Time Flies!: January 2015

January 30, 2015January 30, 2015 / saraletourneau / 9 Comments

[EDIT: Somehow I forgot there were 31 days in January, so this is accidentally going up one day early. *oops*]

No, that’s not possible. Another month hasn’t gone by yet. I’m still trying to get used to writing 2015 instead of 2014!

That pretty much sums up how I feel as I write Time Flies!: January 2015. The first month of this year went by way too quickly – and it was an awfully stressful month offline, which stalled my blog-writing for a while. I was forced to put articles for this site on the backburner just so I could meet my deadlines for my outside columns. So… yeah, January 2015 was a blur. Things look like they’re starting to slow down, though, so I’ve been able to start catching up and cross off items on my “to-do” list.

Let’s be more positive from here on, starting with the past month’s updates: Continue reading →

Time Flies: December 2014 Edition

December 31, 2014December 31, 2014 / saraletourneau / 9 Comments

Looking for this month’s Freelance Article Round-Up? It’s here – under a new name!

The Freelance Article Round-Up series will now be known as Time Flies!, a monthly wrap-up article that… well, does exactly what the Freelance Article Round-Ups had been doing. Originally, the round-ups were designed to share my columnist projects at A Bibliophile’s Reverie, Grub Street, and DIY MFA. Then I started including other happenings related to writing, this blog, and life in general. And so the round-ups evolved into something more – and a couple weeks ago, I realized the title didn’t fit the purpose anymore. What do you think of the new name? And the new logo? 🙂

Let’s jump right in with this month’s updates: Continue reading →

Freelance Article Round-Up: November 2014

November 30, 2014November 29, 2014 / saraletourneau / 6 Comments

Welcome to this month’s Freelance Article Round-Up! And a belated Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans and others who celebrate the holiday. I hope your travels were safe and smooth, and you enjoyed platefuls of delicious food and good company.

November turned out to be quite exciting, so I’ll start off with the new venture that launched a couple weeks ago.

DIY MFA

This month I joined the staff of DIY MFA for their new column Theme: A Story’s Soul. The ongoing series will explore the importance and wide variety of themes in literature, and how readers and writers alike can think about theme more consciously. Click here to read the column’s introductory article, “What Is Theme and Why Is It Important?”

Tea Time at Reverie (Tea Reviews)

Two more tea reviews went live at A Bibliophile’s Reverie this past month. Here are the links again, in case you missed them:

What’s Coming in December

Currently I’m drafting my next article for DIY MFA, which will cover how to identify a novel’s possible themes by studying the book’s title and jacket copy. My next tea review for A Bibliophile’s Reverie should be online in the next week or so. It’s on a bold, complex black tea that’s wonderful for this time of year. I’ve also picked out my next tea to review, an invigorating herbal / floral blend.

Other Happenings

The fantasy WIP passed 100,000 yesterday! (YIKES.) Now I’m due to write the next Chronicling The Craft – and since this one celebrates another 25,000-word milestone, it means another reveal from the story. 😉 As for the novel itself, I’m definitely going to overshoot my word count goal of 115,000… so I’ll just continue following my outline until it’s done. Here’s hoping January or February will be the golden month!

What else for the blog? I’ll have a new author interview here during the first week of December (yay!), and I’ve yet to start a review of Rachel Hartman’s Seraphina. And since 2014 is almost over, I also need to get cracking on my end-of-year lists for music and possibly one for books. So, I’ve definitely got my work cut out for me this month.

Offline and apart from creative projects, November has been absolutely nutty. Lots of holiday preparations, Christmas shopping (I have to do a lot of it early due to December birthdays and out-of-state gift-giving), and simply trying to stay on top of everything else. I’ll be relieved once the end of the December has come and I can relax a little.

Since New Years Eve will be a busy night, I’ll post the next Freelance Article Round-Up on Tuesday, December 30^th. Lots will be going on here between now and then, so I hope to see you here again! 🙂

Freelance Article Round-Up: October 2014

October 31, 2014October 30, 2014 / saraletourneau / Leave a comment

Welcome to this month’s Freelance Article Round-Up – and Happy Halloween! October turned out to be a very busy month, so let’s get right to what’s happened since the previous update.

