As an author-to-be I'm trying my best to document my writing journey without boring readers with all  the details. In my last post about writing, I discussed my struggle with analysis paralysis.  Since then, I granted myself some serious working sessions and forced myself to dive into revising my novel and tackling all the notes I had left myself.

As I analyzed the categories I had created, I realized I had the most questions about the words and language I was going to use throughout the novel. For example, should there be special names for the different roles honeybees have in the hive? And what words or terms did I need to make up to include more originality into my world building? 

After I wrote my novel, I reread one of my favorite anthropomorphic fantasies, Fire Bringer by David Clement-Davies. I took notes as I read, and one of my biggest takeaways that I wanted to implement in my novel was the creation of new words, new terms that the bees would use to help define their world. One of the most important things that I needed a different word for was "royal jelly" which is a substance that worker bees secrete to feed the queen. Queen honeybees live exclusively on royal jelly. In my novel it plays a much bigger role than just the queen bee's diet, but every time I read that term, I cringed. Sometimes the words humans give to the natural world are just....weird. I needed to find a different word that carried with it more reverence for how special a substance it truly is. I also liked in Fire Bringer the terms for significant life events in deer lives, so I came up with words for various moments in the lives of a honeybee. 

As I worked through all the terms I had flagged to think about and create, I found myself thinking through a lot of the bigger questions I had left for myself to figure out about some of the magic and the new hive roles I had created. Finally giving myself--and my characters--special words to describe their world, I found that the necessary world building that my first draft lacked was coming much more easily than it had before. 

As a lover of languages and linguistics, this revelation should not have surprised me. When I took a second to marvel at the progress I was making in just a few hours of writing and defining terminology, I recalled a conversation I had with David J. Peterson, the creator of the Dothraki and Valyrian languages for HBO's Game of Thrones television series. Years ago, I was lucky enough to meet him at a fantasy convention, and I asked him about the importance of culture in creating a new language. He said considering the culture of group of people is incredibly important. For example, he could not just simply create words in Dothraki to match what words we have in English, or what words other people have in that world. For example, in order to have a word for "book," you need to have a written language. You need to have time to write out stories. And you need time to be able to read the book. You need to find value in what a book provides, whether that is knowledge or entertainment. The Dothraki are a nomadic people with no written language. It does not make sense to have a word for "book." 
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I am by no means creating a new language for my novel. In fact, I'm borrowing quite a bit from Latin to go along with the scientific names I'm using for the bees and other animal characters. But even still, I needed to consider what was important to the bees so that they would have words for everything. And to consider what they would not have the words for. I have bees that are wild and bees that are raised in human-built apiaries. Their cultures and worldviews are different. What could I do with the words they use to reflect those differences and the messages I'm trying to relay through my story? Thinking critically about the words my characters used for their world helped me find more structure and purpose in the story itself, and it has helped me have renewed excitement and vision for draft number two. 

Last year I read some amazing books and some horrible books. I don't recall reading so many books that sounded good and turned out to just be horrible or very meh. I don't think I've given out so many one or two stars ratings ever. However, I was still pleased to find some wonderful books that made the top of my list, books that I would recommend to others and reread again. 

I took a chance with paranormal romance and read an author's debut, and although I don't read romance really ever, The Sunbound Curse was the perfect one for me to try out. The book moved along at a pace that reminded me of watching a Supernatural episode. The characters were interesting, and I can't wait to learn more about them in the sequels. Let Us Descend is magical realism about a young woman enslaved in the American south. I do love magical realism, although at times I know things go over my head. This book was beautifully written although the content was hard to take at times. However, that's the truth of our country's bloody past, and I appreciated the raw honesty of what black people experienced at the hands of white slavers. 

Banyan Moon is about three generations of Vietnamese women and how their choices they make as mothers and daughters affect each other. At times slow and frustrating to read because of understanding everyone's reasons for how they handled things, the book is well-written. While I only gave Sun of Blood and Ruin three stars, I love how new fantasy series are popping up that are based on the history and mythology of different parts of the world. This book takes place in Mexico and blends together Aztec mythology and the fight against Spanish colonial rule. I had some issues with how the story was told, but it was still a fun and refreshing fantasy novel. I'll probably continue on with the series.

Matt Haig might be slowly becoming one of my favorite authors. The Midnight Library is only the second book of his that I've read, but he has a knack for writing humans in a way that makes me laugh and cry and love the messiness of humanity. His stories, at least the two that I read, include some fantastical elements, but each one provides a lasting lesson about what it means to be human. Speaking of favorite authors, Michael Crichton is definitely one. Everyone knows about Jurassic Park due to the film franchise, but the book is just as good. This was a reread for me inspired by the latest Jurassic World movie that came out in 2025, and it Is just as suspenseful as the first read through and movie. I highly recommend reading this book at least once if the story interests you at all.

When I saw The Wager come out, I knew it was a book that I would have to read. I finally got around to reading it, and it mostly didn't disappoint. I felt like the summary made it sound like it was going to be about the investigation of what transpired to determine who the courts would side with, but that was a very small part of the end of the book. The book actually details the crew's experiences based on a couple men's personal journals. So maybe it was due to bad marketing that I didn't give it five stars, but overall it was a thrilling read and an incredible story about survival at sea. The Berry Pickers was challenging to read at times just due to the subject material. It's hard to say it was an "enjoyable" read, but it was an impactful story. I do not recommend finishing it in a public setting unless you are comfortable crying in front of strangers.