Happy September! The cozy season is finally upon us. If you read my last newsletter, you know I love summer, but I’m truly ready for crisp weather, crunchy leaves, and pumpkin everything. That and curling up in front of my laptop with a blanket tucked around my shoulders.
Before I get into updates, I wanted to talk about a little something called the power of consistency. But to talk about that, I have to talk about one of my other passions: fitness. About three months ago, I decided to sign up to a challenging competition that I felt would really push me. I’d have to dig deep if I wanted to finish—and when I signed up, I truly wasn’t sure if I COULD finish. But most importantly, I’d really have to train hard.
I love having goals, and having a date written in the calendar really motivates me. And so I wrote myself a training plan, one that would require a consistent effort for six months. I have to show up every week and do my planned sessions.
I’ve been training hard in the gym for years now, but I’ll admit, I’ve struggled with consistency at times. When it was storming outside or I was a little more tired than usual, it was easy to say, “I can skip today. It doesn’t really matter.” And my five days a week plan would turn into three, or even one. But because I so badly want to finish this race, I haven’t been skipping sessions. Not a single one. Five times a week, every week, I’ve been showing up.
And something magical started happening. Little by little, so little I didn’t notice for a while…I started getting better. Running a little faster. Lifting heavier. Hitting PBs after being on a year-long plateau.
I’ve been doing this for three months now (halfway through!), which isn’t even that long in the grand scheme of things, and I can honestly say that this structured consistency has made me feel like I’m the fittest I’ve been in my entire life, and I’m 44 years old. And I feel pretty confident I can finish that race now.
(Of course, I haven’t done it yet. It’s in November. I’ll let you know it goes.)
Okay, but what does this have to do with books?
Everything. Absolutely everything. I’ve often written books in a very stressful way—inconsistently chipping away at it for a long time (3k one day, zero the next, 1k the next and then zero for two more days), then writing a large chunk of it in a short period of time while skimping on sleep and drinking far too much coffee.
This is not ideal! And it doesn’t have to be this way. And so as I’ve been training for this competition and seeing the benefits, I’ve tried to become more consistent with my daily writing, too. I made my daily word count target smaller, which made it feel more doable, which means I’ve been getting it done every day. It also means I’ve had a very productive summer, along with having an actual social life and all without feeling like I can see through time from sleep deprivation.
All of this to say, I’m clearly someone who thrives on routines and plans. Deep down, I’ve always known this about myself, but it’s taken me a while to really get it. All it took was signing up to something that scares me. And if you’re like me, I hope you take this as a sign to aim high and get planning.
New release this month
I’m excited to share that the audiobook for Devilish Deal is releasing this month! It’s narrated by the lovely Madeleine Dauer and will be out tomorrow (September 9th). You can check it out by clicking here. And if you’re on Netgalley, you can grab an early review copy here.
Upcoming events
October 4: Les Halliennales in France, signing at the Éditions du Chat Noir table all day
October 24: MCM London Comic Con, speaking on the Writer’s Block Stage with Ingram Spark at 5-6pm
Works in progress
As I said, I’ve had a productive summer, but unfortunately, I can’t share much about any of my projects quite yet!
Project Heir: This is my new romantasy, currently in edits. Very excited to share more about it very soon.
Project Villains: Made some great progress on this. I realized I made a wrong turn and had to delete some words, but that’s just how these things go sometimes. Getting the story right is what’s most important.
Project Pumpkin: The witchy rom com of my dreams. It’s in the proposal stage, and I’m hoping all the stars will align with this one.
Falling for Fables: There will be a fifth standalone set in this world, but I don’t have a planned release date for this as of now.
Well, that’s it for now. Back into my writing hobbit hole I go. I’ll be back in a month with more musings and updates. In the meantime, happy reading!
Always,
Jenna
Looking forward to your next write!