Category: Lucy Has Opinions

As always, I consider September to be the start of a new year, not January. But who would read a new year post in September?

I kind of can’t believe that I’ve been doing this for long enough to have another new year post to look back on, but I do and it’s weird.

So, how have I done in terms of achieving my 2016 goals?

Graduate

This was a big one for me last year. I had failed one of my first semester modules and I was heading into an anxiety spiral, which I kind of doubted I would return from.

However, thanks to beta-blockers and some good, old-fashioned determination, I graduated in the summer with a 2:1 in urban planning.

Starting a Master’s Degree

My graduation brought with it the opportunity to continue my studies, allowing me to move closer to my goal of studying autism from a sociological standpoint. Though, as the cold months of living with my parents and subsisting on nothing but my student loan and royalty cheques go by, I more and more regret giving up the salary I might have gained from the world of full-time employment.

Grow my YouTube Channel

Well, technically I’ve YouTubed this year… And I seem to have hit a sweet spot where YouTube suggests my videos to people without me giving it too much new content.

Publishing the Next Four Freya Snow Books

If 2015 was the year of me learning how to publish, 2016 was the year of me learning how to sustain a series. I did, indeed, write the next four Freya Snow books, as well as going back to clean-up the first one, and writing the prequel novella. 2017 will be the year of expansion, I think…

Starting Two New Writing Projects

Well, I did start them, but 2017 will be the year that Lady Ruth and The Aspects make their appearances.

So, What’s to Come in 2017?

Good question. As I said before, 2017 is going to be the year of expansion. Academically, I don’t have any big goals, since I’m doing my Master’s over two years, so all of the focus will be on my writing and my other internet stuff.

Sustain my YouTube Channel and Writing Autistic

Yep. More YouTubing for me. Over the past year, I’ve moved all of my social media focus to Tumblr, this blog, and YouTube, all of which I want to keep going steady throughout the year.

Maintaining This Publishing Schedule:

January

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Clockwork Suitor

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the Parisian Thief

Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone and the American Escapade

February

Freya Snow Book Six: Enhanced

March

April

May

Freya Snow Book Seven: Reaper

June

July

Drowned: A Snowverse Novel

August

Freya Snow Book Eight: Trident

September

The Almosts: A Snowverse Novella

The Damned: A Snowverse Novella

The Redeemed: A Snowverse Novella

October

The Royal Cleaner: A Snowverse Novel

November

Freya Snow Book Nine: Kingsguard

December

The Aspects: Book One

The Aspects: Book Two

The Aspects: Book Three

I’d say that this is impossible, but I’ve already written about two-thirds of it, so I’m pretty confident.

What you might notice is that The Phoenix Saga is missing. That’s because I am not confident in my ability to finish any of those books by the end of this year, and they’re so long and take so much finesse to write that I don’t want to rush them and ruin them. I will be working on The Phoenix Saga throughout the year, but I won’t give any solid release date details until I at least have the first draft of the first book ready.

For now, here’s to hoping that 2017 will be better than this dumpster fire 2016.

Thinking about years from the Gregorian calendar perspective is weird for me.

I’ve spent the last 17 years of my life in academic institutions with no break (and hopefully will continue this trend for three more years).

For me, new year is meaningless. It’s arbitrary. It’s a time when I wear headphones to avoid the noise of fireworks and maybe have a drink before being pressured to stay up past my preferred bedtime.

For me, the new year starts in September. It always has.

But who the hell is going to read a new years resolution post in September?

To start with, let’s have a quick look back to 2015 when I published my first book! Hunt coming out has been an incredible experience, especially with all of the positive feedback it’s been getting. I just hope it continues with the second book.

Alright, so, what’s ahead for 2016?

