Tag: monthly wrap up

new blog post august 2024 wrap-up post August 2024 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

August 2024 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

Where the hell did August go?? This managed to be the shortest month ever for me, though I think that has to do with prepping for the new semester while trying to get my shit together with book 3 of the The Reanimator Mysteries. Let’s take a look at our goals for August:

  • Write 25,000 words
  • Start edits
  • Prepare for my classes
  • Make the online parts of my classes (bleck)
  • Continue to try to maintain my tenuous grip on my mental health
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my newsletter
  • Read 8 books

Books

The goal was to read 8 books, and that is exactly how many I read.

  1. White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo- 4 stars, a nonfiction book that looks at why white people react so poorly to being told they are (or might be) racist. A good primer but not super in-depth.
  2. Shiver (#1) by Maggie Stiefvater- 4 stars, a girl is attacked by wolves as a child only to fall in love with the werewolf who saved her. This is very much a YA romance, but I loved every second of it. Sometimes we need angst teen romances.
  3. Cheese by Andrew Dalby- 4 stars, a nonfiction book about the history of cheese. Interesting, but part of me wishes it was more in-depth.
  4. Mushroom by Cynthia D. Bertlesen- 4 stars, from the same series as the book on cheese, this book looks at the history and science of mushrooms. The look at mushroom philic v. phobic countries was quite interesting.
  5. Arch-Conspirator by Veronica Roth- 4 stars, a dystopian, futuristic reimagining of Antigone. Very interesting set-up, and I like how the focus on reproductive writes and memory were handled in this version.
  6. When Among Crows by Veronica Roth- 5 stars, a fantastic fantasy book set in a monster-filled modern Chicago with an Eastern European flare. I absolutely loved the characters and the world. You know a novella is good when you wish it was longer or that there was a sequel.
  7. The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P.Djèlí Clark- 5 stars, another fantastic short book. We have an undead assassin working for a goddess, a case that goes very wrong, wibbly wobbly time, and a really rich world.
  8. Broodmother by Vesper Doom- 4 stars, a folk horror short story featuring some incredibly scary and gross cicadas. No offense to the cicadas, but they were quite horrifying.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Prepped all my class stuff (except the content for my new class, oops)
  • Prepared for the Naratess Indie Sale
  • Advertised my butt off for the Naratess Indie Sale
  • Edited over half of The Reanimator’s Remains
  • Continued to write The Reanimator’s Remains (nearly done, had to fix some stuff)
  • Barely maintained my grip on my sanity, but I did it
  • Listened to my body and did more creative/fun things to keep from McLosingIt
  • Joined the Plants and Petrichor Stitch-a-long, hosted by FineFrogStitching, and have been keeping up with it
  • Had a good first week of teaching my classes
  • Had to put a new battery in my car on the first day of classes because it died in the driveway .-. (it’s been a week, peeps)
  • Brainstormed how I might add to the Paranormal Society Romance series in the future
  • Blogged weekly
  • Sent out my newsletter

Blogs

Writing

I forgot to chart my writing progress this month because I’ve been writing as much as I can. Truthfully, there were weeks where I felt my brain starting to spark, so I had to slow down for a few days. I’m trying to be better about listening to my body and not running myself into the ground. This is a constant struggle for me as I will self-flagellate about not doing enough. Luckily, editing the first 60% of the book helped to get me back on track and figure out where I needed to go with the last chunk. That’s something I usually have to do during the writing process, even though I resist it every friggin time. I’m actually really proud of this book. It’s definitely different than books 1 and 2. It’s quieter and a bit more internal, even though there’s a lot going on in terms of the mystery and learning more about Oliver’s background. That’s also why I’ve been feeling a bit self-conscious about it. I worry readers won’t necessarily enjoy it as much because it isn’t as swashbuckly at the other two. Maybe it is and I’m just hung up on something that’s a non-issue. Either way, I guess I’ll find out when it comes out in October or when my ARC readers get their hands on it.

Hopes for September

  • 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
new blog post: july 2024 wrap-up post July 2024 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

July 2024 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

July was my birthday month, and luckily, it was a good one for getting writing done. Despite the heat and humidity, I enjoyed July and tried to take time to keep myself from flaming out. A reminder of our goals:

  • Write 25,000 words
  • Outline next chunk of book
  • Do a cover reveal and make graphics for them
  • Maintain my mental health better (oops)
  • Blog weekly
  • Read 8 books
  • Send out my July newsletter

Books

My goal was to read 8 books, and I read 10 books.

