Wit & Travesty

We are professional writers, editors, readers & nerds.

Monthly McGruder Updates: October

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Monthly McGruder Updates via Wit & Travesty

Yes, it’s time for updates. Thanks for sticking around and checking in on us. Do give us an update on your writing life in the comments or on social media!

Writing Updates & Goals

I made a goal of getting Destiny Seeker back in the race by the end of the year, and I’m still working on it. I’m not sure if I’ll get to it in November since I’ll be neck-deep in NaNoWriMo goals, but I definitely don’t want to neglect my goals for much longer. In the meantime, I’ve been asking beta readers for help with tweaking my cover letter to ensure I’m putting my best foot forward.

So far, I’ve written 8 chapters of Throwaway Queen, and that’s remarkable progress for me! I’m excited to see how much I’ll get done through NaNoWriMo. It’s exciting, but the pressure is looming just beyond my peripherals. Talk about spooky. However, my outline has been exceptionally helpful and I’m so glad I put in the effort earlier this year.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I will be participating this year! You’ll be able to feel the angst and excitement throughout this post, believe me. I prepared by setting a stepping stone goal of writing 3 times a week during October and it really helped! I recommend that to anyone that feels the pressure each day with the word count. If you’re used to writing around 600 words a session or three times a week, then it’s not as bad as not writing at all and expecting yourself to whip out 1600+ words a day.

Whitney’s Freelance Services Are Still Discounted

I announced my editing and beta reading services in July. However, I have taken off 10% of those prices for the rest of 2017! If you have a goal of being published ready by the end of the year, check out the Editing Services page to see the discounted prices and contact me if you’re interested.

If the prices are still way out of your budget, still shoot me an email. I want to help new authors and we can work something out.

What We Wrote in October

We had some great blog posts for you! To recap, just click on them below:

We’ll be having a couple of exciting blog posts and book reviews in October, so subscribe via email or follow us on social media to be notified when they’re live.

What’s Coming in November?

To give you a sneak peak of what’s to come in November, here’s a quick list:

New Book Reviews: Since I’ll be working on NaNoWriMo, I’ll likely rely on reading good books as a way to procrastinate! I’m so thankful for indie novels, so there will still be reviews coming.

New Novel Descriptions: I didn’t get to this task, so I hope to get it done in November! I’ve been meaning up to update the page I have for Destiny Seeker, so I hope to revise that, as well as add a page for Throwaway Queen. I hope you’re excited to learn more about my projects.

Nerdy Fashion Post: Again, I dropped the ball on this one, but I’d like to share this post soon! I just need to take lots of pictures to show off my favorite stuff. I plan on finally writing that post that gives you insight on how to pull off your own nerdy look, as well as where I find all this stuff. Hint: it generally finds you on Instagram!

 

That’s about it from us! We’ve been pretty busy and we know you have been, too. What have you been up to? Let us know and bask in your own glory in the comments section or via social media.

author updates wearing jedi costumes and holding cookiesvia wit and travesty
Apparently the Light Side has cookies, too?

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Monthly McGruder Updates: September

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Monthly McGruder Updates via Wit & Travesty

Yes, it’s time for updates. Thanks for sticking around and checking in on us. Do give us an update on your writing life in the comments or on social media!

Writing Updates & Goals

Well, last month, I spoke about the importance of having a business plan for finishing a novel. I’m still working on that, but I’ll share the details once I have an idea. For right now, I plan on making some edits to Destiny Seeker and get my manuscript out there with an updated query letter for the last few months of the year.

As for my creative writing, I have a pretty fun announcement. I plan on being done with my first draft of Throwaway Queen by the end of the year! It took me so long to finish my other manuscripts, so I’m beyond excited to see how I pull it off. I wrote out a detailed outline for my recent Camp NaNoWriMo goal, so I’ve got the bare bones set and ready to go.

Speaking of NaNoWriMo, I will be participating this year! That means I’ll be preparing all October for the massive amounts of words I plan to write. Woof. Wish me luck.

I’ve had a pretty up and down year with creative writing. I write all the time—for my full-time job and for this blog—but it’s not the same as getting knee deep in novel writing. I’m hoping that this huge stretch goal will get me back into the writing groove. I made everything on this blog and my social media because of my novels, so I can’t lose sight of why I started it all.

As some of you have seen through my Let’s Get Real posts on Instagram, I’ve tried to be pretty real and transparent about how my life is going and how my mental health affects my work. I’ve got a lot to navigate through because of my perfectionism. I’m constantly catching up with myself and it can be frustrating when I can never seem to shorten my to-do list.

I hope to write more about this in the future, but if you glean anything from this post, just know that your writing adventure and lifestyle is in your hands. You can’t let the fear of disappointment cripple you, and you shouldn’t let your expectations suck the joy out of writing. We’re all in the trenches with you, and we’re trying to figure it out, too.

Whitney’s Freelance Services Are Discounted!

I announced my editing and beta reading services in July. However, I have recently taken off 10% of those prices! If you have a goal of being published ready by the end of the year, check out the Editing Services page to see the discounted prices and contact me if you’re interested.

If the prices are still way out of your budget, still shoot me an email. I want to help new authors and we can work something out.