1. Graduating
   This is the last year of my BA, and I’m hoping to graduate with a 2:1. It’s definitely going to be strange to leave the undergrad world behind, but I’m looking forward to seeing what the future brings.
2. Starting a Masters Degree
   With the completion of my BA, I will most definitely be avoiding the world of work like the plague. This means hopefully starting a Masters in sociology, where I can continue looking at autism through that lens.
3. Continuing to Grow on YouTube
   I love the little Tumblr community I’ve built up and it’s happily ticking along, so while I would be happy to reach 2500 followers by the end of 2016, I want to focus more on doubling the number of subscribers I currently have on YouTube.
4. Publishing the Next Four Freya Snow Books
   Yep. The next four. I’m hoping to have a three month gap between each, with the second one coming out in February. The initial trilogy (the series will be divided into four trilogies) should be out by early summer, with the second finishing in early 2017. If you haven’t read the first Freya Snow book, it’s now available for free to those who subscribe to my newsletter.
5. Starting Two New Writing Projects
   Yep. You read that right. On top of the four Freya Snow books, I’m hoping to also publish the first two novellas in the Lady Ruth Constance Chapelstone Chronicles and to get the first novel in a sci-fi romance series out (though I’m currently torn between a YA and an adult idea). Don’t worry about me taking on too many projects, though, I have decided that I’ll only ever have three series running at once and I’ll alternate between release dates so that no series goes untouched for too long.

So, that’s my plan for 2016. What about you guys? Have anything exciting planned? Any resolutions to stick to? Let me know in the comments below and happy new year!

In the grand writers tradition, I am going to deal with my writing problems by blogging about them, instead of actually writing…

I’m editing the first draft of the third Freya Snow book and it’s the messiest first draft I’ve written in a while.

But, as I’m sitting down to sort through it all and wonder what was missing, I’m realising that I didn’t really know what I wanted from the story.

It was literally:

Thing A happens.

And then Thing B happens.

That was all I had.

This very much drives home the idea that I am not a pantser. I used to be, but then my old stories would often end up in as much of a mess as this one.

There’s no structure or narrative flow. Things happen without foreshadowing. Plot points appear at the end which have barely been touched on before the final chapter…

This is all fixable with editing, it’s just been a while since I’ve had to be this extensive with my edits. Since I’ve looked at something and gone “yeah, bloody hell, this is a mess.”

Book three exists to resolve a plot thread that has been going since the first book.

But it had no focus beyond that. Freya had no arc other than resolving this thread, and side characters had arcs that just sort of appeared and then disappeared.

So editing is now about finding that focus. Figuring out where characters are and where I want them to end up.

And, as with every time I wrote one of these books, I’m probably going to pull forward a storyline from a later book, because I really can’t put it off during the events of this one.

So, the last Hunger Games movie came out and, with it, came criticism for the ending.

Katniss, the great and brave warrior woman, is now reduced to a lowly wife and mother? GASP!

So, yeah.

Honestly, if Katniss was neurotypical, I would get it. Romance wasn’t the focus of the books/films and so the ending would feel like they just couldn’t comprehend a happy ending for a woman that didn’t involve MARRIAGE and CHILDREN because that’s all women are good for, right?

But Katniss isn’t neurotypical and this critique is very much an example of women in a position of privilege assuming that their experience applies to ALL WOMEN EVERYWHERE.

It really doesn’t.

Disabled women aren’t often forced into feminine roles.

They’re often denied them.

Able-bodied and neurotypical women have to deal with the pressures of being told that they have to marry and have children to live fulfilling lives.

I have to deal with people assuming that I am fit for neither.

I was diagnosed as Autistic at nineteen. Before that I was pretty much “person most likely to opt for working part time so that she could spend more time baking cookies for her children.”

Now, the same people who (kindly) teased me about being too much of a mother hen, tell me that it’ll take a saint to marry me. My future partner will be “putting up with” me, or will have to also be Autistic.

They went from assuming that I was going to have children to assuming that I wouldn’t.

Now, if I talk about it as a possibility, I’m told that children are probably too demanding for me to deal with.

These are people who have known me for years, and yet my diagnosis completely changed their estimation of my future.

I’m no longer a woman to them. I’m just Autistic.

Katniss ends The Hunger Games series with PTSD.

For a neurotypical woman, getting married and having children is the stereotypical ending.

For neurodivergent characters, the stereotypical ending is death.

Living a life that most able-bodied/neurotypical women take for granted is a happy ending for her.

And it’s not an anti-feminist one.