Ah, May. The month when my allergies beat me up and steal my lunch money every year. But the semester is over, the grading is done, and I can fully invest my time in my work. I know we aren’t completely done with May, but I think the end of the 29th is good enough to capture most of what I have done. If anything earth-shattering happens those last two days, I’ll edit and add them. Let’s take a look at what my goals were for May.
- Read 8 books
- Word count goals
- Minimum goal: 15k
- True goal: 17k
- Stretch goal 19k
- Blog Weekly
- Monthly Newsletter
- Finish majority of room/office clean up
- Play video games and craft more to unwind
- Do a craft for fun (I’ve been slacking)
Let’s see how it went.
Books
I set out to read 8 books, and I read 8 books in May.
- The Hellion’s Waltz (#3) by Olivia Waite- 4 stars, wonderful sapphic historical romance between a union activist/weaver and a piano teacher
- Along the Saltwise Sea (#2) by A. Deborah Baker (aka Seanan McGuire)- 4 stars, a middle grade story with a sort of Wizard of Oz style voice and adventure
- Love Bites (Southern Gothic series) by Magen Cubed- 4 stars, origin short story for the Leather and Lace series. It’s interesting to see how the story developed and expanded
- How to Train Your Pet Human (Southern Gothic series) by Magen Cubed- 5 stars, erotic short stories attached to the characters from Leather and Lace. As always, Cash and Dorian are hilarious and wonderful
- Siren Queen by Nghi Vo- 4 stars, a sapphic historical-fantasy story set in pre-Hayes Code Hollywood, horrific and glorious
- The 7 Days Author Guide to Book Advertising by Matthew J Holmes- 4 stars, useful in deciding what sort of ads to use and how they differ, not very specific or fleshed out
- Saga (#3) by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 4 stars, rereading in preparation for volume 10’s release in October
- Fevered Star (#2) by Rebecca Roanhorse- 4 stars, fantastic second book in a Meso/Indigenous American inspired world
Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff
- Researched AMS ads and ran one (yay for trying new things)
- Made a book trailer and posted it on TikTok
- Ran a free book ad with Free Booksy that was a FLOP, as far as paid promotion goes
- Created a book launch/pre-order checklist for The Reanimator’s Heart
- Made a list of keywords for The Reanimator’s Heart
- Finished grading and posted my students’ grades
- Brainstormed the future newsletter freebie “Jasmine and Jaguars”
- I have been working on my disaster of a room/office. I have organized all my clothes/purged the ones I don’t want, thrown out a metric shit ton of my childhood toys and junk, organized my books and purged the ones I no longer want. I have the vast majority of the work done. The only things left to tackle is some more childhood stuff that needs to go and getting rid of old furniture.
Blogs Posted
- April 2022 Wrap-Up
- When a Happy Ending is Defiance
- Fighting the Process
- When You Don’t Recognize Your Face
- May 2022 Wrap-Up (you are here)
- May Newsletter
Writing
My goal this month was to add 15,000 words at a minimum, and I am currently on track to hit that if I write 1,000 words a day for the next few days. I think I can do it, but it might be close or I might fall slightly short. Either way, it’s fine. My stats below do not include the 30th or 31st of May.
- Week 1- 2,700 words and 2 missed days, 540 words/writing day
- Week 2- 2,600 words and 3 missed days, 650 words/writing day
- Week 3- 2,700 words and 3 missed days, 675 words/writing day
- Week 4- 5,100 words and 0 missed days, 729 words/writing day
So this month has been a mixed bag as you can see from above. I’m not 100% sure what sort of went wrong this month, but I have a few ideas. First is that I hit the second half of act two. In terms of plotting, that is the hardest spot for me because it requires weaving all the threads you’ve created and load them up for act three where they must tie together and make a satisfying, coherent ending. This is where I end up pausing the most while working to make sure I’m staying on track. The second issue was my mom being home several days due to it being her birthday month, which threw me off along with the post-semester change in schedule. That transition period always trips me up. Ultimately, the tragedies toward the latter half of the month have been hard to deal with. I alternate between throwing myself into my work to deal and being so numbed out that I can’t do anything.
Shockingly, I’m very happy with what I’ve written so far this month, which I hope will continue as I move into June. The Reanimator’s Heart should be fully written by the middle of July, fingers crossed. I edit as I go, so the hope is that there will be minimal large scale issues to fix.
Hopes for June
I still haven’t done any crafts or really played any of my video games this month. I’m hoping I can find better balance in June and actually do some things to refill my creative well besides reading. I have a few needle felting kits that are small projects, so I may try doing those to see if I can at least complete one project this quarter. Below are my goals for June.
- Read 8 books
- Word count goals
- Minimum goal 13k
- Real goal 15k
- Stretch goal 17k
- Finish the room/office destruction/cleaning
- Blog weekly
- Monthly newsletter
- Approve cover design
- Work on new reader magnet story
- Play a video game/do some crafts
Kara Jorgensen 
500–700 words per day is pretty solid, and I hope you keep up the pace, or even smash your writing goals next month. Don’t know how you juggle that and read 8 books a month at the same time though. That’s super. Anyway, all the best for June!
Thanks, Stuart! I just wish I could write 500-700 words every day consistently. That’s the ultimate goal.
I hope you have a great June!