Author Megan Gallagher

▫️Speaking of which, I'm still here! I apologize for the lack of posting. The beginning of the year got a bit hectic, and the next 2 months will probably be as well as I help cover for a coworker's maternity leave.

▫️When it is nice out, you get a coffee and edit in your car on your lunch break. Right?

▫️How CUTE is this journal!?

I found it while trying to find another character journal for another novel and had to have it!

𝕀 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨! 𝕀 𝕜𝕟𝕠𝕨...𝕀 𝕤𝕥𝕚𝕝𝕝 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕠 𝕗𝕚𝕟𝕚𝕤𝕙 𝕞𝕪 ℕ𝕠𝕣𝕤𝕖 𝕥𝕣𝕚𝕝𝕠𝕘𝕪 𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕤𝕥.

But this journal right here. This 𝗕𝗘𝗔𝗨𝗧𝗬...is my "The Universe" journal. It 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝𝐬/𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 all of my plots and crossovers; cataloging who is in which novel as a main character, and who makes cameos in what other novels...if that makes any sense 😆

Am I in over my head? 𝗔𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘆!

Do I care? Ａｂｓｏｌｕｔｌｅｙ Ｎｏｔ！

We all know the saying, "𝑻𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒔𝒔." This is what it looks like!

ℓєт'ѕ ∂σ тнιѕ!

▫️I asked. You responded. I listened!

There are a few mythologies I have purposely omitted for the time being.

These sure aren't all of the world's, but it is a start. Some of these books I already had and already have novels in the works. Some books are new additions that I cannot wait to dive into and meet my new characters! ❤️
..I'm going to need more character journals...

▫️I am curious. I know there have been many books written based in existing mythologies.

Which ones are you just tired of seeing?

Which are you wishing to see more of?

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟰?!

I have begun working on editing/revising the first draft, as well as rewriting some scenes. I am also working on developing my characters more.

This story has grown and progressed so much since my 𝙸𝚍𝚎𝚊 𝙱𝚊𝚋𝚢 that I am so excited to get this one out to you. I absolutely love my characters and I hope you will as well!

▫️ While I did not complete November NanoWriMo, I have continued into this month. My first goal for this year was always to have the first draft done by January 2024.

Guys. I did it. The first draft is 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 done. However, with it only being 26k, and ALOT of [Finish Scene], [Describe More], and even [Bridge] notes, I want to tackle those and see if I can flesh out my first draft a little more.

▫️ Well, I did not get to my secondary goal of 25k, but I got pretty dang close!

I ended up jumping ahead to a scene I have wanted to write for a long time. One character really shone and rekindled my love for this novel. That, and the nice, kind, encouraging words, received by a few friends. Thank you ❤️ I'm still here.

▫️Even though I know I won't make 50k. And may not even make 25k by the end of November. But I am so incredibly proud of what I accomplished this month. I struggled for a year to actually write. I feared I wouldn't be good enough. I feared I would quit just like I did with the last great idea I had. I had fear of the first draft. And now? I'm about 3/4 through with a measily thin first draft and I am on cloud 9. Why? Because it only gets better from here :) To me, I am a Winner.

**Temporary** covers for the Greek duology. The series title is still pending.

**Temporary** covers for the Norse trilogy. The series title is still pending.

▫️Just call me the Little Engine That Could ❤️

▫️ I may only be 10k in, but you know what? This is a personal best. I have never gotten this far with a story idea before. I am into Act 2, and though it's basically a skeleton, it's just the first draft. More drafts will bring meat to the bones.

▫️When you can't really focus enough to write, you transfer notes into the character journals for Book 2 and 3.

▫️ Wrote the Catalyst today and began the Debate. ♥️ finally getting to the meat of the story has me excited. Do I have holes? Yup! Do I have brackets with "Insert Here" in a few places? Absolutely! But those are the second draft's problems 🤣

Words Written Today: 2,007

Weekend update:
I did not hit 10k but I did write a decent amount. I may not hit my goal this month but my overall goal was to have the first draft done by January 1st.

I will still work hard this month but I am not pushing it ♥️

▫️ I know, I know! I am so far behind and need to really kick my butt in gear here.

I did go back and typed up what I had (switching from handwriting to typing), fixing the mistakes I notated earlier. Yes, I know you aren't supposed to edit the first draft, but......it had to be done. And I am not just saying that. I had some blunders that had to be corrected.

That being said, I am proud I am where I am and look forward to sprinting tomorrow. Let's see if I can break 10k!

▫️NanoWriMo. This weekend was SLOW. I struggled to even want to pick up my pen. That was when I really began to second guess my choice of handwriting. I am finding myself extremely hesitant to write because I don't write long by hand. My hand cramps. My back hurts. I can't get a comfortable position as I rotate the notebook, desperate to find relief.

So I made the decision today: to use a computer. I will have to exercise immense self control over editing...but I feel like in the long run, this will be good.

It doesn't help that with NanoWriMo, you keep track of your word count and I am over here manually counting my words and writing them on the bottom of pages/paragraphs.

So today was a semi reset in the sense I am typing up what I have; thankful I only have 3,239 to type up 🤣. Am I editing? Only slightly. I am adding descriptions I missed the first time, like one of my side characters here, Randy.

▫️ Book One in my Grecian duology (could be triology). Planning is still in the works, but I am so excited about these two and had to share; prematurely.

𝕭𝖔𝖔𝖐 𝕺𝖓𝖊: 𝕯𝖊𝖆𝖙𝖍'𝖘 𝕭𝖔𝖝
Hypnos and Thanatos - twin brothers. Gods of Sleep and Death.

▫️ After ditching the AI images of my characters, here are the characters for "ꜱᴏɴꜱ & ʜᴇɪʀꜱ" - Book One of the Therian Legends, minus the villain ;)

▫️How is it going? Why isn't the first draft done?

Well......not me having 4 novels going at once 😬. And that's not even going to be all of them. I am planning a universe where all the books are connected somehow.

😂

"Never edit the First Draft."

This a piece of advice I saw and took to heart. I am stuck in this mindset that my novel needs to be absolutely perfect the first time around. I decided to scrap what I had already written and start again. Why? Because so much has changed since I wrote the first chapter.

Now I have a sketch of a Prologue and am writing away on Chapter One. My goal is to have the first draft completed my 2024. Let's do this!

▫️Just an author working away.

I committed to writing a novel in August 2021. Since then, my novel has developed from one book to potentially a trilogy. The plot has changed at least 3 times. Face claims have been tweaked, and some characters deleted. And honestly? I am so incredibly excited about where my brain child is. I just hope I do it justice by getting it out of my brain and "onto paper" so that the physical copy matches my mental copy.

Send thoughts and prayers! And coffee....lots of coffee.

For the past year, I have committed to finally writing a novel. I have wanted to write one since Young Author's in middle school; a friendly writing competition for kids.

I have tried multiple times over the last 20 years and have never written my ideas into novels due to overthinking my way into a corner and not knowing how to get out.

This time, I am in better shape and have not backed myself into corners as I planned out not only the first and second novels but connecting possible future ones as well.

I thank you for your patience with me and my lack of posting anything on here as I learn how to be present online, as well as learning the writing process.