NaNoWriMo 2025

I know it has been a while since I’ve written here, and I will explain that eventually, but as we’re approaching November, I thought I would explain my plan for NaNoWriMo this year. 

To acknowledge the elephant in the room, the non-profit organization that ran the official NaNoWriMo website has been closed down. This year, I am using a program called “Novel November”, but for all intents and purposes, I am going to refer to it as NaNoWriMo. 

Truthfully, I’ve been struggling to write. Balancing my education and my chronic illnesses has been rough, to say the least. We can get into that at a later time, though. I did have a plan to continue working on the novel I started last November, but truthfully, the outline for that project has been slow going. I didn’t want to force it, but I do love that project and will definitely return to it at some point. Then, about a week before the beginning of November, in a moment of what can only be described as artistic passion, I decided I was going to take an idea for a novel, and have it relatively plotted by the beginning of November. As I’m sure you can imagine, that did not work very well, so I’ve had to shift my plans for the month, since I don’t have a novel outline to work with. 

So, what does this mean for NaNoWriMo 2025? I’ve decided to do something that just encourages me to write every day, which is what I need right now. My plan is just to write fifty thousand words this month, across as many projects as I need it to be. I don’t care if it’s poetry, outlining, short stories, or actual novel chapters. I just want to write. You would think that wanting to write so badly would mean that I would be chomping at the bit to sit down at my keyboard and grind out thousands of words. As much as I desperately want that, I am truthfully struggling to write, even when I want nothing more than to write. 

I will be kind of working backwards from this point over the course of November to show you all what I’ve been up to. I mean, I published a poetry collection, and there are some things in the works right now. I’m excited to share my current WIPs, and part of me is hoping that describing my ideas will get me excited to work on them again. 

So, NaNoWriMo is going to look very different for me this year. It’ll technically not be a novel challenge for me this year, but it’s still going to be fifty thousand words, and I think that’s what matters to me. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C

The Two Ways I've Encountered Writing Sequels

 I’ll admit, this is a strange title, but it makes the most sense to me to phrase it this way. At this point, I’ve written (or am in the process of writing) four universes where the books have sequels. In my experience, I’ve done this in one of two ways, and I’m going to tell you about those two ways now. 

The first way, and the way I prefer, is plotting the entire series as one book, and writing all of them in succession as such. I have a complicated history with this kind of plotting for series. As I mentioned last week, this is how I plotted the first two books of The Healing x3 Trilogy, and really liked it. This is how I intend on writing My Multiverse--which I’ve vaguely hinted at and will give more details on soon--to a degree. In case you missed it, the idea behind My Multiverse is a series of books that do not have to be read in a specific order but that are connected through characters and take place in the same universe. For this, I intend to keep the universe closed with the eight projects I currently have in it, and not continue to add to it. I have an order for the books, and I’m hoping that I’ll manage to write them th.at way. 

The second way is the more disjointed way. Basically, writing one book, and then when it’s done, and potentially after writing other projects, deciding that I want to add a sequel. I did this for Part Three of the Healing x3 Trilogy, and The Cora Anthology. With The Cora Anthology, I decide one right after the other that I was writing sequels, so it wasn’t too challenging to come back to it. For the Healing x3 Trilogy, it’s been a bit more of a mental challenge to get back into the project as I’ve been working on some other things between Part Two and Part Three, but I’m determined to make it work and, pun intended, book end the series. 

Now, I mentioned at the beginning of this that I have written or want to write four series, but I’ve only mentioned three. The remaining series is what I’m referring to as the Love Through Agony Duology. Love Through Agony is the first novel I wrote about my endometriosis, and there is a sequel in the works for that. However, I expect that series to grow with me, and I have no intentions of book ending that series until I'm old and grey. I still prefer plotting out all of the series at once, but with this series, I’m writing very candidly about my experience with endometriosis, and I need to continue experiencing things to write about. I don’t know if I'll ever be able to capture my affection for Tobias in words, but there’s no way I’m giving him up as I continue to go on my endo journey. 

So, there you have it. My experience writing sequels, and the way that I prefer doing them. Will I continue to decide to add random sequels to novels? Yes, probably. I just have so many stories to tell, and if that means they need sequels, then so be it.

That's all for now, folks!

-C

The Whimsical Side of Writing

Fair warning: this doesn’t really talk that much about writing, but I promise it is related to some degree. 

As I’ve been spending a lot of time working on what I’m referring to as My Multiverse (where I’m connecting novels in a universe, but not in series), I’ve developed this desire to really explore my writing universes in as many different ways as possible. Obviously, my characters are real to me and I can visualize their worlds in a way that really no one else can, but I want to bring that connection to my readers, too. So, how do I suppose I’m going to do this? 

