In my Auntie Era<3

This week was very productive, and a lot of fun. I finished typing up To Trap an Earl, and the final tally of my zero draft is just shy of 95000 words, including the second epilogue that will be a newsletter sign up bonus. (Very proud of myself for writing it before I’m formatting the final version, which is what usually happens) I do find the ending gets a little rushed, so I will be replotting and reworking it for the next few days before starting my next draft on February 1st. If anyone is interested in reading that next draft, please reach out to me, as I am always looking for fresh eyes to comment on my stories before they get published, when I can actually fix things and make them better.

As far as fun goes, my grandparents ordered new Wii remotes, so we got back into the golf game on Wednesday, my cousin had a meeting so I got to hang out with one of my nephews and put him to bed on Thursday, then I finally got to see the Eras Tour on Saturday. My cousin (another one) had us over for dinner and an intimate karaoke/dance party viewing that made me want to relisten to all her albums on repeat. Taylor’s Version, of course. I was the first to arrive so I also got to play with my nephews and help put one of them to bed. If you’re a parent, hanging out with kids and reading bedtime stories probably don’t qualify as the ‘fun things’ you did this week, but I’m just Auntie Panda, so spending time with them is the highlight of any week. Honestly, it’s one of my favourite titles.

I also booked the trains for my first few days in the UK, so I can get to Bath, then Oxford, and settle in my homebase of London. I have many day trips planned, but I think I want to wait and plan a bit more before I book those train rides. I’m a bit of a procrastiplanner when it comes to travelling as well as life in general, it seems.

In translation news, I quickly realized that while I can speak French and did most of my school in that language, I am by no means a translator, and I don’t read nearly enough in French to trust myself with brining my books to life in that language. And, probably more importantly, I very much dread doing the translating, because I am so out of my element and feel very incompetent. So, I have begun an elaborate search for professional translators. Maybe I’ll try it again for one of the later books, when I have reliable translations of my books as reference, but ideally, the French versions will sell so well that I can justify paying someone else to do them for the rest of my career. For now, I am committing to at least The Owens Chronicles, because it would suck for someone to read the first book in French, then have to learn to read in English if they want to finish the trilogy.

Those were my highlights, and I would love to hear yours 🙂

Until next week,

Amanda

“So I’ll watch your life in pictures like I used to watch you sleep

and I’ll feel you forget me like I used to feel you breathe.”

-Taylor Swift

*Nothing to do with my life at the moment, or this post, but how can those lyrics not break your heart?*