September 2023 Wrap-Up Blog

In September, I finally feel like I found my footing again. With all my major book launch/release prep out of the way, I am looking forward to The Reanimator’s Soul coming out October 24th, in time for spooky season. As a recap, here were my goals for September:

• blog weekly
• monthly newsletter
• read 8 books
• maintain mental health by gaming, reading, or crafting when necessary
• stay on top of grading
• Edit The Reanimator’s Soul

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Books

My goal was to read 8 book this month, and I read 8 total.

1. The Dragon’s Betrothed (#1) by Meguru Hinohara- 4 stars, a blocked up writer returns to his family home only to find out he is supposed to be a dragon’s bride. Hi-jinks ensue as the dragon tries to persuade him to give him a shot and it eventually becomes steamy.
2. The Dragon’s Betrothed (#2) by Meguru Hinohara- 4 stars, see above.
3. Night Spinner (#1) by Addie Thorley- 3 stars, an ex-soldier finds her loyalties cannot so easily lie with her old troops after falling in with a band of Robin Hood-like deserters. I found the world-building to be… meh, and while the tone is YA, the ages feel very off for the story.
4. Akata Woman (#3) by Nnedi Okorafor- 3 stars, a young woman finds she is far more than she appeared and must steal back a mystical book to appease a spider god that threatens to destroy her world. While I enjoyed this, I found the world-building to be all over the place compared to previous books.
5. Fangs by Sarah Anderson- 4 stars, cute vignettes between a vampire and a werewolf, very fluffy.
6. Mammoths at the Gate (#4) by Nghi Vo- 4 stars, Chih returns to their monastery to find their home a mess as the head monk has died and the relatives want more than the monastery can give. A wonderful look at grief and the transformative power of love and devotion.
7. Princess Floralinda and the Forty-Flight Tower by Tamsyn Muir- 5 stars, Princess Bride meets Adventure Time as a princess saves herself with the help of a sassy pixie. Hilarious and weird.
8. The Candles are Burning (#6) by Veronica G. Henry- 4 stars, a horror short story set in the South, featuring a recent widow who must trick the devil to save her soul. Very atmospheric.

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Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

• The Reanimator’s Heart made it to the final round of BBNYA 2023!
• The Reanimator’s Heart was the queer romance book club pick at Meet Cute Bookshop
• I ran a sale on The Reanimator’s Heart and a Bookbub ad
• Finished playing Venba and Assemble With Care (both are available on Steam)
• Finished writing the last little bit of The Reanimator’s Soul
• Edited The Reanimator’s Soul twice/two rounds
• Proofread The Reanimator’s Soul
• Prepared and sent out ARCs for The Reanimator’s Soul
• Formatted the paperback interior for The Reanimator’s Soul
• Contacted my cover designer for the paperback cover for The Reanimator’s Soul
• Got my covid booster
• Did a bunch of event admin stuff for work
• Beta read someone else’s book

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Blogs Posted

• August 2023 Wrap-Up Post
• Kara Struggles with OCD
• On Forgetting to Read Sequels
• One Month Until The Reanimator’s Soul
• September Newsletter

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Writing

Writing and editing went really well, which always scares me a bit. In my defense, The Reanimator’s Soul was a book that I spent a lot of time on, so the “done” draft ended up being fairly clean. When I keep going back and fiddling, I make less of a mess for myself at the end of the process. Another thing that I think worked in my favor for the editing process was that a) I enjoy editing, especially since I edit as I go. b) I made of list of things I needed to add/tweak as I finishing the book up, which made it far easier to go back and run through.

I’m not going to lie, I really like this book. The emotional arcs for Felipe and Oliver are as important as the mystery. There’s a bit less action than the last book, but I feel like that’s to be expected and is ultimately good for balance since I don’t want the feel of the books to be too homogenous/identical. It’s about coming to terms with being chronically ill/disabled, realizing you can be loved as an autistic person without changing who you are, setting boundaries, and how medicine can uphold white supremacy. Sadly, these things don’t look sexy on a marketing picture, so I rarely get to talk about them, but those are the core things the book is about.

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Hopes for October

• Post/market consistently before The Reanimator’s Soul releases October 24th
• Do all the paperback setup for The Reanimator’s Soul once I have the final cover
• Have a great launch for The Reanimator’s Soul
• Write side/follow-up story for my newsletter subscribers (TRM #2.5)
• Get ball rolling on the audiobook of The Reanimator’s Soul
• Read 8 books
• Send out my October newsletter
• Finish putting together my Halloween plastic canvas village sets (I have one building left and need to hot glue others together)
• Decide if I want to do anything NaNoWriMo related in November, despite it being a month from hell for me usually (aka is Kara feeling masochistic)