October Review

 Well, I definitely missed last Friday, so I guess I can double up this time!

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It's the last Friday of October, and I know I've said before that I need these months to slow down. It feels like there aren't enough MINUTES in the day, let alone hours, to get things done nowadays.

One thing about being on a computer all week for work is that I don't want to be on it when I'm at home. Of course, this doesn't bode well for writing or (as you can see) blogging. I really have to push through that, especially for the new year. The commute really is taking a toll on me, though. I have to get up an hour earlier than I'm used to just to ride the bus to work (to not only save on gas but to not pay for parking in the City of Wilmington). If I'm lucky, I sleep on both trips to and from, but that doesn't factor in loud people and lead-foot drivers. I can't wait for our relocation. Even though it's not much closer, taking a bus would mean taking TWO to get to the new building, and it's not in Wilmington, so I'll be driving, which will give me back an hour of sleep; plus I'll get home sooner. Also, though this is also new and challenging work, I'm definitely still pining for a job that leans more to my writing abilities and nothing else. On the bright side, with the QA testing I've had the privilege to do these past couple of months, I can add that onto my resume for experience.

I've been looking at what I've written so far in Divided Princess, and I'm not satisfied with one of the chapters I've reworked. I guess I need to re-rework it back to what it was, but I moved it in the first place to make a fuller chapter for Cyan. It's still short, so it didn't work how I needed it to anyway. Maybe I'll give him more to do in the chapter so I can fix the issues. Part of my goal with this book is to show what a regular life looks like for these characters, at least for a short time (wink). I can delve a little deeper into that for Cyan. But I really can't wait to get back to writing new-new material in this book. Things have been coming together in my mind so tightly that I once yelled about it in my bathroom, and my sister asked if I was okay. haha

Hopefully I'll be back into the swing of things in November, though a lot of things happen that month, too. I'm still trying to decide if I want to do NaNoWriMo. If I can get this first part of DP fixed, I'll have more motivation to do it. We'll see.

Black Author Spotlight: Pura Lux

 

Happy Hallows!

It is the first Friday of October, which means it's time for another Black Author Spotlight! The goal of this segment is to highlight black authors who are often marginalized and ignored in the publishing industry. Black writers usually turn to self-publishing--an already densely populated industry--to have their stories seen, and it is said that we have to work twice as hard to get half of what our white counterparts have. Hopefully, shining a little light on these authors will help to signal boost the work they are putting out there.

Today, I am highlighting Pura Lux.


Pura Lux is an amazing poet I met while at Florida State University. She is from Homestead, Florida, and  I believe she now lives a little more inland, so gratefully, she was safe from Hurricane Ian! She writes the most surreal, ethereal, and the rawest words I've ever had the privilege to read. Though she's quite nervous to share her work to the masses, she uses Instagram to post her musings backed by pretty graphics that sometimes include her lovely face! I'm still waiting patiently for her slam book *ahem*, but for now, scroll through her feed to read her beautiful words!

Follow Pura Lux on Instagram!