reflections on the writing process

Hi hi, I'm Sarah! Thanks for stopping by lessons from luna. As you can probably tell after my brief introduction, I'm not Luna. Big mystery! This is a blog about a book I started writing ten months ago. The protagonist of said book? You guessed it: the mysterious Luna.

The idea for the book happened in May 2020. I wish there was some grand AHA moment or spark to share, but it just kinda happened. A small curiosity that led to a few scribbled notes and relentless pestering of my bf, sister and bro-in-law for their thoughts on the idea. Their encouragement led me forward to explore the idea further by creating a meticulous writing schedule to make this idea a book.

Two pages a day, every day, no matter what else was going on. All while working full time in the midst of a global pandemic. Some days, there were more pages, and I thought (oh so foolishly) that I'd be done with the whole thing in weeks. Other days, every word was a chore. Eventually, I settled into a pattern as I got to know the story and Luna better. She was often a friend, an occasional nemesis, a teacher, confidante and complete figment of my imagination. She was made up of words and pictures in my head, which is pretty weird. But also fun.

By the end of December 2020, my first draft was done. I had all three hundred and forty pages printed and bound, and took several short videos fanning through the pages. All those pages that finally amounted to a manuscript. Albeit, a very rough one. I'm about halfway through my second draft which involves lots of writing (still!), re-writing and editing.

I'm not a professional writer, but with lessons from luna, I hope to share a little bit about the lessons I've learned and am still learning from writing this book. I also hope some of those lessons will resonate for you, wherever you are in your writing process. So, if this sounds like you, tune in for updates on my writing schedule and process, sources of inspiration, tips, tricks + anything else that pops up and is at least semi-related.