Well it took three years/4 NaNoWriMo events and some change, but as of June 1st (12:03am, yes I DID take an extra 3 minutes after mermay to Do The Thing smh) I have a finished first draft!! It took a few false starts in the middle there but we made it! And I’m honestly pretty pleased with what we’ve ended up with. That said it did end up being a good 50k longer than I initially intended, but who am I to complain about a little extra content right?
Anyway, some fun celebratory facts!
Seals is sitting pretty at 152,366 words right now! A fair distance from the original 90k landmark I envisioned, but as always the more I dove into the depths the more things took root and demanded a little more focus than expected. Despite that it all felt natural and necessary so I’m not too upset over it!
The chapter count as of now is 47 total, plus a little epilogue! Chapter lengths varied greatly, especially near the end, with the chonkier ones hitting around 5-7k words and the shorter ones barely grazing 1k!
Some fave songs I (over)listened to while writing!
Fly by Meadowlark
Hùg air a’ Bhonaid Mhòir
by Julie Fowlis
Walking on the Waves by Skipinnish
Doormau5 by Face the West
Atlas: Two by Sleeping at Last
…and many others. My Seals playlist is 10hrs long lol
This has been one heck of a journey! For a little while there it felt like this book would never let me reach the end, but here we are!! There’s obviously editing to do, and some refining, but ultimately I’m very happy with how it turned out!
But beyond that, if anyone is curious about the next step…I don’t know! To be honest I’m still in a state of “I didn’t think I’d actually get this far” and staring at this draft wondering if I’m dreaming hahaha. For now I’m going to let Seals settle and leave it alone for a bit before coming back and cleaning it up, and after that I’ll try to decide wtf I’m going to do with this beast!
I know the last 2yrs were really quiet for this project (I didn’t work on it very much, had life stuff and other projects to chip away at) but I’d like to thank everyone who supported it and offered wonderful kind words!! They mean a lot, and were a huge part of why I really tried so hard to come back!! I hope to some day (soon?!) repay your kindness and enthusiasm by putting out a heartfelt and memorable book for you all to read and love as much as I love it!!
Anyway, that’s that for now!! Seals will take a little nap and I’ll poke some other WIPs! In the meantime I did write one other short (Kae PoV, set just before Seals begins) that I’ll hopefully be posting soon, so keep an eye out for it!
And for anyone who has no idea what this post is even about!
Hello and welcome! The Loving Seal is a fantasy novel based on selkies, and the most prominent myth surrounding them! It centers on a selkie woman (Nyvina) who is captured by a human fisherman/hunter and brought back to his home to be his wife…and what happens when love refuses to give up!
You can find a quick powerpoint summary I made about it here, as well as more info about the book (and my other WIPs!) on my projects page here!
Tag list below! As always anyone wanting on or off the list is welcome to give me a shout about it!
Aires: Today is a good day to have a serious talk about the orb.
Taurus: Some flirtatious energy could hit you like 300 million volts of electricity as you are struck by some coy lightning.
Gemini: You have quite a bit on your mind today Gemini, this might lead to some misinterpretation on your part. Also your mom has been replaced with a double but that’s unrelated.
Cancer: Summon up that patience Cancer, you’re right in the path of some opinions so annoying they will cause acute nausea and memory loss.
Leo: The deadline has your scent and is approaching fast to rip your spine out of your body through your self-discipline.
Virgo: If your relationships are suffering, its because either you or your partner is stuck in a time loop. Yes like groundhog day. Yes, this is the only thing it could possibly be.
Libra: You might be bad with numbers but hey, numbers can’t call you slurs.
Scorpio: Your excitement for meeting a like-minded intellectual may change upon learning that they are a raccoon in a hat.
Ophiuchus: A flaky friend of yours is finally getting their schedule together now that they’ve broken the witches curse that turned them into a croissant.
Sagittarius: Someone you love has been decapitated and filled with molten lead. They’re fine but they’ll be late to brunch.
Capricorn: The highest plans of heaven and earth rarely survive contact with the enemy! Stay home and take a nap. Nothing happens to your plans if you never contact the enemy.
Aquarius: Your unnaturally warm personality has a tendency to melt every cold shoulder in the room with frightening speed.
Pisces: Your dreams will finally come true Pisces, today you will be chased through a giant version of your house while the band Ween (who are giants) tries to suck you up with a vacuum cleaner.
Aries: Fallow periods are a part of life. Look carefully beneath the rot and you will find it teeming with life.
Taurus: Maybe you dont love it. Maybe you dont even like it. But maybe someone else will love it. That is enough.
Gemini: Thought itself leads to doubt. Doubt leads to stasis. Stasis leads to beating goblins with a rolling pin. Do all things unconsciously.
Cancer: Follow your own advice. We all have wisdom to share. More people than you would expect have gotten something stuck in their butt, and you just may be their savior.
Leo: The fun thing about a train of thought is that nobody dies if you crash it. Full speed ahead motherfucker.
Virgo: If its worth doing, its worth doing flirtatiously.
Libra: Its about momentum, but that doesn’t mean effort is not involved. Every hill climbed is a hill you get to slide down really fast and who doesnt like going really fast?
Scorpio: Dont hurt nobody, I wont stop you. Hurt as many things as you like, but I warn you, the cops will attempt to stop you.
Ophiuchus: Of course there are times when stealth and tact will be painless and useful but do you really need to tiptoe around everything? If they dont follow the rules, neither do you.
Sagittarius: The only thing less valuable than polishing a turd is criticizing other people for how they spend their time. At least you have a turd, they dont even have a unpolished turd. Look whos on top now dickhead.
Capricorn: Proper spelling and grammar are for people who cant appreciate a remix.
Aquarius: Fail until you accidentally dont fail. This is called learning. If you know how to do anything cool its because you’re a massive fuckup.
Pisces: Dont remove the knife or you will be dead in minutes, maybe seconds. Let the surgeons take care of that. Better yet let someone who hasnt been stabbed take care of that. You’ve earned a break.
ALT
