Monthly Review

September 2024 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen

September did not exactly go to plan, but that’s all right because I can and will get everything together. I underestimated how rough the beginning of the semester would be on my brain and body, especially when I didn’t get my medications for several weeks (laugh sob). Things are back on track (mostly), so let’s take a look at September’s goals before we go on:

  • Finish The Reanimator’s Remains completely
  • Edit the rest of The Reanimator’s Remains
  • Proofread The Reanimator’s Remains
  • Prep ARCs to go out
  • Format the paperback
  • Keep up with my class prep/grading
  • Send out my monthly newsletter
  • Blog weekly
  • Read 8 books

Books

My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 9 this month.

  1. Paladin’s Grace (#1) by T. Kingfisher- 5 stars, a Paladin with a dead god hesitantly falls in love with a perfumer who is dragged into international espionage and nearly ends up losing her life.
  2. The Heroine’s Journey by Gail Carriger- 4 stars, a nonfiction book taking a look at the hero and heroine’s journey. I highly recommend this if you are a writer or academic with a background in literature.
  3. Linger (#2) by Maggie Stiefvater- 4 stars, Sam is now a human but Grace is slowly losing her hold on her humanity as the werewolves beckon. Her parents nearly made me throw this book through a window because of how they treat Sam.
  4. Paladin’s Strength (#2) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, a bear shifter and a paladin collide as she looks to get back her missing sisters from the monastery after they are kidnapped.
  5. The Invisible Man & His Soon-to-be-Wife (#4) by Iwatobineko- 4 stars, a really cute volume involving a spa and ghosts. I love when stories like this take a field trip.
  6. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston- 4 stars, a second chance romance between two rather pretentious characters as they eat and screw their way across Europe. It reminds me of how Regency and Victorian gentlemen took hedonistic European tours.
  7. Paladin’s Hope (#3) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, an MM romance between a paladin trying to help his Gnole friend find a killer as he falls in love with the city medical examiner who happens to have necromancer-adjacent powers.
  8. The Carnelian King and Other Stories by Arden Powell- 5 stars, a really fantastic anthology of fantasy stories spanning genres, time periods, etc.
  9. Paladin’s Faith (#4) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, a spy falls for her paladin bodyguard as they infiltrate a party, end up trapped in a cave during a snowstorm, and figure out who they might be in the future.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • The Reanimator’s Soul won in the mental health representation category in the Indie Ink Awards
  • Wrote my butt off but didn’t finish TRR (it was done in October, oops)
  • Started editing the latter half of TRR… repeatedly
  • Wrote class notes for my new class and got ahead finally
  • Tried to maintain my mental health, so I don’t burn out
  • Played a lot of Love, Ghostie (highly recommend, it’s a very cute game)
  • Went to my doctor and got my meds problem dealt with (laugh sob)
  • Bugged my state reps about not supporting a mask ban (please call your state reps to tell them preemptively not to support a mask ban)
  • Blogged weekly
  • Sent out my newsletter

Blogs

Writing

My first mistake was underestimating the size of this book. It’s been kicking my butt because it is LONG. It isn’t horrendously long, but it’s long for me. It’s close to 110k right now, and while editing, it may end up even longer. Most of my books are around 90k, hence how I ended up woefully behind. I also made the mistake of thinking teaching wouldn’t kick my butt at the beginning of the semester. After like eight years of teaching, those first few weeks still make me feel like I’ve been dragged behind a bus no matter how much I like my students. With the added pressure of creating weeks of notes for a new class, things did not go well in the productivity department. BUT I do think this book is one of my best. I feel like I’ve grown as far as juggling things in the narrative and fleshing out my characters’ trauma in new and interesting ways. I hate feeling behind, but I build in a cushion for a reason.

Hopes for October

  • Finish editing TRR
  • Send out ARCs/Review copies
  • Format the paperback
  • Have a great publication day
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my monthly newsletter
  • Not implode along the way
  • Stay on top of my class stuff
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Published by Kara Jorgensen

Kara Jorgensen (they/them) is a queer, nonbinary oddball with a penchant for all things antiquated, morbid, or just plain strange. While in college, they realized they no longer wanted to be Victor Frankenstein but instead wanted to write like Mary Shelley and thus abandoned their future career in science for writing. They meld their passions through their books and received an MFA in Creative and Professional Writing in 2016. When not writing, they can be found hanging out with their dogs watching period dramas or trying to convince their students to cite their sources. To find out more about her books go to https://karajorgensen.com Sign-up for her newsletter and get a free short story: eepurl.com/bfJTW9

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