Tag: month in review

new blog post: june 2023 wrap-up post June 2023 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

June 2023 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

Looking back on my goals for June, I’m pretty sure I was delusional. Seriously, I don’t know why I put together this mishmash of goals, but I do think I got a lot done in June, just not those things. In May, I was feeling fried, but in June, I have actually been doing pretty decently, apart from a bump of anxiety. Here are the goals I made last month:

  • Blog weekly and send out my monthly newsletter
  • Write 25,000 words
  • Edit act 1 as a tidy up
  • Watch and take notes on more of Publish and Thrive 2.0
  • Enjoy my anniversary with my partner
  • Keep posting regularly on Tiktok
  • Maintain mental health by not overdoing it

Books

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

  1. Delilah Green Doesn’t Care (#1) by Ashley Herring Blake- 4 stars, a sapphic romance between a bookstore owner with a kid and a photographer who doesn’t do love. I don’t read a lot of contemporary romance, but I really enjoyed this one, especially with the complicated family dynamics running in the background.
  2. My Alcoholic Escape from Reality (#4) by Nagata Kabi- 4 stars, I always love Kabi’s candor about her struggles with alcoholism, mental illness, and her sexuality.
  3. My Wandering Warrior Existence (#5) by Nagata Kabi- 3 stars, I loved this one a little less as it felt like it had less substance than her other works. Not bad, just a bit flimsy for its own book.
  4. The Case Study of Vanitas (#9) by Jun Mochizuki- 4 stars, a good addition to the story where we get to learn a bit about Vanitas’s past while still leaving a lot unanswered.
  5. Lore Olympus (#4) by Rachel Smythe- 4 stars, I would love to know why I’m hooked on this series, despite it being so hetero, but I am. I think it’s Hades and his love of dogs mixed with Persephone being a mess.
  6. Last Gender (#3) by Rei Taki- 4 stars, the final installment of Last Gender gives a surprising twist about the club’s owner and more.
  7. The Salt Grows Heavy by Cassandra Khaw- 5 stars, a monstrous aftermath for The Little Mermaid where a mermaid and a plague doctor team up to figure out what’s going on with immortal kids in the woods and their sinister gods. Very queer and goes into the beauty and brutality of nature and man. Adored it.
  8. The Madman’s Library by Edward Brooke-Hitching- 4 stars, an interesting overview of weird books found all over the world. A good jumping point for deeper research.
  9. Monster and the Beast (#4) by Renji- 4 stars, the final installment in the series where we get to see what is in store for our heroes as well as finding out Liam’s backstory.

Admin/Behind the Scenes Stuff

  • Celebrated our 18th anniversary with my partner (brought home a smörgåsbord of takeout, and it was glorious)
  • Kept up with my tiktok-making
  • Got the cover for The Reanimator’s Soul sorted with Crowglass Design
  • Rewrote the blurb for The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Did a major editing pass of The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Listened to the audiobook proof of The Reanimator’s Heart, narrated by Jack R. R. Evans
  • Paid for, approved, and distributed the audiobook of The Reanimator’s Heart to all major retailers (see next week’s blog for more details)
  • Managed to recover (mostly) from burnout while only having a few major stress/anxiety days
  • Made and setup my goals/kanban board for Q3
  • Ran a sale on K&K
  • Took my dog for his vet recheck (he’s doing well, btw)
  • Had The Reanimator’s Heart appear as one of Meet Cute Bookshop’s “guess the queer romance by the unhinged description,” which made my day

Blogs Posted

Writing

While the month started out a little slow, I picked up speed partway through the month as I truly hit my stride on the draft. I began by editing the first act and doing some tidying in the second, but once that was over, I was able to write more per day more fluidly, which feels amazing. The first half of a book is always the slowest part for me because I’m constantly double-checking plants and foreshadowing, setting things up for later, etc., so I probably end up spending double the time on the first half as I do the second. The second half is sort of the consequences of the first half, so whatever happens there should make sense with what I started with. The only thing I’m semi stuck on at the moment is the order of events for the later part of the book, but I’ll figure that out soon. Over the entire month, I netted 15,000 words, but do keep in mind that I was editing for the first week, so there is a lot of rewriting and tinkering mixed in.

Hopes for July

  • Write 25,000 words
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog Weekly
  • Monthly Newsletter
  • Jury duty (UGH) and my birthday (meh)
  • Post the cover reveal for The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Prepare for the summer class I’m [probably] teaching
Monthly Review

September 2016 in Review

Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

Last year, I decided that I would post my accomplishments for the month and what goals I hope to achieve in the following month.

I know this post is 10 days late, but I’ve been all over the place. September has been hectic and new to say the least.

