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Belinda Kroll

Escape into historical worlds

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About Belinda

Known in social media as “Worderella,” Belinda has been writing and blogging about writing since 2003. Busy with a full-time job, family life, and the ever-present desire to write fiction, this blog is updated when the spirit moves her to do so. Visit her on Instagram @worderella for more frequent updates.

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Camp Nanowrimo is around the corner! Have you set up your story yet? Whether you're a discovery writer or one who likes to outline, these semi-structured planner journals meet you where you are. There are writing prompts to help you brainstorm your setting, title, similar authors and books, elevator pitch, and more. The second half of the journal is dot grid paper for free writing. Certain versions of the journal include monthly habit trackers.

Spent nap time today organizing my scene list in @notionhq and transcribing scenes from my writing journal into the word file. Did I mention that not only am I working on a historical fantasy novella, but I started a short story that brings back some friends from "Haunting Miss Trentwood?" Probably not, since I just realized they'd be making a cameo myself yesterday!

Thought I'd do an intro post since I've had a number of new Insta follows over the last couple months!

Happy Lunar New Year! This is the year of the ox, which is also my year. My friend's book celebrating the year of Chinese holidays is 25% off for a limited time. Don't miss your opportunity for this beautifully written and illustrated book!

First lines Friday from THE LAST APRIL: "Everyone else would remember that Saturday as the day President Lincoln died. Gretchen Miller would remember it as the day the ragged man collapsed at her feet."

New journals, who dis? I'm loving how composition books (7x10 in) and field books (5x8 in) now have fancy covers. I want my journals to be less precious i.e. using a composition books to scratch out my ideas, but also something attractive that entices me to write, therefore the cute covers. When I have more time in the future I'll likely make my own composition book covers to save money (though these weren't expensive by any means). I'm starting a new process where I put planning content in the smaller journal, and the larger journal is for discovery writing and world-building. I'm waiting for a traveler's notebook cover from Etsy to help keep the current project together. Pretty excited about it.

Volume on for a little ASMR delight. This is the first week of my personal February challenge to write three sentences a day. I got the idea from watching an interview with @maryrobinettekowal, who mentioned this technique to keep writing during upheaval. I also stole the idea to change pen colors so I can tell the days apart, but for the life of me I can't remember who had the idea first so I can't credit them. I never thought I'd be into podcasts, but it turns out writing podcasts are totally my jam and the perfect thing to listen to during midnight newborn feedings so I have ideas percolating by the time I try to write during the day.

We're week two into being a mom of two under two (by a month or so), while also trying to brainstorm my first historical fantasy (still). This is a snapshot of where my brain is right now... We have dinosaurs and kiddo drinks, journals and reading for me, and other newborn detrious off screen. I realized yesterday while multitasking by listening to the Writing Excuses podcast and nursing simultaneously that this book is going to be really hard for me to write because I've pantsed my previous books. I don't usually outline and tighten up until the second draft. The act of outlining should make it easier for me, but since I can't decide how defined I want my magic system to be, how impactful it is on society and regulations, it's making it hard to plot or even know what this book is about. Every time I outline, I feel like I'm rehashing what I've read before... Plus throw in sleep deprivation, general recovery, and the ongoing pandemic and it's a wonder that I'm going to try to commit to writing three sentences a day, just to see what happens. I've rewritten the beginning at least six times... I think I just need to move on and see where this thing takes me.

Great post from @ohiohistory:

Whatever your politics, today history is being made and we are all witness to it. Wearing my hair Edwardian style and some pearls in honor of the suffragettes and Madam Vice President-elect today.

Today on MLK Jr day, I'm reflecting on multiple things, activism being one of the topics. There are many ways to be an activist (swipe right to see a couple), but as a novelist, I've always felt what I contribute to fiction can't help but be a form of activism because my intended audience is the young adult reader. This latest #wip has an opportunity that I don't want to mess up, but I also gotta get through the first draft! I've mentioned using @notionhq as a way to write digitally, but part of my process is to read straight through the pieces and parts, filling in the narrative gaps. Since the Notion app doesn't allow for concatenation (yet), I printed everything out and used my @levenger #discbound hole punch to make this fun packet. I can move sections around at will, just as if this were a single file. Commence narrative gap filling!

Who loved American Girl dolls but couldn't justify the expense growing up? Who is still an avid history fan and just realized Amazon has its own line of 18" dolls that are less than half the price, and thanks to Etsy you can dress them in a specific decade if you want? Pictured is the Sienna model of the Adora Amazing Girls line, and the 1870s bustle gown I purchased from Love from Lola on Etsy. I bought the doll that most looks like the character in my new gaslamp fantasy, and the dress reflects the era. I can't decide if I'm going to style her hair or leave it because it's adorable as it is. We'll see. I'm also considering commissioning a dress using Nigerian fabric, just to be extra fun.

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Work-in-progress

Coming soon (2023-ish), an 1873 historical fantasy set in Columbus, Ohio

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