January is always the most chaotic month, but this month felt particularly chaotic. The murders of two people by ICE in Minnesota certainly didn’t help that feeling. Most of the chaos came from finishing up The Reanimator’s Fate and starting the semester again. Let’s remember what my goals for January were:
- Finish writing/editing TRF
- Format TRF
- Publish TRF (1/29)
- Start working on the #4.5 story
- Read 8 books
- Blog weekly
- Send out my newsletter
- Set up my stuff for the semester
Books
My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 12 books.
- The Sunforge (#2) by Sascha Stronach- 4 stars, this was one of those books where I was continually confused and had no idea where it was going, but I was into it. I like that we got new points of view and explored new worlds. At the same time, I do feel like there’s a lack of cohesion from book to book in this series. Still really good and an interesting series.
- Do You Really Want Only a Meal? (#1) by Yasu Tadano- 4 stars, a busy office worker decides to hire a young chef to help him make his meals for the week only to have chemistry with him and the feeling is mutual. I really liked how between the two volumes, the two MCs get much closer, spend time together, and even meet the other’s family.
- Do You Really Want Only a Meal? (#2) by Yasu Tadano- 4 stars, see above
- The Titan’s Bride (#1) by ITKZ- 4 stars, I did not realize this was more erotica-focused than romance, but it’s an isekai where a young man is summoned as the bride for a giant king only to be tossed into court intrigue, a magical realm, and a suddenly very gay relationship with a relative stranger. A friend recommended it, and while I enjoyed it, I’m not as invested as I am in a similar isekai like The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter. The giant MC seems like a sweety, but this book is definitely someone’s size fetish in book form (not a bad thing necessarily, it just is what it is).
- Me and My Beast Boss (#1) by Shiroinu- 4 stars, in a world where beast-human hybrids are the majority, a human secretary goes from being a discriminated against employee to being the right-hand of the full-beast boss who tends to scare everyone by accident. It has beauty and the beast undertones, but I think it would be great for Ace Attorney fans as it’s similar but office flavored. The romance is also a very slow burn, which is very cute.
- Me and My Beast Boss (#2) by Shiroinu- 4 stars, see above.
- Me and My Beast Boss (#3) by Shiroinu- 4 stars, see above.
- The Other World’s Books Depend on the Bean Counter (#6) by Kazuki Irodori- 4 stars, a favorite manga of mine. An office worker is isekai-ed into a magical world and decides to fix the books of his new magical world. In the meantime, he gets magical sickness that can only be cured through very close physical contact with an overprotective knight. In this one, we have some near misses, church intrigue, and a little romantic tension.
- Through Gates of Garnet and Gold (#11) by Seanan McGuire- 4 stars, we get Nancy again! The underworld is under attack from hungry ghosts who are tearing apart the living, and only Nancy and her friends can save them. I don’t want to give anything away, but I really liked how this was set up. I almost wish it was longer, so we could get more dynamics between the rulers of the dead.
- In Which Margo Halifax Earnes Her Shocking Reputation (#1) by Alexandra Vasti- 4 stars, a rather scandalous woman teams up with her brother’s lawyer friend to catch up with her sister on her way to Scotland only to fall for the stuffed shirt young man. All of these novellas as fun, quick reads to case the chaos of the world away.
- In Which Matilda Halifax Learns the Value of Restraint (#2) by Alexandra Vasti- 4 stars, the errant sister from book 1 is actually on her way to become the art teacher for a young woman in Scotland, but she has also fallen for her grouchy brother, especially since he is a dom and she’s into that sort of thing.
- In Which Winnie Halifax is Utterly Ruined (#3) by Alexandra Vasti, 4 stars, a woman decides to take her life into her own hands by pretending she has a husband in order to buy a sheep farm only to accidentally fake-marry a real man. Once he finds out, he confronts her only to fall in love with her.
Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff
- Finished writing TRF
- Finished editing TRF
- Finished proofing TRF
- Formatted the ebook of TRF
- Formatted the paperback of TRF
- Had Kobo bork the preorder/release of TRF (see blog post in next section)
- Contacted by narrator about the audiobook for TRF (coming late spring/early summer)
- Contacted my cover artist about recovering Kinship and Kindness
- Brainstormed “An Unexpected Christmas” (TRM #4.5)
- Ran a sale on Chirp for the audiobooks of TRM 1-3
- Paid quarterly taxes
- Edited the syllabi for my classes
- Set up the Blackboards for my classes
- Shoveled so much friggin snow
- Finished setting up my bullet journal
Blogs
- December 2025 Wrap-Up Post
- Chasing the Market
- Project Shop My Shelves Q4 2025 Update
- Three Days Until The Reanimator’s Fate
- Problem With Kobo
- Monthly newsletter
Writing
The first half of the month was devoted to simultaneously writing and editing The Reanimator’s Fate. I had finished most of TRF by January, but I ended up leaving a bit to dangle while I finished editing in order to make sure I made the best ending possible and that everything tied to together cohesively. I try not to write and do final edits at the same time, but sometimes, it happens. While I don’t like to cut it so close to my deadlines, it couldn’t be helped. Luckily, it all worked out, and I was only stressed out right at the end. I’m very envious of authors who are done with their books weeks or months ahead of their release. I am definitely not that person, though I would like to be. Given any length of time, I will fill it like a liquid, lol. Apart from Kobo having technical difficulties that are beyond my control, my release went well. Hopefully, that will be sorted soon, but I’m pleased that my readers seem to be enjoying TRF. That’s all I could have asked for.
Hopes for February
- Outline “An Unexpected Christmas” (TRM #4.5)
- Write most, if not all, of “An Unexpected Christmas” (TRM #4.5)
- Reread Flowers and Flourishing
- Take notes on Flower and Flourishing for the rewrite
- Read 8 books
- Send out newsletter
- Blog weekly
- Keep up with grading
- Manage my stress
Kara Jorgensen 