INTRODUCING MY NOT-SO-NEW WIP // the veil nebula hunt

This story feels much newer than it is. I started writing it - pantsing it, actually - in March of this year, but the journey has been very stop-and-go since I hand-wrote the first words, so progress has been painstakingly sluggish.

Before I share the details of that journey, let me tell you a bit about the story.

Working title: The Veil Nebula Hunt

Genre: a combination of light fantasy and light sci-fi

Current word count: 15,372

Status: being prepped for a hecka detailed outline XD

I don't have a blurb for it yet, but the story follows Zimon and Briss. Zimon is a space cadet and a celebrity heartthrob from one of four clans on Earth; Briss is a naive dreamer of a girl who was born on Earth but raised on the Moon away from any and all kinds of danger. Zimon and his fellow cadets are part of a huge, annual scavenger hunt reminiscient of The Amazing Race that takes you all over the four clans, and Briss is pulled into it when Zimon is inspired by a personal situation to balance this scavenger hunt with traveling to the Moon to find Briss and take her to her brother Sylas, who wasn't taken to the Moon like she was all those years ago.

Unique complications force Zimon to bring Briss along through the scavenger hunt, which is called the Veil Nebula Hunt, before the siblings have a chance to reunite. (Bad health keeps Sylas bedridden in the hospital, so despite being a cadet like Zimon, he is unable to participate in the game.) My antagonist in this is probably the freakiest villain I've ever written and ever will write, but I want to keep him a mystery for now mwahaha.

It's no secret that this is just as much a romance as it is an action/adventure story. XD I love Zimon and Briss - ship name Brisson - with all my heart and can't wait to continue writing their story!

Until then, however, I want to plot the rest of it, and plot it deeply. I tried to pants it, and I tried to hand-write it, but that hasn't worked out in the long run. Since losing the desire to hand-write, I've transcribed the 60 or so pages of hand-writing to the computer and have created the plot template I want to use for figuring out what happens next.

I'm a plotter, y'all. XD A plotter through and through, and my wild journey with The Veil Nebula Hunt this year has taught me that like nothing else. I even plan on making a SCENE OUTLINE, which I've never wanted to do before.

Now for some character aesthetics and snippets!

(Both pictures below are taken from Pinterest - all credit to their original creators) 

~ Briss ~

I dance as I'm falling, but I never touch the ground // One day I will penetrate the Earth and explode in motion sounds ~ Dance on the Moon by Aurora

Can I tell you something just between you and me? // When I hear your voice, I know I'm finally free // Every single word is perfect as it can be // And I need you here with me ~ Here With Me by Marshmello

But I feel your heart through the atmosphere // The message shows and then it disappears // Oh sometimes we're meant to go alone // Oh there's a world beyond the world we know ~ A World Beyond by Fleurie

~ Zimon ~

Late nights, starin' out the window doin' 85 // Got my state of mind // Yeah, walkin' on that gray line // Hopin' that my stress dies // It's like I hate it but I love it at the same time ~ My Stress by NF

So say the word and I'll be running back to find you // A thousand armies won't stop me I'll break through // I'll soar the endless skies for only one sight // Of your starlight ~ Starlight by STARSET

Had to have high, high hopes for a living // Shooting for the stars when I couldn't make a killing // Didn't have a dime but I always had a vision // Always had high, high hopes ~ High Hopes by Panic! At The Disco

pics via Pinterest; all credit to original creators

“I’ll do it,” he whispered, ignoring the nurse when he caught her whip her head his way, incredulous that he hadn’t left yet. Sylas’ eyes slid back open, glassy and green and shimmering in the dim, milky light. When they locked with Zimon’s, they were no less intense, and Zimon felt his stomach do that weird flip-flop it wasn’t accustomed to feeling. At least, it wasn’t accustomed to feeling it until Sylas got sick. “I’ll find her,” Zimon repeated. “I’ll find your sister.” And he meant it.

