July was my birthday month, and luckily, it was a good one for getting writing done. Despite the heat and humidity, I enjoyed July and tried to take time to keep myself from flaming out. A reminder of our goals:
- Write 25,000 words
- Outline next chunk of book
- Do a cover reveal and make graphics for them
- Maintain my mental health better (oops)
- Blog weekly
- Read 8 books
- Send out my July newsletter
Books
My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 10 books.
- The Christmas Chevalier (#1) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, a historical romance with a trans masc MC who is a bit of a bohemian who falls for his ex-governess best friend and offers her the chance at a new life on her own terms. Oh, and there’s a masquerade ball.
- The Moon on a Rainy Night (#3) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, a sapphic YA featuring a hard-of-hearing MC and the hearing girl who is in love with her. I love the dynamic between these two as friends and the potential for more.
- The Moon on a Rainy Night (#4) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, see above
- The Moon on a Rainy Night (#5) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, see above
- I Hear the Sunspot Four Seasons (#2) by Yuki Fumino- 4 stars, we’re starting a new arch where we find out more about the one mc’s backstory and meet some new people who may cause trouble.
- A Highland Hogmanay (#2) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, an heiress runs away from London to a Scottish castle to avoid pushy, fortune hunting family and not only falls in love with the land but the woman who cares for it.
- Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way by Phoebe Ravencraft- 4 stars, useful for doing blurbs, but I think the original blurb book by Bryan Cohen is better, mostly because I wish it came with finished examples at the end.
- A Chaperoned Christmas (#3) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, a thrupple story featuring a London lady, her ex flame, and the woman who had a crush on her years ago.
- A Restless Truth (#2) by Freya Marske- 4 stars, a sapphic historical fantasy on a ship where an old woman with a very valuable magical artifact is murdered, and her young traveling companion and an ex-actress must find it and survive the trip.
- Ennead (#3) by Mojito- 3 stars, not sure I’m going to keep reading this one if the next volume doesn’t hook me. There was some dubious consent in this one, and the writing is a bit… sparse/loose to me.
Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff
- Finished outlining the rest of TRR
- Paid Crowglass Design for the cover of TRR
- Did a cover reveal for TRR
- Made so many graphics and videos for TRR’s cover reveal
- Celebrated my birthday with my partner and had a great day
- Edited previous chunks of TRR
- Maintained my sanity as best I could
- Blogged weekly
- Sent out my newsletter
- Signed up for the Naratess Sale in August
Blogs
- Why I Will Never Be a Brand
- On Writer Hustle Culture
- The Reanimator’s Remains Cover Reveal
- Emotional Whiplash
- July newsletter
Writing
So I didn’t quite hit my writing goal for July, which is fine because I wrote a lot. In June, I mentioned that I was flirting with burnout (and I still am), but days when I felt like I was overloaded or tired, I took a day off. I ended up getting a few migraines that took me out whether I wanted to write or not, which sucked immensely. The good thing is that I think the rest of the book will be fairly smooth sailing since I know where I’m going and what I’m doing to get there. I’m a plantser/gardener, so I generally have an idea of where I’m going, but it isn’t set in stone. Now, I have the vast majority of the plot solidified, so there’s less time spent waffling and staring moodily into the void.
Hopes for August
- Write 25,000 words
- Start edits
- Prepare for my classes
- Make the online parts of my classes (bleck)
- Continue to try to maintain my tenuous grip on my mental health
- Blog weekly
- Send out my newsletter
- Read 8 books
Kara Jorgensen 
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