2-year blogging anniversary

Hello, friends! It’s been about a month since I last blogged, and I’m afraid I must warn you not to expect any kind of consistency from me for a while yet. I’m busy with school, work, college prep, and all kinds of graduation-related things. Then, of course, I will actually start college.

So my blogging may be somewhat inconsistent this summer/fall; but don’t worry, I have no intention of stopping. I love it too much to consider that.

Anyway, as you can probably tell, the point of this post is that I’ve been blogging for two years! (Well, really six years, but two on a public site.) I published my first “official” blog post on this blog on April 22, 2019. I was a shy sixteen-year-old and very much a newbie when it came to online interaction, but I am so glad I took the step to make my blog public — I’ve made so many friends, found like-minded creators and readers, and had a great deal of fun over the past two years. And I’m no longer a stranger to talking online (though I may still be a little shy sometimes ;)).

All right, on to the actual post…

⟡ stats ⟡

• My most viewed post of all time is announcing the Hope in Disaster short story contest! I really enjoyed hosting and judging this contest last year with my friends Charis and Kiki. If you’re interested, you can read the winning stories here.
• I’ve had 27,617 views, 2,785 likes, and 1,723 comments.
• I currently have 333 followers, which is a nice symmetrical number and also makes me very thankful. Obviously, followers aren’t the most important part of blogging, and I’d far rather have ten loyal readers than a thousand who don’t care about me (and, to be clear, I’m certain that less than half of those 333 people actually read/comment on my blog). But. It’s still pretty incredible to know that hundreds of people are interested in my content and writing. So thank you.

⟡ Q & A ⟡

Thanks to everyone who asked questions! I hope you enjoy learning more about me. Let the interrogation commence!

ask me questions! ⟡ a Q&A to celebrate 2 years of blogging

Hello and welcome! I think the title of this posts pretty much sums it up… I’ve been blogging for (almost) 2 years, so to celebrate, I’m asking you all to ask me questions!

I’ve never done a Q&A before, mainly because I find them to be overdone (generally) among bloggers I follow, and it gets repetitive if people keep asking the same questions. But since I’ve never done one before, there’s no way for it to be overdone or repetitive, eh? 😉

I’d love questions about literally anything (though, you know, I’m not going to give out personal info). So throw all your burning questions at me — the things you’ve wanted to know for the past couple of years but never dared to ask! (Mundane things are fine too. My favorite color is probably blue, if you were wondering. Or rose gold.)

You can also, if you wish, make assumptions about me. (I think that’s kind of the same thing as a questionnaire, only it’s framed differently. So… do either/both!)

Type out all your questions/assumptions/random thoughts in the comments, and I’ll answer ’em all in another post soon.

Tally ho!

the stories are true,

~ m a y a ~

P.S. I’m going to be gone on vacation next week, so even though my “official” blogging anniversary is April 22, the actual post will be later. (If you want a good laugh, search through my archives and find the post from April 22, 2019. It’s… something.)

I need your help! // take my reader survey

Hello and welcome, friends!

As the title of my post says, I need your help today. I’ve created a survey for all my blog and email list readers: a collection of questions about my theme, brand, and writing style.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I write and what audience I’m writing for, and I think this will help me figure that out even more. And I’m really excited to see your answers to questions like “which of my WIPs are you most excited about?” and “which font best encapsulates my brand?” 😀

The survey should take 10-15 minutes to fill out, depending on how fast you type and how detailed your answers are. (You can even finish it in 5 if you don’t want to leave long responses!) Afterwards (if you check this option), I’ll send you an email with charts and screenshots breaking down all the answers and talking about what I’m going to do next.

Thank you in advance for your time and I hope you have fun taking this!

click here to take the survey

Have a lovely day, friends.

~ the stories are true ~

the Disney character blog tag // feat. my charries and lots of fanart

Hi, I’m back to do another tag!

They’re an awfully handy way to write a blog post when you don’t have ideas, and I like how they let me link to some of my favorite bloggers 😉

Today I’m doing the Disney character blog tag, which was created, and for which I was tagged, by E.K. Seaver Thanks for tagging me, Emily!

Note: all fanart in this post was not made by, or for, me. Sources credited. 😀

⟡ rules ⟡

• link back to the tag’s creator
• link back to the person who tagged you (both of these rules point you to Emily! thank you, Em)
• pick 10-12 of your favorite Disney characters
• choose which of your cast of characters (from your current or a former WIP) reminds you of those princesses and tell us why
• tag 4-7 other people
• (optional) use the graphic Emily created for the tag (above)

Note: Emily told me I could use Marvel characters too 😉 And I took that to mean Star Wars counts as well.

I decided to pick main characters from my WIPs and match each to a Disney character!

---

Kalrona (Remnant) ⟡ Loki (MCU)

Annnd… no one is surprised 🙈 Kalrona was literally inspired by Loki, so… yeah. He’s a prince of an immortal kingdom, he has long dark hair, and he likes to laugh at others’ pain. I hope he doesn’t just read like a Loki copy, except that if it weren’t plagiarism I’d wish he did because Loki is the perfect character for my story 😝

• 

• 

• 

meet my MC wrap-up // ft. tons of amazing characters (and my MC Aionladon)!

It’s time to meet everyone’s MCs!