The first thing I already do, but I’m expanding on it: my playlists. For those of you who don’t know, I always include a playlist page at the end of my novels for songs that remind me of the novel. I’ve slowly been altering the themes behind the playlist, but for the projects I’m currently working on, those themes are really changing. Instead of just doing the songs that remind me of the book, I’m also creating specific playlists for the characters. For example, one of the playlists I’m working on is a character’s go to break up playlist. Stuff like that. It helps me dig into the characters a bit more, and just makes them seem a bit more real. 

The next thing I want to do comes down to something that I have loved doing for years, and that is designing outfits. Now, I’m not going to draw every single outfit that the characters wear, but for special events like prom or going to weddings, I want to design what they’re wearing for it. I loved drawing dresses growing up, so this is kind of an extension of that. I have no idea if these are going to end up anywhere, but I love the idea of combining two things that I love doing--writing and designing clothing. 

In a similar vein, I used to spend time drawing house blueprints and floor plans for them. Naturally, I want to continue this. Whenever I’m writing, I have an idea in my head of what the houses look like, and specifically my character’s rooms. So, I want to take this a step further and draw these out for myself to really visualize them. My hope is that through expanding on my visualization of the worlds around my characters, I can make them more vivid for my readers, too. 

The last thing I want to do is spend more time writing whimsical scenes that won’t necessarily make it into the final draft of my projects. Writing is supposed to be a fun thing, and I want to really let myself enjoy that. Yes, accomplishing things and making progress is important for me, but I also want to let myself enjoy writing more. I’m also not writing a ton right now anyway, since I’m doing so much plotting, so making more time to write fun stuff is definitely important to me. 

I guess the point of this is that I want to spend more time doing cozy things that support my writing, even if that doesn’t mean making a lot of tangible production progress. I think it’s really easy to get stuck in the mindset of having to make progress, even if you are enjoying what you’re working on. This year, I’m going to try to have more fun with my writing. Or be more whimsical, if you will. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C

Behind the Curtain: Healing x3 Part Two

In honour of Healing x3 Part Two becoming available this Friday, I thought I would give you some behind the scenes details about my process writing and editing this novel. 

The first thing that’s unique with this novel is that I actually plotted this one in the same outline as Part One. It was basically just one long outline that I split at the ending cliffhanger of Part One. Speaking of that cliffhanger, I apologize for how mean it was, however, I had to get you back for Part Two, didn’t I? On a similar note, I started writing this book right as I finished the first one. Basically, I plotted and wrote as if it was one long novel, and then just split it in two.

Editing this novel was…a process. I started editing it last fall with the intention of releasing it at the end of 2024. That obviously didn’t happen, since it’s February, and there’s a few reasons for that. One, balancing NaNoWriMo was a challenge, so editing was not a priority. Second, I really hate editing, so when I was trying to make time for my writing, editing was the first thing to slip. It got to the point with my second round of edits--where I’m just applying my notes--that I put a podcast on and forced myself to edit until I got it done. I also got my wisdom teeth out in the middle of editing, so that made it more of a challenge. 

Another thing that was different with this novel is the amount of rewrites in it. What I mean by this is that there were supposed to be more intimate scenes in this novel. However, while writing it, I went through something that made writing those scenes more challenging than normal. I did keep two of the ones that I had to go back and write months after the first draft was done. I did also cut two of them and replace them with something else, since it was easier for me to write a less graphic scene for. It was a hard decision to make, since the first one has many a graphic intimate scenes in it, but I did what was good for me, and in this case, it was cutting some of those scenes. Don’t worry, I want to make sure that one of them makes an appearance in Part Three. 

And that’s the last thing I want to bring up. There is actually a Part Three to this novel, currently in the works. It still follows the same characters, just a little way in the future. There’s so many things that I wish I could tell you about Part Two, but given that it's coming out on the 28th, I know that I’m the only one who has read it at this point, so I don’t want to spoil anything. 

It’s not really a spoiler, but for those of you who didn’t love Vance in the first novel, just know that some of my favourite scenes of his are in this one.

That's all for now, folks!

-C

When Thing Don't Go As Planned (Literally)

 As I normally do with these blog posts, I’m going to take you behind the scenes in regards to my planning. And before you get too worried, no, this is not how I set deadlines, since there’s a post from last year about that. No, what we’re talking about today is what happens when those deadlines don’t work as well as I hoped they will. 