~

She was glad her hair was red; she was glad the sun was gold; she was glad the candles were yellow.

Oh to see Earth’s mix of colors. How bright, how interesting, it must look.

But she couldn’t go there, she reminded herself as she ran over the grass and past other moon-dwellers’ residences on her way to the lake. The huts were small but pleasant, bustling with love and laughter. Several waved or called greetings to Briss as she passed, and she waved and smiled back. It was beautiful and soft and safe here on Moon.

She belonged here.

~

“Hello!” Briss ran out of hiding and into the clearing just as the young man was heading toward the opposite treeline. He whirled around at the sound of her voice and drew a strange object, pointing it at her. “Mr. Cadet sir!” Her skirt slapped against her legs, but she kept going.

The cadet slowly lowered the black thing in his hand -- a weapon? -- and put a hand to his head, or rather the top of his helmet, as if unable to believe what he saw.

Was it her red hair? Ilex had said it wasn’t incredibly common on Earth, but he also said that many people had it. Like Sylas.

She stopped a comfortable but far from timid distance away and smiled. “You’re from Earth.”

The cadet nodded. Briss hated that she couldn’t see his eyes, or any part of his face. “And you are too,” he said.

~

To wrap up this intro to The Veil Nebula Hunt, I'd like to share some art my dearest friend Nicki Chapelway made for this story.

These pieces are GORGEOUS! Thank you so much, Nicki, for making them! I highly recommend that you guys check out her blog, follow her on Instagram, and add her books on Goodreads because she's an incredibly talented author as well!!

I hope you enjoyed hearing about this story! These characters and their adventures are near and dear to my heart. <3 Be sure to talk to me in the comments below, and I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas. 2020 is almost over.

The Lord's Truly,

ONE SEMESTER OF UNIVERSITY COMPLETE // tis the season for (hopefully) more consistent blogging

I've sat here for a solid minute or two trying to think of an alternative to "HI GUYS WOW IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME SINCE I LAST POSTED," but I can't. There's really no other way to introduce myself back into the blogging world. XD

I thought I would never come back, to be as honest and dramatic as possible. In the months - maybe even years - leading up to high school graduation and the start of university, I must have worked myself into my biggest blogging slump to date because I remember telling a friend that blogging just wasn't my thing anymore and that I couldn't imagine picking it back up.

That, my friends, has changed now that I'm home.

I lost motivation for a lot of things during university that I used to be consumed by. The heavy social atmosphere of my huge college campus and the new schoolwork set-up swallowed everything from my itch to write fiction, to my obsession with blogging, to my burning need to read books at every spare moment. I will say, though, that my love for reading was one passion that didn't fade even though my reading pace slowed considerably. And I did have a few days when I remembered how valuable my WIPs were to me and wrote a page in my novel or skimmed through Dusted Red and Blue Like Sapphires with fondness and nostalgia. There was one evening, maybe two, that one of my roommates and I spent rambling on and on about each other's plots and characters, which was amazing - but also rare, pretty much a one-time occurrence.

I'm trying to tell myself that it's okay. It's okay to be more social, to prioritize things besides writing, reading, and blogging in the university setting. In fact, it's kind of necessary to push those aside?? Or so people tell me? Attending university, especially residentially, is a whole new world that demands a lot from a girl, and I believe I've already grown A LOT from one semester, so it's not a bad realm. Not at all. I love college.

Now that I'm home for break, though, I'm delving back into my hobbies with renewed vigor. Turns out I missed them more than I thought, so I'm already making mental plans to incorporate my passion for fiction more consistently into my life at college. What if it doesn't work, though? What if I'm only ever motivated to pursue my hobbies during breaks and never during school?

I know that's normal, but... I don't want that. In general I find change to be exciting, but it's currently super hard for me to live vastly differently in two vastly different environments. It feels like I have two different lives, that I'm two different people. It's WEIRD and I don't like it. (I know I'm overthinking this, but still.)

