Ducks!!! | in which i share a writing update as well as laptop stickers

Hello, all my fellow bookworms and writers and bookish people and random wanderers of the interwebs!! Phew, that was long. I hope you’ve all been having a wonderful week, full of writing and reading and tea! Or, if like me, thou art currently stuck in a heatwave, great gallons of nice, cold orange juice!!! *nod nod* Orange juice. It is splendid in summer.

Today, I thought perhaps I might share a little writing update. Seeing as it is March, and I had a great deal of goals for March, I thought that I would share some of them with y’all! :)) But first, we must get to the important things.

Ducks.

(These photos are not mine, I snurched them from Pinterest and decided to share with y’all, because DUCKS. Everybody needs a little joy in their lives, in my not-so-humble opinion, and what better joy is there — especially in spring — than ducks?)

Look at them?? Aren’t they utterly adorable?? They’re so cute!! With their fluffy white feathers, the way they waddle about.

Aaand another duck!

And more ducks!!!

And DUCKLINGS!!!

Look at these gorgeous little beauties? Aren’t you just so very glad that God created them? (And aren’t they just so adorable and the perfect daily dose of duckling joy??)

And duck stickers!

Anyway, now that I have given you your daily dose of delightful ducks, we may head on with this writing update. ^^ And I do know that I’ve fallen behind on blogging a bit, and for that, I apologize. Things have been terribly crazy over here, and tis hard to carve out time to blog! I do hope I’ll be able to get back to it once we get back home though! *clears throat* At any rate, we have dilly-dallied enough, and so let us get on with the update! :))

Writing

It has been going… surprisingly well, actually. I recently set down my previous WIP, Island Keepers, (dear old troublesome thing has been laid to rest till the first draft of this book has been completed), and since then, I’ve just been having such a good time with this new book!! I will admit, I haven’t been writing as much as I would like to, mainly because just… well, life. We’re heading home to China soon, after six months of living in Thailand, and I am going to miss this place so very much. <3 Hence why we are currently trying to spend the next two weeks doing as much as we possibly can before we have to get home.

I have, however, managed to write around 1,000 words a day, which I am so very delighted about!! I do think I may have found a writing routine (tis not much of a “routine”, really) that works for me — seeing as I don’t have time to write during the day, I will often write at 11 PM for precisely 45 minutes, which is enough time for me to write around 1,000 words. So HUZZAH! I’ve managed to make good progress on my story with this, and my book is currently sitting at around 30,000 words!

I have also had a splendid time writing the villain of this story…

I cannot share too much but…

Mwehehehe….

She is… so very fun to write. She’s only appeared in one scene, where the main character does not really know she is the villain, but I adore her. And there is also this fun scene in my book which I am just getting to, and I am having such a wonderful time writing all these new characters! <3 I do hope to share the story with y’all sometime later when I’m done with the first draft. 🙂 Or possibly second. Who knows?

I have also been working on this delightful short story on the side, and it is so very magical and whimsical and cozy, and I love it so much!! For now, the title is WINDLE, and I fear it may end up ballooning to 10,000 words at this point… Tis one of those stories though. One of those short stories that demands depth and attention and intricate detailed worldbuilding that keeps sucking you in till you realized you have gone far over the word count for the contest.

*nod nod*

I don’t really know what I’m going to do with this short story when I’m done. But at this moment, I don’t really care, and I’m just going to keep writing it to my heart’s content. XD I might try to submit it to some magazines or contests, after editing it. Or I’ll end up putting it up here on this little blog.

Reading

Reading has been going most splendidly. I’ve been reading some wonderful books this month, including a classic which has now become one of my favorite books of all time because it is so good and cozy and beautiful — Little Women by Louisa May Alcott.

The story is gorgeous.

Oh my goodness. I could write a whole blog post on Little Women. I first saw the 1994 film (the one with Winona Ryder), and I fell in love with it. It was so cozy and full of heart and life and the actors all portrayed the four sisters perfectly. It is one of the few films that has made me sob once it was over, and… just such a wonderful movie. And it was in early March that my dear friend, Agnes Crisler, finally recommended the book to me.

So I finally took it as my sign to go and read the book.

And it is so beautiful. <33 I love it so much. I’ve only read Part One of it so far (Part Two is what was originally Good Wives and was eventually combined into Little Women, I believe), but it is just gorgeous. The descriptions are so perfect, and the world feels so lived in and real. The March sisters are just as real and dear to me as friends, and they’re so full of heart and life, and just… so good. Everyone must read Little Women at least once in their life. *nod nod*

And also, the quotes. This is a very quotable book, and I’ve actually taken to writing a great deal of Little Women quotes in my journal.

“Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault.”

Marmee is one of my favorite characters.

And Beth. Dear Beth. She is my absolute favorite. She is so sweet and lovely, and I know I will sob when I get to her death. (I was actually debating whether or not to continue on to Part Two, because I didn’t want Beth to die and wanted to live in my blissful imagination, where Beth and all the others got a perfect happy ending. Alas, I cannot resist the siren call of more books…)

Art

I must admit, I have not been focusing as much on art as I would like. I’ve been struggling to find time to do art, but I’ve still enjoyed doing a few sketches here and there! I did, however, do a watercolor painting of Arwen and Aragorn from LOTR and I am utterly thrilled with how it turned out!!

Ta-da!! Ignore the unholy mess around it. Painting is a messy thing anyway.

I did struggle with the silhouettes a great deal while painting this, but I’m still pleasantly surprised with how well this turned out!! It’s my favorite piece of Lord of the Rings art I’ve done!!

I also did this sketch of a fox a little while ago as well:

I was debating whether or not to name this fox Cass or Castra. *shrug* I still have not made up my mind on a name for her though.

So there you have it, folks! That is what I have been up to these past few weeks!! Again, I do sincerely apologize for not being as active on my blog. Things ought to cool down sometime in April though! But till then, do let me know what you thought down in the comments or if you have Anything of Interest you’d like to share! :)) I love hearing from y’all!

And before I leave, I must ask you a most important two questions: Do you like ducks? Do you like pigeons?

I swear this will make sense sometime soon.

Till next time, and wishing y’all a wonderful week!!

-Isabelle

P.S. Am I the only one who is listening to Josiah Queen on repeat at the moment? His music is splendid, and I have just been listening to I am Barrabus on repeat. It is so good!!!!!! If you haven’t already, you simply must go and give him a listen!