Now, something that’s quite common with me is that the last week of a month and the first week of the following month are usually pretty heavy for me. I like having things due at the end of the month, and I like to start a month strong by getting a lot of things done. January into February was no exception to this, since I was trying to finish up some backplotting on a few projects so that I could focus on the next ones. I’m also trying to edit a novel to have it out by the end of the month, so it was kind of crucial for me to get a good start on that in January. 

As I’m sure you can imagine where this is going, the universe decided to throw a wrench in that plan in the form of my wisdom teeth. The final week of January, I was in excruciating pain and could barely eat, let alone write. Then, I had urgent surgery to get them out right at the end of the month, and obviously, I was more concerned about recovery than editing. All in all, I was not working on my projects very much for about a week and a half. Which really isn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, but with the way I set deadlines for the end of the month, I’m horribly behind now. 

Okay, that’s dramatic. I will be able to get caught up with a couple hours of work, but it just goes to show how easily my deadlines can be skewed. It’s also making me realize that perhaps I’m setting too many deadlines for myself, but I’m choosing to ignore that. Instead, I’m just trying to focus on getting caught up. 

The biggest thing that has suffered as a result of me having to get surgery is my editing. As I’m writing this, I have eight chapters to edit over the next two days to stay on track to publish my book on time. Which doesn’t sound like a lot, and is really only going to take me around two hours, but I’m also in the round of edits where I’m pulling content from it and also, I hate editing. Couple that with the fact that I have a lot of other logistics stuff to plot, and it’s safe to say I’m going to spend this weekend sat at my computer, hopefully getting closer to keeping my deadlines in tact. 

Am I surprised that the deadlines I set a few weeks ago aren’t working as planned? Not even a little bit. Because I don’t write full time, there is never a month that goes by without me having to change my deadlines. Sometimes it’s by a couple days, sometimes the entire schedule that goes out the window. However, because I’m completely independent and answering to no one but myself when it comes to my writing, it honestly doesn’t matter if something is a couple days late, or I have to push my publishing deadline by a few days. The only person that actually knows my deadlines are me, so when I have to change them, it’s perfectly okay. 

So, what do I do when my deadlines get completely skewed? Well, it depends. Since I was only out for a week and a half, I should be able to just play catch up and not have to redo the rest of my deadlines for the month too much. On the off chance that I do need to rearrange the rest of the deadlines, I’ll just have to shift all of my deadlines later. Everything that I wanted to get done this month still needs to get done at some point, even if it gets done a couple of weeks later. 

There you have it. A strange look into the aftermath of deadlines. Not really that much about writing, but something I’m actively dealing with at the moment, and something that is repeatedly coming up for me. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C

January 2025 in Review

It’s safe to say it’s been a heck of a month. Through chronic illness flare ups, ideas for a ridiculous amount of projects, personal strifes, and the general chaos of the new year, it’s safe to say that I’m breathing a sigh of relief now that January is over. Without spoiling too much for you, I thought I would share what I’ve been working on. 

The first big thing I’ve been working on a lot is backplotting, or plotting things that happen before the story that aren’t canon yet. It’s been taxing my brain a lot, but I’m happy to report that I’m mostly caught up. Granted, with each new project, I have new lore to plot, but I think I’m almost caught up for existing projects. I have learned that I prefer doing lore and backplotting at the time I’m plotting a project, rather than having to go back and figure things out. Not to get too mushy or anything, but I love seeing how my brain fills in the gaps in my writing. What I mean by that is obviously everything I’m writing my mind is coming up with, and it’s been really cool to see how my brain is connecting the puzzle pieces of my projects while plotting lore. As I’ve said before, it’s likely that no one else will ever see that backplotting, but I truly love doing it.

The second thing I’ve been working on is desperately trying to force myself to edit. If you follow me on Instagram (C Hilts (@c.hilts.books) • Instagram photos and videos), you’ll know that I have been (very slowly) working on the release of my next book. I am pleased to announce that said book, Healing x3 Part Two, will be available on February 28, which means that I managed to get round one of my edits done and all of my rewrites. Now, I’m just hoping I can get the next two rounds of edits done on time. Honestly, getting myself to edit has been like pulling teeth, but I’m doing the best that I can to make time for it, especially since I was a jerk and ended Part One in a nasty cliffhanger (Sorry to my sister, who has angrily reminded me of this for months). I would’ve liked to have gotten more editing done, but alas, I didn’t. 

