I'm Angela, an on-again-off-again writer with a fantasy/magical realism bent. I also work as a book editor and memoir ghostwriter, so recently I've been focused more on other people's words than my own (I know—excuses, excuses). When I'm not absorbed in Merriam-Webster or Chicago Manual of Style, my other office is a boat on the river, where I'm either coaching a rowing team or rowing myself. I've published a bit in poetry and shortform narrative nonfiction, but I'm still hoping to finish one of the novel-length WIPs in my folder someday soon, even if it never sees a bookshelf! Looking forward to learning and writing with all of you. Always happy to nerd out about books, focaccia, and anything linguistics 😎

Hello all! Late to the party but happy to be joining! My name is Brindizi and I love reading, writing, and teaching--especially when it comes to teens. I've taught at a junior high school for three years and will be moving to teach in South Korea next month! I love all kinds of books and my current WIP is a YA travel abroad romance. I'm happy to swap books and give/receive feedback!

Word count: 5542 I had a good thing going for the first five days, then I missed a day . . . and then another . . . and now here we are 😅 My strategy was writing at night after work, but naturally it became more enticing to do other things instead. So my new plan is to write in the morning, or at least earlier in the day rather than just saving writing for last. I’m not so far behind I can’t catch up, so here’s to being on track at my week 2 check-in!

I'm (hopefully) about 20k away from the end of my current WIP so I'm getting closer to the editing stage for this novel. I'm curious, what do you typically look for when you are editing the first draft of your novel? Or any draft! I already know there will be plenty of grammar and spelling to fix, but I'm wondering how do you take your first draft to a final, polished draft that works really well?

I've been trying to get better at plotting and so I'm learning about different methods authors use to plot their stories before drafting. What is your favorite plotting method?