It’s OCTOBER. October, people. What is this?
I do realize that at the beginning of every month I freak out that the month is over. Lo siento.
I feel as if my lookbacks are a little boring, so this month I’m going to try and be a little more concise and entertaining. Also, I’m going to shake up the order of things:
Highlights:
September was my first full month of school and first full month of taking a college class. It sounds measly, but it’s really not. It’s a good amount of work, and also really ‘fun,’ to be in class and speaking a foreign language.
Plus, campus is pretty and the library is beautifully silent. I love working in there, as well as having the excuse to drive to the coffee shop and do writing work in there… except, you know, with coffee. 😉

props if you know where this is from
September has also been a month of anticipation for October and November. So much is coming, Nadine Brande’s A Time to Rise, Britt Nicole’s newest album, and NaNoWriMo. *sigh*
Books:
I didn’t do too terrible in reading this month. And actually, I ended up reading some really great books!
Purple Moon by Tessa Emily Hall: This was my first contemporary since Stargirl, and it was actually really good!
If I Perish by Esther Ahn Kim: The story of a Christian Korean girl’s imprisonment for being a believer during Japan’s takeover of the Korean peninsula. Such a powerful story.
Storm Siren by Mary Weber: Um, why did no body force me to read this? WHY DID I SAY I DIDN’T LIKE IT WHEN I FIRST TRIED TO READ IT? Amazing. Cliffhanger w/ much killz.
Siren’s Fury (also) by Mary Weber: Also amazing and made me feel so bad for Nym the entire book because SIGH. Amazing. Excited to get Siren’s Song now. ^.^
Writing:
This month has been a big editing month… actually, I’ve been editing and editing and editing my WIP since Janurary 2015. A few breaks, yes, but mostly editing Sparrow Singing. And I’ve finally worked myself to the end of Draft 3. This happened on Monday:
Sooo I just spell checked the entire #SparrowSinging doc and there were only 8 typos.
my 2014 NaNo has come a loooooooonng way. O___O— Jeneca Z. (@jeniquawrites) October 3, 2016
And that was pretty crazy. Only a few small things until I can send it off to my betas! And on Beta reading… if you’re interested there’s still some slots open to read Sparrow Singing. More info here.
Make sure you get signed up by October 7th… that’s when I’ll be sending it out into the world!
Blogging (favorite posts)
Instead of listing all my favorite posts, here are two of my favs from September, as well as two of my favorites from other blogs:
andddd
Why I Write, a Story Creator’s Testimony by S. M. Metzler.
The Twin’s Take Over Week by Rebecca
End of the Year Goals For 2016 by Katie Grace
In October…
SO EXCITED. I’m planning on reading through book two of this series of writing so I can then outline book three.
And here on the blog? I’m going to do a mini series on prepping for NaNo while I outline said third book. This’ll be my sixth time around, and now I actually have people to freak out about it with instead of frustrating all my real life non writerly friends.
*sighs* its so beautiful to have finally found a tribe of people that freak out about @NaNoWriMo just as much as I do.
— Jeneca Z. (@jeniquawrites) October 5, 2016
Hope September found you well!
Jeneca
Congratulations on your first college class!… I think? Haha. Ooh, I’ve read If I Perish! That was a good one. It’s so rare for me to find other people who’ve read that particular book. >_>
I’m not sure if I’m going to do NaNoWriMo. If I do, it’ll just be for my fourth draft of City of Reckoning. We shall see! ^_^
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Thank you! It’s been good, since it’s just an elementary Spanish class and I’ve taken 2 years of Spanish. Just rusty. XD
I enjoyed it. The writing style was hard to read at times but the story was so powerful. It was worth it. Have you ever read Darlene Diebler Rose’s autobiography? It’s similar, in ways, to If I Parish.
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Sounds like you had a great month! It’s so exciting that you are getting ready to send your WIP off to beta readers 🙂 I can’t wait till I get to that point. But for now, school has taken over… Thanks for linking my blog post! I got the warm and fuzzies when you said it was one of your favorites this past month. It really means a lot to me!
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It really is, and it’s hard to believe it! Granted, it’s definitely just barely ready but… ready none the less. 😉
And you’re welcome! I was really entertained by the Twins and your story world.
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OOH, you’re doing NaNo? Cool, so am I! *highfive* What’s your username? (mine is Savannah Grace)
Also WHAT Britt Nicole is releasing a new album?! How did I not know this?! O.O What’s it called?
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I AM! It’s Zaidia Black … it was an old pen name I thought up a good five years ago and thought was the bomb. I wish I could change it. XD I’ll go add you!
It came out today!! I think my favorite is heart of stone. I’m not sure the album has a name, It may just be Britt Nicole.
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Zaidia Black? I actually LOVE that as a pen name, it’s beautiful! *adds you, too*
OOH it did?! So cool! *scampers off to find it*
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