This Thursday, August 13 at 7 p.m. MDT, StoryClub will be hosting an author Q&A with Brandon Mull, New York Times-bestselling author of the Fablehaven, Beyonders, and newly released Guardians series! A kinetic thinker, Brandon enjoys bouncy balls, squeezable stress toys, and popping bubble wrap. Brandon loves meeting his readers and hearing about their experiences with his books. You can learn more about Brandon's books on his website here. What questions do you have for Brandon? You'll also be able to ask questions real-time during the Q&A, but post any advance questions in the comments below 👇 Along with answering questions and giving general writing advice, Brandon will be talking about the upcoming film adaptation of Fablehaven by Angel Studios! By attending the event, you are also entered into a book giveaway contest to receive one of Brandon Mull's books 📚🏆 See you there!

I've been putting off my week 3 update, hoping that if I waited a few more days I would have more words to show for myself—but alas 😂 Today is technically my day 29, so I really should be doing my week 4 update tomorrow, but my current wordcount is 11,596. Funny enough, I'm not disappointed in that number; as @Brindizi Hamblin so wisely said on my last update, that's 11,596 words that I didn't have before! In fact, until this challenge, I hadn't really written anything in months. I'm just finding that I can either be stressed about reaching 30k in thirty days or I can embrace the creativity when and how it strikes. For example, this last week in the spare time I had to write, I found I wanted to paint instead. While there's certainly something to be said for writing and just getting the words down even when you don't want to, I decided that rather than forcing myself to write, I'd let my brain be creative in the way it felt inspired to. On the bright side, I've only actually written 12 days this month, so 11,596 words total averages out to almost 1k a day. So I feel like 30k in thirty days is certainly realistic, just maybe not thirty CONSECUTIVE days 🙃 (for me at least right now . . . props to all of you who are in it!) I'm going to keep writing, but I won't post my week 4 update until I've reached 30k and can reflect on the whole experience. Good luck to you all!

Little bit late in this update because I've been busy getting things ready for the big move to Korea but I am very pleased with what I was able to do as of Tuesday this week. I wrote 10,935 words with a total of 67,067 words total in my manuscript (And as a middle school teacher, that number is making me cringe a little because I can just see the kids waving their hands back and forth saying "six-seven!"). But I am SO proud of myself this week. I finally got to the climax and the scenes I have been daydreaming about forever. Some of the writing I had to push through but a lot of it I was just excited to write! My main character has quite a few little flaws but I would say her biggest flaw is that she can't trust or really accept love if it's not in her narrow definition of it. It ties in with the false belief that she's developed in her life that love is only love if it's earned through blood (DNA), history, or permanence. The only people in her life she could say she really loved fit in those categories. So when she goes on a trip abroad and is surprised by how quickly she bonds with the people on the tour, she has a hard time believing that they genuinely care about her because it doesn't fit in her idea of love. She has to change her belief before the end of the book to finally get what she needs. Stay tuned because I only have 3,000 words until I reach my goal and 2-3 chapters left of the story to write! I will hopefully do my final update today or tomorrow! 🎉

Ummmmmm maybe I should have waited to update Week 3 because I FINISHED! My first draft is currently capped at 70,148 words. I wrote a little less than 30k during these few weeks I have been doing this challenge, but my goal was to take this challenge and finish my book and I did it!! 🎉🎉🎉 I'm going to follow Erin Stewart's advice and give myself a week to catch up on a few other things that I've been putting aside while I've focused on this. Especially since I have 25 days until I move to the other side of the planet! Then I'm going to do a spelling/grammar revision before I send this off to my alpha readers (Because I also followed Ayana Gray's advice from the video and just got it out--regardless of how good or bad it was). I would love some beta readers in a little bit to help. If this story sounds like something you would be interested in reading and workshopping with me, please let me know! So here's my pitch for my YA Coming-of-Age Romance, LOST AND FOUND: Kate is about to begin a pre-college tour of Mexico and Belize, but she's not here for the opportunities to get to know her future classmates or professors. She's found the journal of her late mother containing clues that lead to the father she's never met. There's only one problem: the journal is written entirely in Spanish. Desperate for help, Kate looks to the charming Sebastien to translate the entries. Together they go on a scavenger hunt through unfamiliar cities and ancient ruins searching for the only family she has left. But the closer she gets to her father, the more difficult it becomes to ignore what she's been finding with Sebastien along the way.

At the end of week 3, I am at 10,891 words. Woof. I’m really falling behind the goal, despite my best efforts. I’ve had a serious block the last few days and it has really squashed my momentum. I’m trying to find ways to push through the block so I can increase my output again.