Wow, okay, so October was hectic for me because I was preparing for the release of The Reanimator’s Remains (TRM #3), and let me tell you, it went wonderfully. I want to thank you all so much for preordering it and buying the paperback. You all are awesome. Anywho, let’s get into what my goals were 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
Books
My goal for October was to read 8 books, and I read 9 books total.
- Forever (#3) by Maggie Stiefvater- 4 stars, we get the conclusion of the main romance/series in this volume. Without giving too much away, I enjoyed this. It is very much a teen angst book, and while I feel like the two main characters lost a little of their zip in this book, it’s still good.
- The Clockwork Boys (#1) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, set in the same world as the Saint of Steel books, we get an exorcised paladin/ex-demon hunter who teams up with a pair of ex-criminals and a gnole to stop the “clockwork boys,” which are basically killer automata. I loved the characters and the romance, but I think I prefer the Paladin books a little more.
- Lore Olympus (#7) by Rachel Smythe- 4 stars, another great installment. I enjoyed seeing Persephone and Hades get closer while things start to crack with the antagonists. I’m very interested in the next installment since we’re heading into the trial.
- The Wonder Engine (#2) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, see The Clockwork Boys above.
- The Seventh Bride by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, a play on Bluebeard’s brides (I think) where a seemingly ordinary girl teams up with a man’s magical wives to save herself and all of them from him. I loved the Alice in Wonderland-ish nature of this book.
- Avenger of Sins (#6) by Jordan L. Hawk- 4 stars, we get the conclusion of SPECTR season 3 with Caleb and John stopping another absolutely horrendous ex-government agent, uncovering more of John’s past, and hopefully getting justice in the future.
- Swordheart by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, a woman inherits her uncle’s estate only to be harangued by her dead husband’s family into giving them control of her money by marrying his cousin. She grabs an old sword off the wall to kill herself with only to find the sword is enchanted/haunted by a dead warrior who does the bidding of the owner. Together, they must work to get her, her life back and along the way, they find romance and far more than they bargained for.
- The Book of Hallowe’en by Ruth Edna Kelley- 3 stars, a research book for my TRM #3.5 story. It was useful, but overall, it was kind of vague and apparently had some errors in it (it was written in 1919 after all), and it was a bit poetry heavy for my purposes as a nonfiction book.
- The Wood at Midwinter by Susanna Clarke- 4 stars, very short but the story is concise and in the spirit of Clarke’s other books, if not a tad more fable-like. The illustrations and feel of the book as a whole are really what makes it. My kingdom for an illustrated short story collection from her.
Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff
- Edited THE WHOLE BOOK
- Edited the whole book again
- Proofread TRR
- Had an ARC reader send me a punch of typos I missed, so I fixed those and reuploaded it everywhere (PS- thank you from the bottom of my heart for catching all those typos)
- Formatted the paperback for TRR
- Got the paperback cover wrap from Crowglass Design
- Sent out ARCs (super late, oops)
- Managed to somehow keep up with grading
- Fell behind in my class notes but caught up
- Bought advent calendars and a 2025 calendar (yes, I start prepping this early)
- Managed to not lose my marbles this month because I actually took care of myself and my mental health
- Finished Minami Lane and started playing Botany Manor (I highly recommend both games)
- Sent out my October newsletter
- Blogged weekly
- I added the freebies page to my website, which has “An Unexpected Valentine” and “An Unexpected Question” on it for free.
Blogs
- September 2024 Wrap-Up Post
- How to Deal with Writer’s Block and Imposter Syndrome
- A Preview of The Reanimator’s Remains
- One Day Until The Reanimator’s Remains
- October Newsletter
Writing
I think I’ll eventually end up writing a whole post about what I learned from writing The Reanimator’s Remains, but I want to wait until the book has been out for a bit in case I let out some spoilers. Overall, this month was ridiculous in terms of writing. I pushed myself so hard, and I think TRR is one of my best books so far. I stretched my writer muscles more than I think I ever have. On one hand, there are things I think I could have done differently, but I truly like this book a lot. I have the general end-game setup for this series in book 4, but I haven’t started it yet. It feels very weird to realize this is the penultimate book for Oliver and Felipe, though they will pop up in other books in the future. My editing process is a two steps forward, one step back kind of process, so my draft was fairly clean when I finished it (apart from the very end of the book). I managed to speed-run through the end of my editing, and one of my ARC readers (once again, a thousand thanks) found typos I missed. This book somehow managed to grow larger than I anticipated, which caused me to finish it VERY close to the deadline. It needed to be longer in order for the story to make sense, but *nervous laughter* I was sweating it at the very end because I felt the upload date for Amazon and D2D looming ever closer. In the end, I pushed myself and put up the best book I possibly could. This book is more plot-heavy than the previous two, but since it’s the foundation for the final book, I think it is necessary to make a satisfying ending.
I haven’t decided what I’m working on next, but I have a few ideas for the TRM #3.5 story that I think you all will like. More about that in the future.
Hopes for November
- Start working on a new writing project
- Finish Botany Manor and Love, Ghostie
- Read 8 books
- Blog weekly
- Send out my monthly newsletter
- Finish the majority of my Christmas shopping
- Finish the majority of my grading (yay)
Kara Jorgensen 
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