writing – Joanna Maciejewska

An Orc and a Dark Mage Walk Into a Dungeon – From an Idea to a Full Novel

With Shadows Over Kaighal, the third book in my epic fantasy adventure out, I thought it would be interesting to share the process of how the story and the setting came to be. I tried to keep it as spoiler-free as possible, but it does explain aspects of the world, so if you haven’t read By the Pact yet, and you’d like to dive into book 1 knowing as little as possible, you might save this text for later. But if you’re already a fan of the series, you don’t mind knowing more about the setting before you start, and if you’re curious on how my novel came to be and what an orc and a dark mage have to do with a book that has neither, keep reading! (more…)

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March 14, 2022

Personal Rants

Half a Year Check-In

Last year, I posted quarterly updates to my invisible writer’s progress, but 2021 brought so much about, I barely blinked and it was already the end of June. So here’s a quick roundup of the first half of my year.

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July 6, 2021

Personal Rants

March of the Writers

Back in February, JD Estrada—writer, poet, and Youtuber—invited me to take part in his online event, March of the Writers. With many interesting prompts, I was hoping to join in the fun, but unfortunately, reality decided otherwise. The beginning of March wasn’t too kind to me, and as weeks passed, things didn’t improve enough for me to take on another commitment. But I still didn’t want to miss the opportunity, so in a way of a compromise, I’m writing this post. I won’t cover all the 31 prompts, but I chose the ones that seemed the most interesting. (more…)

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March 29, 2021

Personal Rants

5 Years in the USA

It’s been 5 years since I moved over to the USA, and it feels like I should write a short summary. I’ve already mentioned a lot of what happened in the last year’s post, and due to the circumstances around the world, there wasn’t much exploring or activity outside of my apartment. So this year, let’s focus on adjusting to life in a new country and achievements, which I had quite a few. (more…)

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March 1, 2021

On Writing

Invisible Writing Progress – Q3 2020

If you’re on social media, you’ve probably seen memes about how 2020 delivers countless plot twists without being bothered with logic and structure of a story. In that vein, it delivered one to me, and though it wasn’t one of the curve balls it seems to have in an endless supply, my third quarter of the year still ended up under its heavy influence. (more…)

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October 5, 2020

On Writing

The Most Challenging Novel I Wrote So Far

When I’m writing these words, it’s been only a few days after I had finished the first draft of my standalone fantasy, Memories of Sorcery and Sand. There’s still a lot of work ahead of me, but the most important bit is done: I have laid what I hope is a solid structure to probably the most challenging story I attempted to write up to date.

And to be honest, part of me still can’t believe I pulled it off.

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July 27, 2020

On Writing / Personal Rants

Invisible Writing Progress – Q2 2020

Time is a peculiar thing. On one hand, it flies so fast that before you blink, you cross the midpoint of the year. On the other, when you look back at all that happened, it feels like it’s been ages since 2020 started. Of course, it doesn’t help that the year itself seems to be a story of a mad writer or a random plot generator… Yet, as we say in Polish, “one has to go on living” even if things didn’t exactly get back to normal during the second quarter of 2020. (more…)

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July 6, 2020

On Writing / Personal Rants

The Trouble with Writing Book 3

When I was first making plans for this year, I was hoping to finish book 3 of my epic fantasy by the end of April. Then, my laptop broke and with the delivery date of my new computer being three weeks later, I knew I’d had to adjust the plans. I hoped for the end of May, but realistically, I set myself to finish by the end of June.

It’s almost halfway through the month, and although it still could be possible for me get to the end before July, but even if I push really hard, it’s unlikely. There are several reasons. (more…)

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June 15, 2020

News

Scourges, Spells, and Serenades is now on Goodreads

My free fantasy stories collection, Scourges, Spells, and Serenades is now on Goodreads, which means you can add it to your shelves, and it will count toward your reading challenge if you’re taking part in it. And if you haven’t gotten the collection yet, you can receive the ebook by singing up to my monthly newsletter (you can unsubscribe any time!).

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June 1, 2020

On Writing / Personal Rants

Invisible Writing Progress – Q1 2020

So far, 2020 has been an odd year for me. I might not be a person to make New Year resolutions, but I had plans, solid and detailed, and I was ready to see them through. Yet, as always in life, unexpected things happen, and my plans got derailed, so the first quarter of the year for me, although somewhat productive, has been affected by a sudden loss of direction and then need to rearrange my goals.

And although writing isn’t necessarily as lonely endeavor as some people might paint it, the writing progress remains invisible until a novel or a story is done and published. That’s why I thought I’d share how my writing life has been so far this year, and what else I’ve been busy with. (more…)

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April 13, 2020