonderful getting back into writing it! I love my characters so so much, as well as the magic/history of this world, and I don’t believe I would trade the joy of writing this book for anything. (Even if I do get stuck in a rut from time to time.)

This story is currently sitting at around 29K words. There’s much to rewrite and untangle, but I’ve been loving the process of exploring the world once more! I’ve just finished writing the Inciting Incident — and yes, I am 29,597 words into the story and I’ve only just finished writing the Inciting Incident. What of it? XD

I’ve also been trying to get myself back into a good writing routine/rhythm lately, and part of that has involved me making a goal for September! Now, writing goals are either… well, one could say that, for me, they end up either being a spectacular success or a spectacular disaster. (*cough* NaNoWriMo *cough*)

I can (sometimes) tend to get a tad too competitive when it comes to writing goals or challenges, and I end up pushing myself far more than I need to. I focus on the word count goal instead of the actual story, and I end up paying wretchedly for it when the time for editing rolls around. Alas, alack.

However, I chose a somewhat smaller goal for September (smaller than NaNoWriMo anyway!) to keep me motivated — a goal of 30,000 by October 1st! I’ve fallen behind a few days, but tisn’t that big of a deal, so it’s been going well!

I’ve found that it’s so much easier to start (and keep) writing if you let go of expectations, of perfectionism, of pressure, and just… let the words flow. Listen to the story. Ask yourself, “What happens next?” Write that. Of course, I know it’s often easier said than done, but trust me, tis much easier to write when you are not stressing over every single word in thine sentence.

Oh yes, and in case you don’t know, this nifty thing I’m using is MyWriteClub! Twas most popular in 2014, I think. (This I know from watching old AuthorTube vlogs and quite a lot of folks used this!) So I thought I’d give it a go, and I love it! It’s simple, it doesn’t nag you if you fall behind on your daily word count, and there are worldwide writing sprints that happen every half hour! It’s a site that I certainly recommend!

(You can also have writing buddies on there, where you can see each other’s goals and cheer each other on! Tis most fun! I have none, mainly because I am uncertain as to whether anyone actually still uses MyWriteClub. XD)

Other Happenings

~ My friend went to the US and Canada this summer and she brought me back the cutest mug!!! I love it so much!!!!!!! (And there is a K on it! For my pen name’s last name’s initial!)

~ Kept losing at online chess over at Lichess. Ah well, I’m sure I’ll improve. At some point. XD Maybe. Either way, it’s fun!

~ Got some book mail!!! 😀

~ I also found an old notebook of mine from when I was young in which I’d written an unfinished story about a bunny and a magical bridge! It is actually… not that great. Tis a interesting concept though. Perhaps I shall rewrite it someday.

The Silmaril Awards!

This is so much fun, y’all!! Alas, I missed out on this last year because I did not know these existed, but this year, the awards are happening again, and you readers get the chance to nominate your favorite characters from fantasy books you’ve read!! There are all sorts of fun categories like, “Most Magnificent Dragon”, “Most Faithful Friend”, “Most Nefarious Villain”, etc.

Characters from any fantasy books are elegible, save for Tolkien and Narnia characters.

And if any of y’all have read the Enchantria books, you can, ahem, also nominate characters from them for the awards! (If you so wish to, of course. ;D)

Of course, I am not saying you have to.

I am merely informing you that this is an option. :))

An option which I (and also my characters!) would be, naturally, most delighted if you happened to choose to do so.

No pressure though. None whatsoever.

Ahem.

Anyway.

(But truly, if any one of my characters has a special place in your heart, I — and said character — would be delighted to see them nominated and it’d mean a lot to me! <3)

You can find the page for the Silmaril Awards here: https://www.silmarilawards.com/2026-silmaril-award-nominations-open/

(Also, a thank you to my good friend Journey Bloomfield for texting me about this, otherwise I would’ve completely missed out on these again this year. XD)

~ ~ ~

Aaand there you have it, folks! A little rambly update as to where I vanished off to these past few weeks. Life is still a little chaotic for me to be blogging as often as I was before, but I shall try to stick to at least one post every two weeks! (Instead of disappearing off into the void….)

Do let me know down in the comments how you all are doing! And also if you’ll be nominating characters for the Silmaril Awards! I love hearing from y’all!

Till next time and wishing y’all a fantastic autumn!

-Isabelle

P.S. Oh yes, and I also found this thing over on Substack! Tis most fun. Let me know which reader you are! I myself am a Loyalist, I think.