It’s hard to believe that we’re already at the end of the first quarter of this year. I started 2024 with some lofty ambitions, and am pleased that much of what I intended has indeed been set in motion.

After a few weeks of putting writing off, I want to rekindle that energy as we enter autumn and the days turn cooler. Work on the new novel was paused, but I’m excited to get going once more. Writing by hand is liberating, but sometimes tedious. Perhaps my newfound love of typing with this new mechanical keyboard is subtly pulling me back into the realm of Scrivener, and I find myself constantly reminding my writerly self of the reasons behind doing the first draft by hand: namely, clarity, dissipation of distraction, and freedom to just create without pressure of word count and perfecting each sentence.

The goal is still to get the first draft done by mid-year, so let’s see how well I can manage that. I’ve found myself a little busier in my personal time recently with the advent of things I can’t mention just yet on the blog. But balance has become a critical aspect of my time, and part of the reason for pausing the novel writing for a bit was to reset a little, to slow down. It’s no use burning out when the year has just started.

But with the cooler, shorter days, I relish in the cosiness that autumn, and winter, brings: there’s a sense of creative spark that these seasons ignite.

On the reading front, I’ve completed Meeti Shroff-Shah’s “A Matrimonial Murder”. It was a decent read, but I must admit preferring the first book. I’m curious to see where she takes the character and ideas in the next one.

I was meant to start Shubnum Khan’s “The Lost Love of Akbar Manzil”, but somehow found myself downloading the preview for Dune by Frank Herbert onto my Kindle, and devouring the first few chapters. So now… not sure if I’ll proceed with that first, then get back to the schedule I set myself (namely: the Khan book, Horowitz, then LoTR: 2).

But I’m also looking forward to Anthony Horowitz’s “Close to Death”, the latest Hawthorne, set to release in early April. Much to be excited about on the reading front, then!