Hello amazing readers and writers of AFF! I've received so much support these past few months and I am just blown away by the kindness of everyone here. There are many of you who aspire to be published authors one day, and I truly appreciate you sharing your dreams with me. It takes courage to vocalize (or I guess type out haha) something so near and dear to your heart. And you know what? Statistically, people who are able to speak about their goals are more likely to achieve it. I take all your dreams seriously and I can't say enough how much I believe that each and every one of you who truly want to publish a book will be able to someday. 

You honestly are never too young to start. You're all experienced and frequently practicing the most important part of being an author--which is writing. Keep looking forward and believe that great things have yet to come (:! 

I know I've said this next cheesy line to many of you guys who have talked to me through my wall, but I'll say it again here because I really, really, believe this:

I truly am flattered to those of you who have said that you want to "be just like me one day", but what I believe is that you'll become someone so much more. You'll find exactly who you are and you'll pave your own path, shining with your own distinct glow. Don't be content following in the footsteps of someone else, but be confident that you can be your own person and achieve your dreams. Pursuing goals with a complete acceptance of yourself will take you much farther than if you focused on moulding yourself after somebody else. 

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Onto the update:

Some of you may already know, but my second novel is titled "Raining Heartbeats". Previously its' temporary title was "Rain Sound". It is about a girl stuck in an abusive family and has to deal with domestic violence and fear while trying to grow up to be a normally functioning contributor to society. 

I want to give my rationale for why I've settled on the title "Raining Heartbeats", after over a year of contemplation. I'd actually started writing Raining Heartbeats last summer, long before I started The Stargazer's Scrapbook. It's a plot that is close to my heart, and will be much longer and much more emotionally taxing than The Stargazer's Scrapbook. Anyway, I digress. This is why I chose Raining Heartbeats:

I actually thought of it a while back, and found it again when I visited my Rain Sound folder in the document titled "Alternate Names". I chose it because I like the imagery and sentiment that the word "Rain" gives to the story. I think it sets a crucial emotional framework and setting for the reader when engaging with the plot. It also compliments the main character's name which is Raina. I chose Heartbeats because a heartbeat is an indication of liveliness--that you're here and you're alive. As long as your heart is beating you have hope. And I noticed in my writing, one of my most favourite sentences ended with "...something that gives your heart a reason to beat." Heartbeats to me are synonyms to life itself. A reason for your heart to keep beating is a reason for you to be alive... and Rain Sound is a plot about domestic violence. It's a sad reality with twists. But ultimately, Raina is looking for a reason to keep her heart beating, or a reason for her beating heart to have meaning. It's not evident to her at first, why life is important--or her life in particular. It's always raining around her, literally and figuratively, but despite all this, heartbeats--lives--are brought into her own story and shape it into something meaningful. As if they came from above. The sky, we can consider synonymous to heaven, rains the "heartbeats" down into her story. A heartbeat makes a sound. You can't read heartbeat without replaying the "thump thump... thump thump..." sound in your head.