What We Wrote in September

We had some great blog posts for you! To recap, just click on them below:

We’ll be having a couple of exciting blog posts and book reviews in October, so subscribe via email or follow us on social media to be notified when they’re live.

What’s Coming in October?

To give you a sneak peak of what’s to come in October, here’s a quick list:

Spooky Book Reviews: October is always a great time to cuddle up with a good book and a warm drink. This month, I’ll be reviewing some books that will likely tap into the good ol’ Halloween mood.

  • Selkie Cove by Kara Jorgensen
  • Serpent’s Sacrifice by Trish Heinrich
  • Revived by Nina del Arce

New Novel Descriptions: I’ve been meaning up to update the page I have for Destiny Seeker, so I hope to revise that, as well as add a page for Throwaway Queen. I hope you’re excited to learn more about my projects.

Nerdy Fashion: Somehow I’ve become a nerdy fashionista? Not entirely, but I love sharing my crazy-cute outfits and cosplays with you. I plan on finally writing that post that gives you insight on how to pull off your own nerdy look, as well as where I find all this stuff. Hint: it generally finds you on Instagram!

 

That’s about it from us! We’ve been pretty busy and we know you have been, too. What have you been up to? Let us know and bask in your own glory in the comments section or via social media.

Monthly McGruder Updates: August

· 2 Comments

Monthly McGruder Updates via Wit & Travesty

Yes, it’s time for updates. Thanks for sticking around and checking in on us. Do give us an update on your writing life in the comments or on social media!

Writing Updates & Goals

I feel like every time we write these updates, we end up offering pithy excuses. We really admire our fellow writing friends that can write consistently! We haven’t nailed that down quite yet. It seems like our summer was all about figuring out what the rest of the year would look like for us, and we now feel like we can see what the next year will bring.

I personally haven’t done much creative writing, but I’ve focused on how to streamline my Wit & Travesty content. So far, I’ve created a weekly, monthly, and quarterly outline of what we’d like to share with you and I’m really proud of that. Before, we would randomly share content when we felt moved to do so. It looks like I’m constantly on social media but really I chalk it up to lots of batch writing and scheduling. I’m hoping that once that ball starts rolling, the work will mostly do itself and then I can focus on my writing.

Something we both noticed about our creative writing: we don’t have a business plan. It’s pretty hard to write, edit, and polish a novel without an end goal in mind. When you write to write, it could take you decades (*raises hand*) to write a novel. We realized that some sort of timeline can help us know what to do each week to finally reach our publishing goals.

Each plan will look different for everyone, so if you want to glean something from our experience, just consider your life and your schedule and determine for yourself when your book will be ready to shine. It’s not a race, and your novel won’t expire. We’ll likely share a blog post on how we did this and what we learned from it.

Whitney’s Freelance Services Are Discounted!

I announced my editing and beta reading services in July. However, I have recently taken off 10% of those prices! I have a few spots left in 2017 that I’d like to fill before the holidays get out of control. If you have a goal of being published ready by the end of the year, check out the Editing Services page to see the discounted prices and contact me if you’re interested.

If the prices are still way out of your budget, still shoot me an email. I want to help new authors and we can work something out.

editing services via wit and travesty
Click on this happy couple to see Whitney’s freelance editing discounts!

What We Wrote in August

We had some great blog posts for you! To recap, just click on them below:

We’ll be having a couple of exciting blog posts and book reviews in September, so subscribe via email or follow us on social media to be notified when they’re live.

That’s about it from us! We’ve been pretty busy and we know you have been, too. What have you been up to? Let us know and bask in your own glory in the comments section or via social media.

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TESTIMONIALS

I won a contest via Wit & Travesty in the summer of 2017. The prize was a professional edit of the first 100 pages of a WIP. My middle grade fantasy was only 90 pages, so she read the entire manuscript. She was communicative and positive about the project. Her edits markedly polished up my manuscript and were easy to understand.
Rachel Barnard
Whitney helped me with two short projects written for children, and she was very pleasant to work with. She has an eye for detail, helping me with small grammar errors as well as insights about adding scenes that would enhance my story. Her turnaround time was extremely quick, which I really appreciated when on a deadline!
Brittany Olsen
Whitney did a copy-edit on my third novel, Checkmate. She was a pleasure to work with, and helped me give my novel that final polish that it needed before publication. Put her on your list for editors that help your work shine!
Angelika Offenwanger
Whitney and I worked together in a writing feedback group some years ago and have remained in touch since then. From the beginning, I was struck by her absolute responsibility as an editor. Even in the capacity of a group member, not even being employed or contracted by me to edit my work, Whitney was unerringly punctual, thorough, and accurate with her feedback. Her advice is genuinely insightful and I believe the marketability of my work was noticeably increased due to her guidance. I so value her skills that I still turn to her as a resource after three years of working with her in-person have passed.
Jonathan Baker
Whitney McGruder has created a vast and imaginative world in Destiny Seeker with surprises to delight the reader at every turn. Readers can settle in to devour the diverse and ingenious magic Destiny Seeker has to offer. I highly recommend it.
Jessica Frazier
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