Back at the beginning of January, I created a linkup for writers. Basically, it’s a list of 10 questions for bloggers to answer about their MC (main character) — or any character they wanted — in a post, then link back to mine so I could compile a list. Well, now the time has come to share that list with the world!! I hope you all enjoy meeting your fellow writers’ incredible characters.

And after I share all your posts, I’m going to introduce you to my MC, Aionladon Rynael!

(If you want to do the linkup now, feel free to use my questions/link back to my post, but I won’t be sharing it, so it’ll function more like a tag from now on.)

meet the MCs

Weez @ Caught Daydreaming // Gar + Alistair
Theia Grace, Writer // Hanna Lee
Liesl @ Quote, Unquote // Austin Blake Finch
Havalah Ruth Peirce // Lysander Emmanuel Dowding-Ellis
E.B. Roshan @ Shards of Sevia // Dunya Durband
Issabelle @ Teen Writers’ Nook // Keenum of Cedulnia
Heather @ The Frozen Library // AK + V
Joy Caroline Author // Temira
Callie @ Callie’s Corner // Idos Rakai Iskar
Lemon Duck @ World of Chronicles // Eileen Byrd
Mia @ Windows // Violet Blake
Jacob Unger // Tobias Hrothgar
Mary @ Wild Writing Dreams // Will
Evelyn Brooks // Andrew Erelius + Hope Kildara
Grace A. Johnson // Rina Blackstone
Ryan Elizabeth Writes // Jae-young Song
Jen @ Living Outside the Lines // Maelle
S.J. Barnard // Lisa Joule Johnson
Alexa @ A Fangirl’s Hideaway // Bentley

Thank you so much to everyone who participated! I didn’t expect this many of you to do it and I so loved meeting your MCs. 😀

And now it’s time to introduce my MC…

cover reveal // SHADOW by Kara Swanson

Hello, lost boys and girls, pirates, fairies, Neverbeasts, and everyone else! Welcome to the cover reveal for Kara Swanson’s Shadow!

I am so excited and honored to participate in this reveal. For those of you who don’t know, Shadow is book two in a duology, the Heirs of Neverland, which is a Peter Pan retelling/sequel. The first book, Dust, released last summer, and I got to read an ARC! It’s not my favorite book ever, but my main complaint was just that I wanted more, so of course I’m very much looking forward to Shadow‘s release (in July).

about the book

(warning: slight spoilers from Dust below!!)

Peter Pan has crash-landed back on Neverland. But this is not the island he remembers.

meet my MC // writers linkup open Jan. 1-30

Hey, friends! As many of you may know, for two years now I’ve participated in Christine Smith Author’s amazing NaNo Know the Novel linkup. It’s a fun way to connect with other writers and talk about your current WIP, and I really enjoyed it.

As I was doing this year’s Know the Novel, I had the idea to start my own linkup. Since most of the Know the Novel linkups are about the writing process and story, I thought I’d do something different and create a linkup to talk about our MCs (main characters)!

Etsy shops to support // some of my favorite handmade products

Hey there!! I know I mostly talk about books and writing on my blog, but today I’m changing it up and talking about… you’ll never guess… Etsy 😉 It’s one of my favorite places to find beautiful and practical gifts, so I thought I’d tell you about some shops I enjoy.

A few notes before I begin:

• I haven’t purchased something from all of these shops.
• This post is not sponsored by or affiliated with any Etsy shop or owner; I decided to do it all by myself and won’t make any profit from it.
• Photos of products were found at each shop; credit to shop owners.
• I’m doing this around Christmas because many of you might be looking to buy gifts, but it’s also kind of late for shopping, so some of these items might not arrive by Christmas. (Doesn’t mean you can’t still support these shops, though!)

Okay, let’s do this!

know the novel, part two: within the WIP // a writers linkup from Christine Smith Author

*hands you your favorite writing snack* Heyyy, writer! How’s NaNo going for you?

Oh wait, this post is about my NaNo experience? *cough*

Welll… remember back in October when I said my goal was 25k?

As of right now, it’s November 16 and I have less than four thousand words. (Plus two thousand I accidentally handwrote yesterday… but I’m not counting that until I type it up, hopefully later today.)

So… I don’t really think I’m going to get 25k words this month. And you know what? That’s okay. I’m living through the absolute insanity that is senior year — meaning essays due every week and scholarship essays all over the place. I have probably written closer to 15k words this month if you count all the school writing.

Current plan is to write every single day until this novel is done. Because I’ve been working on it for seven years (*hides* yes that’s not a typo) and I just need to finish it.

know the novel, part one: introduction // a writers linkup from Christine Smith Author

*welcomes you all to my blog with a wave and virtual chocolate*

Every year, Christine Smith hosts a linkup for writers to share about their NaNo projects. Last year I participated with my novel The Ancient Song, a contemporary Fiddler on the Roof retelling. (You can read about it here: part one, part two, part three.) I won NaNo with 50k HANDWRITTEN words (though I didn’t finish the novel), and I sadly haven’t touched the story since.

I do want to get back to that story someday, and rereading my old posts makes me want to even more, but today is not that day. Today… I’m going to tell you about my 2020 NaNo project.

That is, my November goal. You see, with school and life and everything, I simply don’t have the time or motivation to write 50k of a new novel this year. So instead, I’m writing 20k of my current novel(s), Remnant (and maybe the sequel Paradise). Since you all probably know tons about this saga already (if you don’t, here are some posts), I’m not going to be reiterating all that. I’m going to try to give a few little new details and also talk a tiny bit about Paradise!