The third, and arguably biggest thing that I’ve been working on recently is the idea of my multiverse. Basically, it’s the idea that my next eight novels all take place in the same universe and have some mild crossovers, but they don’t need to be read in a certain order. Now, full disclosure, two of the projects I’ve tied in are fully plotted, and one of them is mostly plotted, so I’m really only plotting an additional five. Which is still crazy, but less bad. Truthfully, I’ve just been figuring out how they’re connected and gathering ideas for them. I also really love the idea of getting ideas from my friends for these projects, but that’s something I have to work on. I will say, the multiverse has its own binder now--it’s even zippered with a handle, so you know I mean business. I don’t really have a lot of updates on what this means, since it’s in the very early stages, but once I can start revealing details about it, y’all will be the first to know. 

So, although I haven’t been giving a lot of updates regarding what I’m writing recently, just know that I’m still here, and there is a lot of stuff in the works. Including my next novel, so be sure to stay tuned for the behind the scenes look at that coming soon. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C

Returning to Old Projects

 Today, we’re going to talk about some of the projects that I’m wanting to return to, but I haven't yet, for whatever reason. I’ve put projects onto the back burner for many reasons, and I’m going to explain those to you now. 

The first project is one that comes up into my brain basically once a week. It’s a novel called “Writing-to-You”, which is one of the first novels that I really got into writing. Basically, it’s friends to lovers where she’s a writer, and I know what you’re thinking: no, this is not a true story, but it’s one that I love. In fact, I’ve played around with reworking it multiple times, but nothing has stuck. I love this project, but I lost interest in it when I was writing. This is definitely going to come back to some degree, I’m just not sure how or when yet. I just love the idea of a romance novel where she’s a writer, and he loves her writing, and they have a bit of a history together…you can see why I keep coming back to this. If you read the post entitled “My Favourite Male Characters”, one of my honourable mentions was Kyle, who used to be the main character of this novel. I mean, he still is in the unfinished version of this project, but what I mean by that is I’ve taken his character and used him as a side character in another project I’m working on. All I know is that eventually, you all will get to read Beth’s love story, even if it’s years in the future. 

The next project is what I would call the reason that I fell in love with writing. Look, I’m a writer, I have an eye for the dramatics, just roll with me on this one. Back in ye olde 2015 (I think?), I started writing a love story called “The Love of Chandre”, which followed Charlotte and Alejandre (I like my Latino men, get over it) as they fell in love throughout high school. That project has a special place in my heart, even though, objectively, it’s rotten trash that’s been left in the July sun for weeks (told you I had an eye for the dramatics). Now, I’m sure you’re wondering why I think it’s actual trash, and the reason is that it’s the second novel I ever attempted writing and the timeline was a mess. Granted, this is the first project that I ever did a timeline on, so again, I’m giving myself grace for that. However, I was doing the outline a year at a time, since they got together in their freshman year of high school, and honestly, nothing happened. It was just the main things: birthdays, Valentine’s Day, Christmas, etc. Besides, the chapters were a page or two long, with again, nothing happening. I love the idea of coming back to this project and making it into something that I love and that I’m okay with other people reading, but I have yet to find a way to do that. However, Alejandre was the OG book boyfriend for me, and I will write a romance novel with him in it. I swear it. 

Side note, I’ve actually thought about combining these two projects together, especially after I took Kyle’s name out of “Writing-to-You”, so maybe these projects will see the light of day sooner than you think…

The last project I want to talk to you all about today is “Fighting For You”. If you’re an avid reader of my blog, first of all, hey, bestie! Welcome back. Second, you may remember a few months ago, I wrote about what I was doing at that moment for this project. So, what exactly did I do? You see, this project originally started out as a short story (come back next week for more on that!). However, I fell in love with the main characters, Lena and Callum, and knew that there was something more I could do with them. So, I made a full novel outline, and I’m veering us towards that outline for a brief pit stop. When I decided to make this outline, I thought about doing things with two separate timelines that are intersecting…no, calm down. That idea didn’t pan out the way I wanted it to, so the outline as a whole was honestly a very antagonizing process. I really struggled to write it, and it showed. So, back when I returned to the keyboard earlier this year (there’s another blog post about that), I returned to that outline, and listed out all of the reasons I hated it. Not actually, but I really dug into it and figured out what wasn’t working. Once I did that, I completely redid the outline, and made it into something I felt like I could actually work with. And minus the Chapter Outline, where I decide what scenes are in the chapters and what they’re titled, the novel is completely done. I haven’t written any of it yet, but it’s ready to be written. 

So there you have it. Three projects I want to return to, but I haven’t yet. Writing this out made me really want to disappear to Paris for a few months and write my little heart out at various cafes, and then come back with a bunch of finished novels for you all. But alas, that’s a dream for another day. 

That's all for now, folks!

-C