Back in February, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish in March. Let’s take a look at that before moving forward:
- Read 8 books
- Finish Sarra Canon’s Publish and Thrive Course
- Brainstorm a short story for my newsletter
- Writing Goals
- Minimum 10k to reach 30k words
- True goal 15k to reach 35k words
- Stretch Goal 20k to reach 40k words
- Blog weekly and send out a monthly newsletter
- Crochet something
Let’s see how March went.
Reading
I set out to read 8 books in February, and I read 9.
- Where There’s a Kilt, There’s a Way (#2) by Ella Stainton- 4 stars, greatly enjoyed seeing their paranormal adventures continue in Sweeden with even more queer characters
- Gallant by V. E. Schwab- 4 stars, sort of a Secret Garden meets Crimson Peak
- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody- 5 stars, super helpful, would definitely teach creative writing from this in the future
- Lakelore by Anna-Marie McLemore- 5 stars, connected with me as a neurodivergent, queer, nonbinary person. Might be a little biased as A. M. is an auto-buy author for me.
- A Spindle Splintered (#1) by Alix E. Harrow- 4 stars for a Sleeping Beauty, multiverse story featuring a chronically ill character (closer to 3.5 stars but it was different and enjoyable)
- A Thousand Beginnings and Endings collected by Ellen Oh- 4 stars, as with most anthologies, it’s a mixed bag, but I found quite a few authors I definitely want to read more of
- Meet Cute Diary by Emery Lee- 4 stars (more like 3.5 but the ending saved it), a trans teen realizes the realities of relationships and figures out how to be a better friend and partner
- Lamb to the Slaughter by Joanna Chambers- 3 stars, a interesting but fairly generic short paranormal fantasy story with a minor twist
- Her Favorite Rebound (#4) by Jackie Lau- 4 stars, Jackie’s books are always an auto-buy for me, billionaire boyfriend is the villain this time and the main character finds someone better and more self-worth
Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff
- Finished all 5 weeks of Sarra Canon’s Publish and Thrive course (highly recommend it, btw)
- Created a series page for the series associated with The Reanimator’s Heart (not live yet)
- Created the Works in Progress page on my website
- Worked on my goals for the second quarter and prepped my kanban board
- Made some spreadsheets for my author business stuff, like books sold per month organized by book, rolling monthly ebook royalties, and royalties in general
- Outlined more of The Reanimator’s Heart
March was more of a writing month than an admin month, and I am totally fine with that. At some point, you get really sick of doing annoying little time-consuming tasks. My allergies are also starting to kick my ass, which is killing my productivity right now.
Blogs Posted
- How I’m Getting Back into Writing
- Introducing The Reanimator’s Heart
- What I’d Do Different as a New Author
- Adding a Works In Progress Page
- March 2022 Wrap-Up
- You can read my March Newsletter here (has a sneak peek at The Reanimator’s Heart)
Writing
I’m actually really proud of how much writing I’ve done in March. In February, I was still struggling to get into the groove of writing consistently, but by the beginning of March, I had gotten far enough into the story that I got on a roll and was able to write most days without issue. I struggled with some fatigue due to allergy season starting, but I wrote 16,000 words total this month. My minimum goal was 10k, which I hit a little over halfway through the month, and I ended up exceeding my true goal of 15k.
Here are my weekly writing stats:
- Week 1- 3,675 words and missed 2 days of writing, 735 words/writing day
- Week 2- 3,455 words and missed 3 days of writing, 864 words/writing day
- Week 3- 3,755 words and missed 2 days of writing, 751 words/writing day
- Week 4- 4,145 words and missed 1 day of writing, 690 words/writing day
- Week 5- 1,485 words and I missed 1 day of writing, 495 words/writing day (this week was 4 days only)
Can you tell which week my allergies were the worst? Looking at you week 5! We also had family events earlier in the month, which totally threw me off, but I’m very happy with 16k words. I feel like my allergies are going to be a problem at the beginning of April since everything is blooming. Let’s see how long I can manage not looking totally ill and bedraggled.
Hopes for April
- Read 8 books
- Start work on fixing my room/office (this is a giant project)
- Writing Goals
- Minimum goal: 12k to reach
- True goal: 15k to reach
- Stretch goal: 18k to reach
- Blog weekly
- Monthly newsletter released
- Make blurb for The Reanimator’s Heart
- Brainstorm the newsletter freebie (since that didn’t happen this month)
What are your goals for April? Let me know in the comments!
Kara Jorgensen 