What I accomplished in September:

  1. Read 5 books
    1. Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater (4 stars)
    2. The Dark Missions of Edgar Brim by Shane Peacock (2 stars)
    3. Marine Biology by Gail Carriger (4 stars)
    4. The Courtesan’s Avenger by Kate M. Colby (4 stars)
    5. The Ancient Magus’ Bride Vol. 1 by Kore Yamazaki (4 stars)
  2. Set-up the pre-order for Dead Magic (IMD #4)
  3. Got through round 2 of editing Dead Magic
  4. Stayed on top of grading my students’ work

What I hope to achieve in October:

  1. Read 4 books
  2. Keep grading papers (til my eyes bleed)
  3. Finish formatting and editing Dead Magic
  4. Carve pumpkins (still gotta have a little fun)
  5. Write, edit, and finish a short story/novella
  6. Prep book 5
  7. Prep for Dead Magic‘s launch

September has been a crazy month. I’ve spent a lot of time trying to balance work, home, and writing with writing losing for now. Being an adjunct professor has been a lot of work, but I’m enjoying it, especially when I see my students do better with each paper. So many papers to grade… I hate myself for assigning papers sometimes. I know the students need grades and it’s a writing class, but ugh, after sixty papers, I regret assigning prompts no matter how good the papers are.

Anywho, I was shocked by how much I read last month. I think a lot of it was me trying to balance school, and the best way for me to do that is by reading. One of the major things I want to work on this month is writing more. After not really writing for a whole month, I need to get back into the swing of things and get into the habit of writing again. By the end of the month, I hope to publish another short story, this time with a Halloween theme complete with ghosts and mediums.

Finally and most importantly, I hope to finish up all of my prep for Dead Magic. My fourth book will be coming out November 10th, so I’m hoping to do some more research about what I need to do for a successful launch. Currently, I’ve sent out some ARCs to my readers and am releasing chapters weekly on my blog and in my newsletter leading up to Dead Magic‘s release date. I’m so excited to share it with you. I really, really love Dead Magic and can’t wait to share it with you.

Monthly Review · Writing

June 2016 in Review

Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

In Review June

Last year, I decided that I would post my accomplishments for the month and what goals I hope to achieve in the following month.

Now that I’m completely free from school and waist-deep in Dead Magic, I have been writing my little fingers off and being shockingly productive. Part of me is pleased and part of me is wondering when it will all come crashing to a halt.

What I accomplished in June:

  1. Wrote 21,000 words of Dead Magic
  2. Wrote 6 blog posts and a guest blog on Mariella Hunt’s website
  3. Published a Spanish translation of The Earl of Brass entitled El Conde de Latón, which is available here.
  4. Published the audiobook for The Winter Garden, which is available here.
  5. Planned out the beats for a forthcoming Ingenious Mechanical Devices novella
  6. Read 4 books
    1. Magic Bitter, Magic Sweet by Charlie N. Holmberg (2 stars)
    2. Ninety-Nine Righteous Men by K.M. Claude (4.5 stars)
    3. Fiction Unboxed by Sean Platt and Johnny B. Truant (4 stars)
    4. Nimona by Noelle Stevenson (5 stars)

What I hope to achieve in July:

  1. Write 20,ooo words of Dead Magic
  2. Write 10,000 words of the unnamed novella
  3. Write 6 blog posts
  4. Work more on my syllabus for freshman writing
  5. Work on the cover for Dead Magic with my designer
  6. Read 3 books
  7. Enjoy life in between everything mentioned above

I love watching my word count steadily increase from month to month. June was wonderful in terms of productivity. I feel like I got so much done and that the rest of Dead Magic should go smoothly now that I’ve hit the 2/3s mark.

There are quite a few balls in the air with my series. I have my Spanish translator working on The Winter Garden, my Italian and Portuguese translators working on The Earl of Brass, and my narrator is working on the audiobook for The Earl and the Artificer. Then I have Dead Magic to start wrapping up soon and the novella I’ve been plotting. I’m confident it will all get done, and that I can manage.

I’m seriously excited about my writing projects. Ideas are bubbling out of me, and now if only my productivity could keep up with my ideas. The one thing that was completely neglected in June was editing. I told myself I would edit chapters 1-8, but in the end, I decided to dump that idea. I’ve been spot editing as I go, fixing issues that arise or adding foreshadowing of future chapters, but at this point, editing without being finished or having a clear goal in mind seems pointless.

Right now, my tentative release date for Dead Magic is November 15th, BUT if the book is done before then, I will happily move the date forward. I’m really hoping the book will be out sooner than that.

Finally, I will be taking part in Camp NaNoWriMo and am sharing a cabin with some fantastic authors. What will you be doing this July?