Elf Queen 3 Weekly Update + Life | 2/5

Hello, hello, it’s JM for another weekly update. This week seemed to fly by. I didn’t write as much as last. My grandma, who has been one of my best friends most of my adult life, had a stroke and we were all worried whether or not she was going to recover. On top of that, she has Alzheimers and I feel I’ve been slowly losing her for the past few years as it is.

We used to talk for hours about anything and everything and now it’s no longer that way. She will still talk my ear off but then ask me things like “Am I your grandma or your aunt?”

It’s hard to watch her decline. And when she had a stroke this week, she couldn’t say anything but slurred words and garble. Was confused and not entirely in control of her motor functions, she couldn’t even swallow. She’s 82 and fought the nurses, tried to leave, and gosh, it’s heartbreaking. My family and I all prayed.

I told God I knew he was capable of miracles and that he could help her recover some so she didn’t have to live out the rest of her limited days unable to talk– she loves to talk. I stayed positive and expected her to get better.

My dad drove from Idaho to Washington to be with her and my aunt who takes care of her. After a few days of my gram’s sedation, I called my aunt for an update, and she started laughing and said, “grams back! Your dad gave her some Pepsi through a straw and she perked right up and talked to your dad all night!” Pepsi is her favorite lol.

A miracle.

I spoke to her on the phone and she’s still a little groggy, and she has brain cancer as well as lung cancer so we know she doesn’t have long but at least she can talk and see her loved ones still. At least I got to tell her I love her.

Elf Queen news

As far as writing goes, I got a different inspiration for some of the earlier chapters that I needed to add, and I completely reworked a few chapters, and edited and changed up several bits. So I spent most of the week doing edits.

I’m not the type of writer that goes forward with one draft all in one go, and then goes back to edit. If I get the idea that I need to change something, I go back and do it. It’s fresh in my mind and then it likely affects the rest of the book anyway.

So I only wrote 6k new words this week which puts us at 65k words in total so far. Of course I wanted to be further but the news of my grandma had me worried.

I’m listening to the audiobook and switching between reading the hardcover of Chain of Gold by Cassandra Clare. I absolutely loved the Infernal Devices but I read it years ago, and I don’t know why I didn’t pick up Chain of Gold sooner. I love it so far and it’s fun to be back in the shadowhunter world. I forgot they used runes on their skin in Clare’s books. Like I wrote in mine. They’re not quite the same but it’s got a similar vibe.

That’s all for now. If you have any questions feel free to drop them in the comments.

JM