September 2023

September 2023 Newsletter!

Heyy! It’s Joanne! *waves you over to my little corner*

It’s been a while, and I hope you’re all doing well!

So I took a little unofficial break from my email list to brainstorm a bit and to organize it, because quite honestly, it was a mess, which I am so sorry for.

Here are a few details that will be going into place starting from this email.

• I’ll be sending you an email on the 4th of each month!
• This email will include updates on my writing and on my life!
• The email will also include books, music, and the occasional movie recommendations. I'll probably do at least one and possibly two out of these three in each email!
• There will also be the occasional guest email or business/blog spotlight, but there won’t be any of these for the next few emails. During my break, I realized that I was using my email list simply as a tool when it’s so much more than that. It’s my way of blessing people, those who are reading this. We do have a guest email today, but these will be less frequent from now on, as I write emails to find my own personal style of email lists.
• I’ll also be sticking with one or two email templates, instead of having a different one for each email.

Soo lots of changes! Let me know whether you like them or not, and if you have any other ideas!
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Okay, that’s enough of the announcements xD. Here’s a table of contents on what will be in today’s email!

• Update on my Writing
• Update on Life
• From My Playlist (Music Recs)
• Book News (Book Recs)
• Guest Email (Jessica B. Brown)
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And let's get started!

𝚄𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚆𝚛𝚒𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐

For the past few months, I took a break from writing. It wasn't on purpose, but it was very helpful for me. During my break, I reviewed resources, went through some writing courses, watched writing YouTube videos, and eventually realized what I had suspected all along.

I am definitely not a solid plotter. I really want to be one, and I had tried to plot with several of my projects, but none of them worked, so from my break, I now know that I'm a pantser who needs the tiniest bit of outlining for my writing to work, especially in my first draft.

I also started a new WIP recently, and it's a thriller/suspense novel, so I'm scaring myself as I'm writing it. 😂

So my writing's going pretty well! Definitely not quickly, but it's moving along and I'm perfectly satisfied with that.

If you write, are you a plotter or a panster? Have you ever tried writing a thriller/suspense? (Again, this is my first time and I am terrified, so, any advice or experiences are appreciated xD)

𝚄𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎

As for some updates on my life, my family and I went back to Korea for furlough, and we met family and friends, so overall, it was an amazing time.

I think some of my highlights from Korea were meeting family, eating all the Korean food I missed, and meeting new people!

School started again, which I'm having mixed feelings about xD. I love the fact that I can be with friends again, but the actual schoolwork part of school does not excite me. 😂

𝙵𝚛𝚘𝚖 𝙼𝚢 𝙿𝚕𝚊𝚢𝚕𝚒𝚜𝚝

I discovered a lot of new music these past few months, and here are some of my favourites! This was hard, mind you because I love music and I couldn't bear to choose xD. But here they are!

• 24 Hours by New Rules (I love this song. My friend recommended this band to me so I listened to one of their songs, and I never looked back. *coughs* There might be a bit of exaggeration within that statement, but I really did fall in love with their music right away).
• GAM3 BOI by Seventeen (Okay, we've got a controversy on our hands over here. This song is one of my favourites from Seventeen, but I have three friends who all said that this song sucks, to which, I was very offended. joking, joking, of course But I am curious as to what you think of this song! Reply to this email and let me know heh.
• Who You Are (Real Magic) (feat. JID, NewJeans & Camilo) by Jon Batiste (When I was in Korea, this song was used as a background for a Coca-Cola ad, and as I saw the same ad over and over again, I got attached to the song *fp* XD. So give it a try!

𝙱𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝙽𝚎𝚠𝚜

I actually read quite a few books when I was in Korea!

• ​Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver - I really liked this book! I thought it would be cliche, as the elements of the book were kind of cliche, but it turned out to be really good. It's basically about a girl who's a part of the popular crowd and is super mean, but then she dies, and she has to relieve the day she dies over and over. I read it all in a day, so I can say that it definitely captivated me. (Quite a few CWs though)

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• ​Five Little Pigs by Agatha Christie - I absolutely adore Agatha Christie's books, so when there were like 20 of them at the bookstore, I stood there for a good 15 minutes wondering which one to get. I ended up getting the one above, and I really liked it! I guessed who the murderer was by, like, the second chapter, but that's okay. It was still super interesting. And there were no actual pigs in the story, to which I was kind of disappointed, but that's also okay. 😂 🐖 🐖 🐖 🐖 🐖

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• I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak - I picked this up off the shelf because I knew that this author had written The Book Thief, and I LOVED that book, so I decided to try and read this one! It was...interesting. I definitely love The Book Thief more, but the themes and the events in this book did interest me. I think my problem was that I wasn't really rooting for the Main Character, but besides that, it was pretty good! (I honestly think my problem was that I had such high expectations for this book and it just didn't meet up to them..xD)

𝙶𝚞𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝙴𝚖𝚊𝚒𝚕

And last, of this email, there will be a guest email from my dear friend Jessica B. Brown! She's an amazing friend of mine, and we've been email list buddies since the beginning, I've loved getting to know her. Her emails are so fun and aesthetic. You can subscribe to them here! And without further ado, her email! It's especially for you writers out there.

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Do you remember when you first started writing? When you were that little kid sitting on your bedroom floor feverishly scribbling in old notebooks? When you thought each word you wrote was absolute perfection? When writing was something you did because you loved it?

And now… You’re frustrated with it, inwardly critiquing and hating every word, and just so burnt out and tired of it.

Maybe you don’t feel this way, but I’m sure you still have your moments where you avoid your writing like the plague.

Well, I have something to tell you. You need to fall back in love with your writing.

“But how?” you say. “I can’t stand the sight of it!”

We all go through dry patches where we feel uninspired to write, and it feels like we are a terrible writer. That’s ok. But there are so many beautiful things to appreciate and love about writing; the characters you can’t help but ship, the snippet of a scene you squeal over at midnight, and the ideas that come to you at the most random moments.

So, here are three tips for falling back in love with your writing:

1. Create a fun writing space. Light some candles and make yourself a fancy cup of tea; sit in a comfy armchair with a fluffy blanket or go to your favourite cafe. If you’re feeling inspired in your environment, the odds are you’ll be much more motivated to write—and you’ll enjoy it more!

2. Create Pinterest boards. There is nothing like a good old Pinterest board to reignite your love for your story! Just don’t get too carried away; aesthetics aren't going to write your book, even if inspires you to do it.

3. Write something you’re excited about. Write that fanfiction that’s been stuck in your head for weeks, or that scene that has nothing to do with the plot of your book, but you love it anyway. Write something that will keep you up at night because you are just too excited about it!

I know from experience that all three of these things reminded me just how much I love writing. I hope they help you!

Go, write. Fall back in love with it.

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And that's it for this email! Thank you so much for reading, I'd love to chat with you, so email me your thoughts on this email or any of the content in it! I'll see you next month!

Blessings,
Joanne

113 Cherry St #92768, Seattle, WA, 98104-2205, Seattle , Washington 98104
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