Hey, hi, hello.

It’s been … checks notes … a while?

Sorry about dropping off the map internet and all that, but if it makes you feel any better, I also did the same thing IRL – just ask my friends. Or don’t, because they probably don’t remember who I am. Just kidding! I’m only friends with people who understand the existential necessity of sometimes disappearing without a trace for weeks (or months) at a time. Life happens, you know?

Speaking of life happening, here’s what’s been happening in mine: Not. Much.

Not much, except the mundane daily grind … oh, and a hell of a lot of writing. 165,000 words’ worth of writing, which equates to two full-length novels, which represent book #2 and #3 in my (sorta) series of interconnected standalone mysteries. Basically, for the last couple of months, I’ve been working two jobs, one of them entirely unpaid and all-consuming. [That would be the writing, in case it wasn’t obvious.] Between those and family, I’ve had approximately zero energy for, well, anything else. Make that less-than-zero energy, actually. There have been many a day when I ran strictly on fumes and iced coffee.

Which reminds me: something kinda momentous did happen recently. I quit Diet Coke. I am now, exclusively, an iced coffee girlie. My body seems to prefer this method of caffeine delivery, don’t ask me why.

But I digress.

In addition to finishing the first drafts of book #2 and #3, I have also been working on a pretty major edit of book #1. Writing two more books has taught me a LOT – primarily about tightening up backstory, pacing, and POV – so I went back and applied those lessons to book #1. Unfortunately, that happened after I was already well into the query process, which wasn’t ideal but hopefully won’t prove fatal to my chances of getting agent representation. I’m still deep in the query trenches and will continue to be for the foreseeable future. I’ll write a separate post about that, since it’s probably unfamiliar territory for most of you and I intend to drag you along with me, whether you like it or not. Just kidding; I won’t. I do hope you’ll follow along, though. It’s gonna be a long, hard slog, and it will be nice to have some company.

Because I’ve spent every spare minute writing, I haven’t done much of anything else: zero reading, next to no socializing, very little thrifting. But June is the month I plan to re-emerge from my cocoon house again, and I kicked things off by hosting my annual clothing swap. A post on that coming soon too. Summer is now kicking into gear here in Edmonton, which means it’s (a) gardening season, and (b) time to bust out my summer wardrobe. I’m very excited about that, although I’ve had very little time to think about fashion or clothes lately. I know, I sound like a broken record. But I’ll be doing a quick little roundup of some outfit highlights, so look for that coming up. Oh, and if you need more Adina content, I’ve started a new IG account under my (future) pen name dedicated to writing and all things books (my own and other people’s). Check it out and follow me if you want to see/hear my thoughts on the writing process, my journey to trad publishing, bookish memes, book reviews, and more. My handle is @ murders_she_writes … and, yes, that is a J.B. Fletcher reference.

Ok, enough from me, for now. I’d love to hear what you’ve been doing and reading lately, so come and tell me in the comments!