All this to say... hopefully I'll be more consistent with blogging in future lol. I'll probably share more reflections about life and be more profound than I've been with blog posts in the past, because since getting back into journaling - yet another hobby I fell out of - all I want to do is ramble about stuff and seek an aesthetic vibe through it all. XD However, I'll also continue to share my adventures with books and writing!

I just really hope this new blogging method will stick. And I really hope you guys like the change.

Besides the deep stuff like identity crises, university has been FUN. So fun. Challenging, but it really builds character, especially the spiritual and relational aspects. Everything from the classroom experience to dorm life has been new and exciting and... stretching. It stretched me to sit in a big lecture hall listening to my professor talk about things I was interested in one day and didn't care about the next, adhere to strict deadlines for all my assignments, stand in long lines for food every day, talk to a variety of people all the time, and live in a small room with two of my best friends.

All of it was hard in ways than I hadn't anticipated and fulfilling in ways that I hadn't dared to hope for. God has been amazing and present as I've adjusted and struggled and laughed and cried and doubted and soared, and I'm incredibly excited to see what He does in the spring!

Until then, I want to share some notable moments from my first semester of uni:

~ having worship and Bible study in the football stadium, in the open air, distanced with a crowd of other students in both the stands and the field (perks of a Christian campus include mid-week worship night XD)

~ complaining with my roommate about stupid, ridiculous stuff in the several gen-ed classes we had together

~ seeing GAWVI live

~ watching The Hunger Games movies with some of the other girls on my hall

~ walking to the quaint diner and the nearby Walmart through different but equally cool tunnels (perfect for belting out that famous melody from Frozen 2, the roomies discovered)

~ attending a church off-campus with my brother, a senior at the same university!

~ watching The X-Files first on my laptop and then on a TV handed down to me by the aforementioned brother

~ decorating the dorm room for Día de los Muertos, then watching Coco on the day itself

~ studying in the library late into the night and stepping out the doors at the exact moment it closed

~ watching my roomie play her instrument in a concert

~ going to a chill Spanish conversation group every week, playing Kahoot at Spanish Club, and eating tres leches cake (soooo good!) first at an Latin American open house and later at a lecture about Colombia

~ watching great films like Toy Story and Jurassic Park in cinematic arts appreciation class 

~ almost dying of nerves because I had TWO presentations on the SAME DAY

~ celebrating the first day of fall with a pumpkin spice frappuccino from Starbucks

~ spending my birthday away from home for the first time and feeling drained - but also special and loved - by the endless attention from my hallmates

~ having two anxiety attacks like I've never had before, one of them inspired by an enormous amount of stress plus caffeine (it was the caffeine that did it)

~ coming home for a weekend multiple times to make up for our lost fall break and being hit by the sights and sounds and FEELS of home that only leaving for a long time can bring

~ surviving Election Day 2020, not to mention the build-up to it o_o

~ sharing the Gospel with a lady in Walmart for evangelism class and having a really awesome discussion with her

~ watching Newsies and The Man Who Invented Christmas back to back a couple days before Thanksgiving break

I know that was a lot lol, but I didn't journal much during the semester, so this recap is just as much for me as it is for you. It took longer than I expected to pull all of those out of my memory, but it's not like I have anything better to do on my day off from work. XD I'm wearing my comfiest sweater, cuddled under my Christmas blanket with our pretty tree and mountain of presents in front of me while listening to lofi Christmas beats and hoping to watch a Christmas movie tonight. *takes a breath* Basically, all the Christmas vibes possible are gathered right here.

Like I said, I hope to be more consistent with blogging again, so I should be back soon. My plan right now is to post every Sunday, but next Sunday I'll be traveling, so I probably won't be able to strictly adhere to that schedule. Or any schedule, really. We'll see, though!

I love you all and miss interacting with each of you in the comments, so be sure to write to me down below and let me know how you're doing!

Oh, and Merry Christmas. <3

The Lord's Truly,