The Update
I’m so excited! I’ve finally finished the first draft of Queen of the Garden of Girls!
It feels a little funny to be celebrating it like this, but I’ve been working on this first draft for well over a year and have been posting it here for about as long. Last year was a long year of slowly pecking away at it, sometimes with weeks and months between when I’d write in it. Well, I got tired of it hanging over my head, so decided to write 6-7 days a week this year, and finally finished the first draft. There are about a million things I need to fix, but I’m going to take a rest from it for now. I have a bad habit of waiting a few years before even thinking of editing it, so it’ll be stuck in this form for quite a while, I expect.
What’s Next
After working on Queen of the Garden of Girls for so long, it feels a little weird to not have it anymore, a little weird to have written the last scene and found nothing else of note to add to it. But I’m also really excited about my next project, which will begin posting a couple of weeks after Queen has finished.
Recently, I was going back and forth with another shy, introverted blogger about how it’s so hard for us to find ourselves in books. That sparked an idea for a shy, introverted character who gets the guy. That got me thinking about Cinderella, for reasons that still mystify me, which led me back to fairy tales and the fact that Queen of the Garden of Girls was inspired by Beauty and the Beast.
Well, if you’ve read the most recent additions to the story, you’ll know I introduced a world linked to our own, a world where fairy tales originated. My main characters don’t actually cross into that world during this story, but it does literally leave a door open to characters crossing back and forth. I’ve known for a while that this was going to be revealed, and always wondered if I should open up the story more, turn it into a series (mostly to satisfy my insane obsession with fairy tales). The Cinderella story seemed to slot in perfectly, so I guess it looks like I’m turning a story I started writing because of a dream I had almost 2 years ago into a series about fairy tales?
Anyways, once Queen of the Garden of Girls is finished posting, I’ll be starting to post Sisters of String and Glass, starring the little sister (full blood sister, not stepsister) no one ever knew Cinderella had because she was too shy and introverted to want to talk to anyone.
Psst! Here’s a secret! You’ve already met Cinderella if you’ve been reading Queen of the Garden of Girls.
The Lily Cafe 
My immediate reaction to you referencing our conversation was an embarrassed, “NOO I DON’T EXIST!”
Introverts, lol.
Congrats on finishing your first draft! Make sure you celebrate.
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Haha, it was actually a very tough choice of whether to do that or not. But I think the general feeling in the blogging community is that, unless it’s all your idea, it’s polite to mention anyone who was involved. My parents raised me to be too polite. It’s their fault. Makes it hard to be a proper introvert sometimes.
Thanks! Haha, I celebrated by writing this post, which was only posted because I closed my eyes and hit the schedule button.
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That must feel good! I know it did when I finished The Farmer’s Daughter! And now I’ve started two more so it begins again. I worked on The Farmer’s Daughter off and on for two years so I hope this second one doesn’t take as long.
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It does feel good! Like a weight around my ankle has been taken off, haha. I had no idea it took you so long to finish The Farmer’s Daughter! I’m sad it’s over, but I certainly hope it doesn’t take as long to finish the next ones. I need to know what happens!
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I didn’t start sharing it right away. I had been working on it for about a year before – I started it before A New Beginning actually.
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I love the teaser about already having met Cinderella! And I look forward to seeing how QotGoG finishes =)
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I hope you like the ending! It wasn’t exactly what I envisioned, but I think it fits. I hope.
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