Despite how busy my July has been, it feels like the month has dragged itself across the searing pavement, inch by inch, before finally dropping at the feet of August. Between social obligations, family trips, and plenty of stress at work, I’m glad to see the end of it. But it wasn’t all bad. I got to spend time with dear friends I hadn’t seen in over a year, play some fun games, and eat delicious food of all kinds.
Writing update
Line edits for The Devouring are well underway. My goal is to finish edits and retype the manuscript by September 30, which means I strive to edit 4 pages every day, if not more. At first, my pace was quite slow. As it turns out, line edits use a totally different part of the brain than what brainstorming, drafting, and big picture revisions use–a part I never really exercised in the past. Couple that with line editing being a very unfamiliar process, and I tired quickly from the effort. I only managed to edit 6-8 pages before I had to take a mental break.
Then I had a helpful and validating conversation with the Bluesky writing community about adverbs, which led to comments about how too much editing can cause a writer to lose their unique voice. Their prose becomes too dry, boring, and flat. I’d sensed this happening to my writing a couple times already at this point but didn’t know what to do about it. These comments from other writers made me realize I had to maintain my voice no matter what, even if conventional writing wisdom advises to edit a sentence this way or that way. And anyway, writing rules are merely guidelines—something I often forget. I need to shake my tendency for strict adherence to direct commands of any kind, especially when it comes to something as subjective as art.
After this exchange, my line edits became less brutal and I picked up my pace. I started to finish 10, 12, and 16 pages each day. Right now, I’m 33% finished the entire manuscript, though I haven’t touched it in a few days because of travel and, subsequently, catching up on other tasks. My goal is to resume tomorrow, if not this evening, and continue my stride.
I also managed to figure out the plot of Sharp of Fang, Long of Claw this month. I’d been struggling with it for weeks and was despairing at how much trouble it was giving me. I thought it was best to start over with a clean slate. Fortunately, I realized I was simply trying to include too much in the story. After reducing it from two POVs to one, thereby removing a character arc, I successfully outlined a plot I like and started filling in the scenes.
Besides that, I also brainstormed more for “SpaceWIP”—mostly in the realm of spacecraft types and fleet size. It’s too early to do too much brainstorming for this project, but some worldbuilding here and there doesn’t hurt.
Recent delights
- Like the rest of the Internet, I watched K-Pop Demon Hunters and absolutely loved it. At this point, I’ve watched it about six times! I played the main songs on repeat for days after my first viewing and even tried teaching myself the lyrics for one of the songs, “What It Sounds Like.” The best thing, though, was catching my husband playing the songs in his own office at the same time I was playing them in mine!
- I finally got around to reading What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher. It’s been on my to-read list for months, especially since it falls within the realm of horror I enjoy—that is, when things are more sentient than they ought to be. After the slow start of the first three chapters, I was riveted. Some reviewers complained that you know the gist of the whole story from the cover plus the fact it’s a retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher,” but knowing actually made the story more exciting to me. I wanted to see how T. Kingfisher wove it all together, and I wasn’t disappointed one bit.
A. M. Shilling 
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