It’s been a hot minute since I’ve talked about anything I’ve written on here. Which is completely unacceptable, considering the entire site is called Cally May Writes. Not Cally May Reads or Cally May Tells You About Her Month.

So what has Cally May been writing?

The Rise And Fall Of As Sure As The Snow Falls

2025 started off strong with the finished first draft of As Sure As The Snow Falls, my YA novella. During the course of planning/writing this story, I was overcome with the desire to make it a trilogy.

This idea had two main (and obvious) problems:

1. I was about 1/3 of the way through the draft when I decided on this, and so that last 2/3rds of it is a completely different plotline than the original idea. Most of it made no sense.
2. Trying to take a novella-sized plot and stretching it to be novel-material is very difficult.

I spent hours plotting the new timeline, creating new species and kingdoms for my world, and fleshing out completely new characters. My Notion page is gorgeous for this project.

During all this, I began to loose steam. I thought, at the time, that it was because the plot wasn’t engaging enough, or that my characters didn’t have enough personality. But now, I realize that it’s because I lost sight of what I originally intended the novella to be– a cute and dramatic love story with cozy winter vibes.

Sidetracked

In the midst of hardcore plotting for ASATSF, I developed a desert kingdom and a whole new species/race that lived there. It existed in the same universe as ASATSF, and suddenly I had the idea, “What if I made a prequel to ASATSF with whole new characters and set in a different kingdom?”

Thus, Of Scales And Steel, or my “secret project”, was born.

It was glorious. It had vibrant characters, an intense plot, and all of my beloved tropes. I absolutely adored my villain (not sure if that’s supposed to happen…?) and I was so excited to write his scenes.

It was centered around the character of Raelyn and her brother, Zavier, and their life in the politics in the desert kingdom of Sandreen. I was partly inspired by The Rise Of The Vicious Princess by C. J. Redwine and the royal court inside that series. I was so excited to explore the different dynamics between the court members amidst the kingdom’s wars.

However, I got to the point of plotting where I began to question the worth of my story. Did it have a worthy theme? Or characters, for that matter? What was the purpose of this story?

I fell down the never-ending what-am-I-even-doing-at-this-point abyss, and the story slowly faded to the background of my thoughts.

Writing Does NOT Fit My Aesthetic

Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m a country girl at heart. I work on a farm, raise livestock, ride horses, and I practically live in jeans and boots.

At work, a lot of my coworkers are similar: college/high school age people with a sarcastic sense of humor and a general distain for “city folks”.

Over the past few months I’ve been working all day (almost) every day, and I’ve come to identify more with this stereotype. Especially after going through a series of “promotions”. I went through a season of questioning if writing really is what I should be focusing on right now.

I fell out of the habit of writing, and between work and school, I hardly had any time to think about it anyway.

A Kitchen Counter Conversation That Changed My Direction

One morning I was grabbing breakfast and my mom and I were talking. I’m not sure where the conversation was going, but eventually we wandered to the topic of writing.

“If you can write a novel by the end of your senior year, I’ll count it as an English course,” my mom said to me.

Now, there are three important background factors to consider:

1. I’m homeschooled, so this is totally valid.
2. I’m currently wrapping up my junior year of high school.
3. I’ve never finished a novel before.

This little sentence completely changed my view of writing. Now, it’s not just something fun that I’m doing just because. I have an incentive to finish it. This is just what I needed.

In A Hotel In Utah

Now I had to decide which project I was going to turn into a novel. Would I try ASATSF again? What about Of Scales And Steel? Or should I revisit Small Town Star?

A few weeks ago, my family drove to Utah to snowboard. I believe it was the second night. After a full day of boarding down the mountain, I flopped into bed and turned on Shark Tank, a road trip tradition in my family. It was durning the commercials and I wasn’t really listening, when suddenly (and I do mean suddenly, I have no idea where this idea came from) the words a girl with a map tattooed on her arm popped into my head.

The Birth Of Project: Map

Needless to say, I took this idea and ran with it. I’m not in a position to tell you all about it now, but it has some of my favorite tropes: found family, enemies to lovers, and good versus evil. I cannot wait to share more about this project with you!

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I hope you all enjoyed hearing about my writing life! It sure has been a roller coaster ride these past few months.

Where are you at in your writing journey? What is your current project? Do you like hearing about my writing or my reading better?

Have a blessed day!