September was a shockingly productive month. One of those months where I’m super convinced I forgot something very important because I got so much done and nothing seems to have gone wrong. I’m always suspicious when things go well. Let’s take a look at the goals I made in August for September and see how I did.
- Maintain my mental health and a decent work-life balance while grading/teaching
- Make my goals for quarter 4
- Writing goal of 10k/12k/14k of “Flowers and Flourishing”
- Deal with any last minute book BS that comes up for The Reanimator’s Heart
- Blog weekly and put out my monthly newsletter
- Maybe make another book trailer/Tiktok for The Reanimator’s Heart (<– didn’t happen)
- Read 8 books
Books
My goal was to read 8 books this month, and I read 9 books in September.
- Home Grown Talent (#2) by Joanna Chambers and Sally Malcolm- 4 stars, a gardener and a model turned TV personality team up for a weekly gardening segment where flirting for the camera turns to something more
- Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club by Roselle Lim- 5 stars, a matchmaker returns home to save her new career while dealing with a toxic mother and a gaggle of lovely and complex older gentlemen who need to be matched
- Saga (#8) by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 4 stars, rereading before volume 10 drops
- Self-Made Boys by Anna-Marie McLemore- 4 stars, a queer and trans retelling of The Great Gatsby where everyone manages to get a happy ending
- Imperfect Illusions (#1) by Vanora Lawless- 4 stars, set during WWI, two gay men with magic struggle to maintain their connection and safety during the war as they’re used as weapons
- Monstress (#7) by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda- 4 stars, things are getting dicey for our heroine, but her little fox comes to the rescue once more
- Lay Me Down in Ivy by Stefanie Simpson- 3 stars, an interesting Victorian-flavored erotica with a fem dom MC and a cinnamon roll male MC, could have used more characterization overall
- Monotone Blue by Nagabe- 4 stars, a studious reptile person arrives at a new school and starts to bond with a lazy cat person. A cute MM young adult romance story that I wish would continue and does talk briefly about some heavier subjects
- A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger- 4 stars, a wonderful story with lots of Indigenous lore where a human girl and a snake-shifter from another realm team up to save his frog friend and her grandmother.
Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff
- Proofed the audiobook of Kinship and Kindness
- Paid narrator for the audiobook
- Released the audiobook of Kinship and Kindness (see blog post in next section for links/info)
- Fixed proof copy of The Reanimator’s Heart, so now it is ready to go
- Made more marketing graphics for The Reanimator’s Heart
- Set up my goals for Q4 and have reset my kanban board
- Got my omicron booster/flu shot
- Touching base with my job about my classes next semester (required some logistical work)
- Started teaching my writing classes for the semester
- Have been continuously in grading hell, but I don’t feel like I’m drowning in work. That’s as good as the balance gets at this point.
- Visited friends for dinner (we all are fastidious maskers on campus), which was really lovely and has helped my brain a bit
- Worked on plotting “Flowers and Flourishing” and wrote act one
- May have made a Pinterest board for the next Reanimator book, even though it isn’t in line to be written next, but I like creating a vibe while it marinates
Blogs Posted
- August 2022 Wrap-Up Post
- Quiet, Useful Objects
- On Writing For Your Best Reader
- The Kinship and Kindness Audiobook is Live!
- The Reanimator’s Heart Preview 2
- September Newsletter
Writing
I ended up writing a bit less than I hoped this month. My initial low goal was 10k words (as in 11.5k total), and I ended up only writing to 10k (9.5k words). I really shouldn’t be shocked though because the first act always takes me the longest to get through. Now that I’m getting into act II, I’m hoping that it will move quicker, and I’ll have an easier time balancing my grading and my writing as I’ll be more accustomed to my schedule.
- Week 1 (4 days)- 720 words (missed 2 days)
- Week 2- 2600 words (missed 4 days)
- Week 3- 1800 words (missed 2 days)
- Week 4- 600 words (missed 6 days)
- Week 5 (5 days)- 2500 words (missed 2 days)
Hopes for October
- Have a good launch for The Reanimator’s Heart (aka release ebook and paperback and maybe hit my stretch goal for my preorders)
- Start prepping the weekly notes for my spring classes as they are both new *laugh sob*
- Writing goal
- Minimum goal: 10,000 words
- Normal goal: 12,500 words
- Stretch goal: 15,000 words
- Read 8 books
- Blog weekly and put out my monthly newsletter
- Enjoy doing fall/Halloween stuff
Kara Jorgensen 
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