Welcome to my Favorite Month
Maybe not my favorite, but it is one of my favorites. I don’t mind unpleasant weather, because my recreations of choice (reading and writing) are only improved by moody weather. The rush of the holidays is behind me, the year stretches forth full of promise, and all of my children are playing the same sport for once (basketball). Really, what’s not to love about January?
First! An update:
As I’m typing this, the Kickstarter campaign for the short story anthology is 96% funded! This is fantastic considering it’s only been up for a few days. What would be even cooler is if we blew past our goal and were able to start hitting stretch goals. If you’ve already backed the project, thank you! If not, now’s your chance. The Kickstarter runs for sixteen more days, so you still have time to snag a copy.
What I’m Working On:
I sent off my developmental edits in mid-January and breathed a huge sigh of relief ( I let out a breath I didn’t know I was holding, as the cliche goes). I then spent a blissful nine days catching up on housework and MFA work before my editor sent me line edits. In case you’re wondering: developmental edits are big picture items like “make this villain’s arc more pronounced” or “clarify in act one why this character made this emotional turn in act three” or “cut that character/scene completely.” Line edits look at paragraph- and sentence-level consistency like, “can she say something funny here?” or “used this same word two sentence above” or “this metaphor doesn’t make sense.”
I was given a three-week deadline, which is a decent amount of time for line edits. This is some of my favorite work because it feels like decorating a house rather than building it. I’ve done the heavy lifting, now I get to string the garlands and hang the pictures and choose fabric for the curtains. There’s no “last chance” pressure yet because I still have copy edits (the technical/spell-check/consistency edits) and pass pages (it’s all laid out in book form and you have one last chance to do small tweaks).
I also realized something yesterday that I put in my IG stories:
THE WINTER KING takes place over the course of several months (beginning of winter to spring)
THE SINKING CITY takes place over the course of a few weeks
THE SECOND GREATEST THIEF takes place over the course of seven days
According to this trend, my next book will need to take place over the course of 24 hours. Challenge accepted.
What I’m Reading
(With affiliate links and the disclaimer that these may have content warnings)
In December I went to a regional author’s Christmas party in Seattle and met many lovely authors including Marissa Meyer and Nova McBee and Rachel Linden, whose book The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie I won in the book exchange, so I started the year off with that one!
Then I bounced over to The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion which has been making the rounds in my reading circles. I only had the first one and it felt more like the lead-up to the story rather than a standalone work, so I think I’d need to get the rest of them to really judge them, but it was very lighthearted and fun.
Apparently I’d dwelt too long in the land of joy because I picked up Hamnet next and sobbed my face off. It was beautifully written. Quite bleak in parts as it deals with child loss. Some incredible turns of phrase, and I’m very glad I read it.
On Audiobook, I listened to The Empowered Wife for book group. There were some odd or unhelpful bits, but overall this book has some fantastic advice not just for couples but for how to help improve any relationship. Definitely recommend.
2026 Events:
I’m speaking at two events in 2026 so far. The first is in May in Seattle at the NCWA’s Renewal Conference. I just realized that early bird registration pricing ends today! You can find more information here.
The second event is the annual Realm Makers conference in St. Louis in June. I believe registration opens tomorrow for that!
A Writing Tip:
A teen reader/writer emailed me this week with a question, and since it’s something I feel strongly about, I thought I’d make it my writing tip for the month. Here's a truncated version of her question:
I love writing and it's something I'd love to do for a living. Several months ago, two friends and I decided to start our own blog, but we're struggling to post on it regularly. While I was in a writing program, I read lots of the lessons on platform-building, and I think it would be wise for me to start an email list, but I'm also not sure if it's a good idea to start an email list when I keep procrastinating on even just writing one post a week on the blog.
Essentially, I don't really know where to go next. I was wondering if you have any guidance for someone who is just starting out?
Here’s my answer:
This might be different than what you heard from the workshop, but it's advice I give after witnessing a few people burn out:
As a fiction writer, you don't have to worry about platform building until you have a book contract.
Here's why I recommend that path: first- the very best thing you can do as a young writer is work on your writing. Writing short stories, writing novels, getting feedback from beta readers, reading great books, studying characters in movies, etc. Focus on building your skills and tools now, because your time is valuable, and having a platform won't help you sell a book if the book isn't good (I'm not commenting on your books, this is just a general statement!).
I've known quite a few writers who have decided to try platform building before they had an agent or book deal, and they ended up getting burnt out. They weren't doing it because they loved trying to understand algorithms and growing their email list and putting out a regular newsletter, etc. They did it because they thought they had to, and that's one of the easiest ways to wear yourself out in this industry. They look back on all that time and realize it would have been better spent writing another novel or researching how to get an agent or editor.
To me, it's a bit of a cart before the horse situation: you don't have published books, so there isn't necessarily a reason people will sign up for your newsletter. I didn't start a newsletter until after The Sinking City, and my newsletter grew fairly quickly because people had read my books and liked them. I don't think I had a website until after The Winter King came out!
My advice when it comes to marketing and promotion of your work is always to do what you love. I don't love Twitter (or X), so I don't really have a Twitter account. I like Instagram so I built a platform there, and it's grown organically because I post the things I like. I enjoy writing a once-a-month newsletter, so I do that, too. But again- most of that work began after I was already under contract for a book (The Winter King). Besides, people can tell when you’re using your social media platform to really aggressively push sales or signups, and it makes them less likely to want to follow you anyway.
I know that there's a lot of focus on the business side of writing at conferences and workshops, because you can often see quicker results (“I gained two subscribers!” or “I got some feedback on this post!”) but I really do think that the most important part is the actual writing, and not being daunted by the requisite years of quiet, faithful plodding away at the craft.
That’s all for January, see you in February!
Christine
