The Newsletter Begins! And You Probably Learn a Lot About My Life

Here it is, folks! The very first newsletter coming atcha from The Oceane Breeze (a rather witty play on my name, or so I thought). As discussed in my welcome email, my newsletters will be broken down into four categories: Tea-Side Chats, The Wonderfully Wild World of Writing, Bookish Things, & Terribly Terrific Tips!

Tea-Side Chats

*sips on earl grey tea* Welcome!

So many changes have happened in my life in just the last year or so. As many of you might already know, I got married about a year ago to my best friend in the whole world. It's been amazing getting to have someone to simply do life with and it helps that we both just always love to hang out (even if it's doing our own separate things on the couch together, lol). Near the end of last year, we bought our first home (a sweet little ranch-style place in the rural woods of our state) and it's been fun (though challenging at times) making it our own. We also found out we're having a baby (SO exciting, right?!) and I'm happy to say that the New Year rung in the end of my first trimester (PRAISE God cause it was not pleasant). I have no doubt that Tea-Side Chats will include a lot of baby updates and I hope that they will bring you as much joy as they do me.

I'm still in college, just longing to be done at this point (I have about a year's worth of work left at this point) and between a new house & new baby + writing, I'm going to have my hands more than full come summertime. I plan on taking some time off school this summer for that exact reason and am just trusting the Lord with what my future will look like in regards to that.

I'm currently in school for business and the more classes I take, the more I wonder if running my own business is the way to go. I was never *quite* sure what I wanted to do with my degree and my love for writing, but now I'm thinking that maybe all along I should have been pursuing making writing my career. We'll just have to see!

The Wonderfully Wild World of Writing

I'm backkk to writing, and man, does it feel good! I have several projects that I *need* to finish the first manuscripts for this year and so one of my goals for 2023 is to get the first draft of the next Rose's War books complete, as well as the side-project I've been working on for several years now. Many of you might know it as the pirate/siren stand-alone story. Both are first-draft manuscripts in various stages of completion that I have been toiling away at for several years now. I'm making this the year that I *finally* get those first drafts done & out of the way. Once that's complete, I have two new story ideas itching in my mind. Obviously, I will need to work on the final Rose's War book, but for fun ideas, I have a sci-fi where certain beings are able to harness the power of the stars and a dark fantasy featuring a fairie princess whose nightmares start to come to life. Let me know which one sounds most interesting to you!

Bookish Things

So, I'll be honest with you all. I have not read in quite a while. Towards the end of last year, I finally got around to the Leigh Bardugo books that I had been putting off. Namely, The Shadow & Bone trilogy and the last book to the King of Scars duology. Both were relatively enjoyable (I'm a sucker for a solid, class-based magic system and it also doesn't hurt when you have a snarky king) but nothing that I truly adored. Reading YA in my 20s doesn't hit quite the same as when I was 15. And maybe that's me being cynical, but my goodness, the romantic DRAMA is so childish in these books that I can barely stand it. Which makes me think that I've simply outgrown romantic conflicts that would have had me lamenting in my bed. Now I just huff a little, take another sip of tea, and grumble about how they simply need more honest communication with one another. But on another note, must every book that has romance need such painful interactions between lovers? As someone who is married and has seen many people married or otherwise talk to each other... the books usually get it wrong. Couples (especially healthy ones) don't interact like that. But I digress.

The goal this year is to read 12 books (yes, 14 year old me would be ashamed with this paltry number) because at this point, reading 12 books in a single calendar year would be a win. The way I see it, I have a book a month. That should be plenty doable & I can always read more if it comes to that. Recently I've been wondering if I should branch into reading New Adult vs. Young Adult and the thought makes me feel like a child again. Even for a woman who is fully grown, the idea of moving on from my beloved YA feels criminal. Now, I don't *have* to, but I have noticed that I just don't relate to the characters the same way anymore. I look at them more as a concerned older sister instead of a girl who feels like she's in the trenches with them. I'm not a fan of change, if you couldn't tell. Part of my worry is that the books just won't be the same. That to start reading adult books means they'll be boring and dull. Just call me Peter Pan already & I'll fly away to Neverland to read all the YA I want. As I explore NA (do they even DO fantasy & sci-fi?!) I'll be sure to update you guys on how pleasant the experience ends up being. You might find me clutching my favorite YA books in the corner, muttering about the burdens of adulthood.

Terribly Terrific Tips

I plan on keeping this section short. Mainly because tips don't often need to be explained and I also added this section for humor purposes, really. But anyway, today's tip is this: