Working on my small town romance draft! | Cozy writing & reading vlog | Vlog 5 2025

[@meghancarlson1360]

Thank you for another cozy vlog!

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Thanks for watching!

[@terryvarney443]

The Women is absolutely amazing!

[@AndreaJSeverson]

That's awesome!

[@michellescozycorner5318]

I love love love The Women can’t wait for you to read it 😊….catching up with all the vlogs 😊

[@AndreaJSeverson]

That's great to hear. But will the ending destroy me?! Lol! That's what I'm so afraid of.

[@michellescozycorner5318]

@ oh!!! Well lol let’s just say my emotions were uncontrollable; but it was a five star and more!

[@Mandy_James]

I'm getting ready to jump into Vicious by V.E. Schwab. Hoping I will enjoy it. I'm glad draft 1 is going well. And yeah, leave all those developmental worries for editing Andrea! Enjoy being creative, writer Andrea for now. Haha. It doesn't surprise me in the least the cover work is more enjoyable doing it earlier in the process. You're in "create mode" already and creating the cover is very much an artistic, creative activity. I would think it's a difficult thing to work on when you're in "editor mode" and picking things apart to make them perfect and "just so".

[@AndreaJSeverson]

I've loved the books by V.E. Schwab I've read so far, so I'm curious to read more. Keep us posted on how you like Vicious. :) And yeah, I think working on the cover while I'm still outlining/writing is going to be the way to go moving forward. It needs to be part of the creative process not the final prep process.

[@jordanobrien8915]

I love when these vlogs pop up right as I log into YT! If you're ever searching for a critique partner/beta reader, feel free to reach out to me. I self-published (briefly) in 2022 to see if I would enjoy the process, and I did! I unpublished that book to take some time to seriously consider how I wanted to approach authorhood and put my best work forward, and I have plans to publish at least one novel this year. I have a BA in English and focused on writing during my time in college, and now take interns from my collage's program each semester. I find trying to do the act 3 will they/won't they is the hardest when I'm trying not to annoy my readers! LOL. I get annoyed reading sometimes when it's a huge miscommunication issue, so I try to not write it into my novels. Act three is so much harder than act 2 for me!

[@AndreaJSeverson]

It's perfect timing. :) Trying not to annoy your readers in the 3rd act is sooooo hard lol. I think miscommunication can work but it's hard to do and it has to make sense for how you've written the characters. Miscommunication is real, it happens in a lot of relationships, but it has to be set up properly from the beginning. That being said, I know some readers just hate it full stop, so I struggle with it as a writer for sure.

[@angiesteg]

I really enjoyed Emily Wilde. I don't read a lot of fantasy, and it might have been my first fairy book. My favorite read so far this year has been the Into Thin Air non-fiction about the doomed Everest exhibition from 1996. I was fascinated. ✍

[@AndreaJSeverson]

I loved Emily Wilde. I definitely want to get the next books. :)

[@katarinarichterova2376]

Thanks for the reminder: trim the wicks, light the candle! I am editing and proofreading a translation of a very uninspiring engineering/management book, so a nice ambiance makes it a little more “palatable”.

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Yep, any time the wick gets long or gets a big bubble of char on the end, you want to trim that down. The wick should be about 1/4 of an inch long. :)

[@victoriamboo]

📚

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Thanks for watching!

[@alesswonderland]

You discussing how the book you are reading at the end doesn't have a strong conflict, makes me think about why people don't like cozy fantasy. But I feel like that's why I enjoy them. Edit: I read Dungeons and Drama this month and it was adorable and everything I love!

[@AndreaJSeverson]

This definitely felt more cozy fantasy than fantasy adventure. It was a little different than what I thought it would be in that regard but I still loved it and want to read more. It was very compelling and well written, it just threw me a little that it's plot followed a slightly different path than what I normally read. :) It's a perfect January read.

[@nadiajohnson5733]

📚📖✍️📝🖋️✏️

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Thanks for watching!

[@jessicadrake3016]

📚 One book I'm really looking forward to reading is the first disc world book. I heard the series is really good. I have to finish Dune first. I did finish an audio book called the convenience store woman. It was pretty good. It's only 3 hours long. It's about a woman in her 30's getting pressure from her family to settle down and get married, while she's just been working in a convenience store her whole adult life. I enjoyed it, not sure I'd recommend it as it was a bit odd, but the ending was satisfying at least.

[@AndreaJSeverson]

My dad loves Dune, but I just can't get into epic sci fi like that. I can do the movie versions of things but the books are too much for me lol.

[@samward3331]

I’m reading A Brave Start 😉😁📚

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Thank you so much! I hope you're enjoying it! :)

[@samward3331]

@AndreaJSeverson spent a very enjoyable Sunday reading, just finished, loved it! 😃

[@AndreaJSeverson]

That makes me so happy. Thank you!

[@mightilyconfused]

I read We Spread by Iain Reed. It was a bit challenging as I would classify it as an almost psychological horror. An older woman finds she is being placed in an assisted living home, and she's being told she's losing her memory, told that she and her partner planned this for her, but she's not sure if this facility can be trusted, or if she can even trust herself. I really enjoyed it. It was also a very quick read! I'm trudging my way through Mistborn still, but I think I've reached a point of dnf. It's just not holding my attention at all. And at almost 400 pages, I'm tired. I'm going to be picking up today either Daisy Darker from Alice Feeney, OR a YA Fantasy called Silver in the Bone that I want to read as part of an online book club. The book club will be discussing at the beginning of February sooooo.... guess I better get a move on it! So far both look good, and I'm excited to try something new!

[@AndreaJSeverson]

Omg Daisy Darker was sooooooo good. I loved it so much.

[@Bryndisdaugtherofgunnar]

How are you liking Emily Wilde? I really loved it, but I think it was because it obviously (to me) takes place in Iceland. There are Icelandic names and words, and certain things about the fae is taken from the Icelandic elf myths/lore/folklore. But it was fun to read.

[@AndreaJSeverson]

I loved it! It was so good, I want to read more in the series. The location was a little confusing to me, because it sounded like it was not far from London and an island near Norway, but then all the names sounded Icelandic, so I kept picturing Iceland lol. But anything Scandinavian/Nordic and I'm there. :)

[@teresa-wolfsparrowcovers]

I don't mind 3rd act breakups cos miscommunication is one of the BIGGEST and most common reasons for IRL breakups. It's realistic af. I think a lot of people pass judgement on them because as an outsider to a fictional event, we think we'd make this decision or that decision because we have zero emotional investment in the actual decision. But humans are flawed. Book characters are gonna make decisions that may seem "silly" to those not in them. If everyone in a book/book relationship is fully well-adjusted humans, I find those romances too naïve, personally. I need some sort of conflict happening. Doesn't have to be like HUGE and complicated (or dark), just something. This is probably why I never gel that much with the superheroes who think they are perfect/self-righteous. Looking at you, Steve Rogers. I like the arrogant ones, the anti-heroes, or the villains.

[@AndreaJSeverson]

I feel the same way. As long as the miscommunication feels realistic based on the character development, I'm okay with it. It just needs to make sense for how the writer has created the characters. But I do try not to repeat the same conflict from one novel to the other when I'm writing my books.

[@freeshadow8700]

📗 Just started my third Aunt Dimity novel, they are set in England.

[@AndreaJSeverson]

I'll have to look those up!