Tea Time at Reverie (Tea Reviews)

I’d totally forgotten that I could reblog my tea reviews from A Bibliophile’s Reverie here until just recently. *facepalm* Anyways, here are links to the Tea Time articles from the past month in case you missed them:

Grub Street

Grub Street posted my article “How Music Can Enhance Your Writing” at their blog yesterday! It talks about music can help with concentration and influence emotion, character development, and other aspects of your writing. This article was a joy to write, since I could share a few personal experiences. It was also fun to research and see how other writers have benefited from the same practice – and which songs and genres they listened to!

Click here to read “How Music Can Enhance Your Writing.”

What’s Coming in November

More tea reviews are on their way at A Bibliophile’s Reverie, as well as the column’s first review of a book on tea. I’ve also got some great news regarding another freelance venture – news I’m so excited for, I’m fidgeting in my seat! But I can’t share it until the site officially announces their new columnists. So, stay tuned! 😉

Other Happenings

Despite a hectic month, I managed to cross the 90K mark on my fantasy WIP. *whew!* I still doubt I’ll finish the first draft before year’s end (projected final word count is about 115,000), but I’m thrilled and proud of how I’ve been able to plow forward despite my offline commitments. Makes me want to go trick-or-treating just to celebrate! (Like I need the candy, though. *lol*)

The next Freelance Article Round-Up will post on Sunday, November 30^th. Until then, come back for more Recent Reads (book reviews), another installment of Chronicling The Craft (novel-writing progress series), and much more!

Freelance Article Round-Up: September 2014

September 30, 2014November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / Leave a comment

Welcome to this month’s Freelance Article Round-Up! If you read last month’s, you might have noticed something different about today’s. See the logo above? 😀 What do you think?

Freelance Article Round-Up is a monthly series (or bimonthly, depending on my freelancing schedule) to keep you abreast of the articles I’ve written outside of this blog. I’ll also offer a glimpse into the coming month’s assignments and other exciting happenings.

Here’s what I’ve been up to since the July / August Round-Up. Continue reading →

Freelance Article Round-Up: July / August 2014

August 31, 2014November 11, 2015 / saraletourneau / 1 Comment

Happy last day of August, everyone!

As recently promised, today is Launch Day for the Freelance Article Round-Up series. These articles will post at the end of every month (or every other month, depending on my freelancing schedule) to keep you abreast of the articles I’ve written outside of this blog. I’ll also offer a glimpse into the coming month’s assignments. So, let’s get started!

Tea Time at Reverie (Tea Reviews)

After debuting the Tea Time column at A Bibliophile’s Reverie in June, three more articles have been posted over the past two months. I’ve covered teas of different types and flavors in each article to ensure variety. That way, readers don’t get to read about the same kinds of teas over and over again. 😉

Here are links to those tea reviews:

What’s Coming in September

What’s this? More tea?? Yes, please!

We’ve got thrilling news for Tea Time at Reverie: Instead of reviewing tea from my personal stash, I’m going to try samples from generous teasellers! Yezi Tea’s package arrived last week, and more are coming from a couple other vendors. This is an amazing opportunity for the Tea Time column and for ABR in general. It also means I’m going to run out of room on my tea shelf at home – but that’s OK with me! *lol*

I’m also finishing my next piece for Grub Street’s blog. It talks about how writers can use music to enhance their writing, from creating the right headspace or emotion for a particular scene, to developing characters and settings. I listen to music whenever I write for these and other reasons, so I thought this would be a neat topic. Do any of you immerse yourself in music when you write?

That’s it for now. I hope you’ll come back on Tuesday, September 30^th for the next Freelance Article Round-Up! In the meantime, check back here in the coming days and weeks for a new installment of Chronicling The Craft (novel-writing progress series), Recent Reads (book reviews), Music Mondays, and the launch of the Author Interviews series!