April felt like the longest month ever for me. I think it was mostly due to being kept busy by grading nonstop (April is the November of the spring semester), and I, for one, am exhausted. I’m really looking forward to break starting in May, so with that, let’s remember what my goals were for April.
- Write 20,000 words for book 4
- Continue to proof the audiobook for TRR as it comes in
- Stay on grading as there is a lot this month
- Finish Act 1 and 2 outlines for book 4
- Continue to bug my senators and house rep
- Participate in the Narratess Sale (4/5-4/7)
- Maintain my sanity as best as I can
- Send out my newsletter
- Read 8 books
- Blog weekly
Books
My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 10 this month.
- What Feasts at Night (#2) by T. Kingfisher- 4 stars, I love a nonbinary protagonist, and we get that along with a nightmarish monster who is sucking the life out of people. As always with T. Kingfisher, it is very atmospheric and creepy.
- The Wolf and the Woodsman by Ava Reid- 4 stars, a fantasy story that pulls together pagan Eastern European, Jewish, and Christian folklore. We have a wolf girl who reluctantly falls for a woodsman/prince who needs to save his kingdom from fanaticism.
- Turning the Tables by Andrew P. Haley- 4 stars, book research, but I think it’s interesting for anyone who is into culinary history or how the rise of the middle class in the late 1800s led to the formation of restaurant culture.
- The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman- 3 stars, a steampunk adventure featuring librarians from a timeless library, book dragons, and tons of nods to classics.
- A Gentle Madness by Nicholas A. Basbanes- 4 stars, if you’re a book lover or a collector, this book is for you. Basbanes delves into rare book collecting, bibliomania, and the people who have made some of the greatest collections in history.
- Book Curses by Eleanor Baker- 4 stars, this was book research for The Reanimator’s Fate. It’s a very short book that could be a webpage, but it’s fun to have.
- Don’t Sleep with the Dead (#2) by Nghi Vo- 5 stars, the loose sequel to The Chosen and the Beautiful set 20 years later during WWII where Nick starts hearing Gatsby long after his death. I absolutely love the demons and world this is set in and how the characters are handled.
- Into the Dark (#3) by Jordan L. Hawk- 4 stars, a ghost hunting story featuring lots of queer characters where they go to investigate the asylum the medium’s grandmother was sent to. This is definitely 95% ghost hunting with like 5% romance with an established couple, just as an FYI if you’ve read Jordan’s other series.
- The Case Study of Vanitas (#11) by Jun Mochizuki- 4 stars, it was nice to see all the characters back together again as we begin a new story arc. I look forward to seeing where the new story line goes.
- Ornithography (#2) by Jessica Roux- 4 stars, this is a book about the symbolism of birds. It would probably be nicer as a coffee table book than an ebook, but it was interesting.
Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff
- Fixed the outline for the beginning of The Reanimator’s Fate
- Restarted writing The Reanimator’s Fate
- Participated in several sales/bundles
- Did more research for The Reanimator’s Fate
- Proofed more of the audiobook for The Reanimator’s Remains
- Blogged weekly
- Send out my newsletter
- Finished teaching for the semester (thank god)
- Finished the literary magazine for my class
- Graded a shit ton of papers
- Paid quarterly and yearly taxes (no one cares but it’s stressful, so it counts, lol)
Blog
- Book Sale Time!
- Acceptance, Not Awareness
- Writer Tips: The Beginning Pt. 1
- Writer Tips: The Beginning Pt. 2
Writing
The writing section for this month is a little odd for me. At first, things were going well until I realized I started in the wrong place and had to scrap what I wrote. Ultimately, the idea I had wasn’t going to work, and restarting it was for the best. This sucks since my word count went back to zero, and I spent two weeks figuring out how to fix it and make sure it didn’t happen again. Writing the final book in a series is hard because I want to do the characters justice, and I really want to make my audience happy. It’s really easy to get into your own head and give yourself performance anxiety or choice paralysis. I’m going to try very hard to stay true to myself, to my characters, and to the vision I have for this final book. In the near future, I will talk more about some specifics in the books and reveal the blurb, so stay tuned for that!
Hopes for May
- Write 20,000 words of TRF
- Write the working blurb for TRF
- Maintain my mental health
- Keep working out consistently
- Continue proofing the audiobook of TRR
- Finish grading portfolios
- Send out my May newsletter
- Read 8 books
- Blog weekly
Kara Jorgensen 