  1. The Christmas Chevalier (#1) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, a historical romance with a trans masc MC who is a bit of a bohemian who falls for his ex-governess best friend and offers her the chance at a new life on her own terms. Oh, and there’s a masquerade ball.
  2. The Moon on a Rainy Night (#3) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, a sapphic YA featuring a hard-of-hearing MC and the hearing girl who is in love with her. I love the dynamic between these two as friends and the potential for more.
  3. The Moon on a Rainy Night (#4) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, see above
  4. The Moon on a Rainy Night (#5) by Kuzushiro- 4 stars, see above
  5. I Hear the Sunspot Four Seasons (#2) by Yuki Fumino- 4 stars, we’re starting a new arch where we find out more about the one mc’s backstory and meet some new people who may cause trouble.
  6. A Highland Hogmanay (#2) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, an heiress runs away from London to a Scottish castle to avoid pushy, fortune hunting family and not only falls in love with the land but the woman who cares for it.
  7. Fiction Blurbs The Best Page Forward Way by Phoebe Ravencraft- 4 stars, useful for doing blurbs, but I think the original blurb book by Bryan Cohen is better, mostly because I wish it came with finished examples at the end.
  8. A Chaperoned Christmas (#3) by Meg Mardell- 4 stars, a thrupple story featuring a London lady, her ex flame, and the woman who had a crush on her years ago.
  9. A Restless Truth (#2) by Freya Marske- 4 stars, a sapphic historical fantasy on a ship where an old woman with a very valuable magical artifact is murdered, and her young traveling companion and an ex-actress must find it and survive the trip.
  10. Ennead (#3) by Mojito- 3 stars, not sure I’m going to keep reading this one if the next volume doesn’t hook me. There was some dubious consent in this one, and the writing is a bit… sparse/loose to me.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Finished outlining the rest of TRR
  • Paid Crowglass Design for the cover of TRR
  • Did a cover reveal for TRR
  • Made so many graphics and videos for TRR’s cover reveal
  • Celebrated my birthday with my partner and had a great day
  • Edited previous chunks of TRR
  • Maintained my sanity as best I could
  • Blogged weekly
  • Sent out my newsletter
  • Signed up for the Naratess Sale in August

Blogs

Writing

So I didn’t quite hit my writing goal for July, which is fine because I wrote a lot. In June, I mentioned that I was flirting with burnout (and I still am), but days when I felt like I was overloaded or tired, I took a day off. I ended up getting a few migraines that took me out whether I wanted to write or not, which sucked immensely. The good thing is that I think the rest of the book will be fairly smooth sailing since I know where I’m going and what I’m doing to get there. I’m a plantser/gardener, so I generally have an idea of where I’m going, but it isn’t set in stone. Now, I have the vast majority of the plot solidified, so there’s less time spent waffling and staring moodily into the void.

Hopes for August

  • Write 25,000 words
  • Start edits
  • Prepare for my classes
  • Make the online parts of my classes (bleck)
  • Continue to try to maintain my tenuous grip on my mental health
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my newsletter
  • Read 8 books
new blog post: october 2023 wrap-up post October 2023 Wrap-Up
Monthly Review

October 2023 Wrap-Up

Kara Jorgensen4 Comments

October was release month for The Reanimator’s Soul, which was equal parts wonderful and chaotic. It’s been a month, let me tell you, but to refresh your memory (and mine), here are the goals I set for October:

  • Post/market consistently before The Reanimator’s Soul releases October 24th
  • Do all the paperback setup for The Reanimator’s Soul once I have the final cover
  • Have a great launch for The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Write side/follow-up story for my newsletter subscribers (TRM #2.5)
  • Get ball rolling on the audiobook of The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Read 8 books
  • Send out my October newsletter
  • Finish putting together my Halloween plastic canvas village sets (I have one building left and need to hot glue others together)
  • Decide if I want to do anything NaNoWriMo related in November, despite it being a month from hell for me usually (aka is Kara feeling masochistic)

Books

My goal was to read 8 books in October, and I read 9 books total.

  1. The Good Kings by Kara Cooney- 4 stars, a nonfiction book that parallels the famous kings of Ancient Egypt with modern politicians and how what often looks like strength actually signifies a weak ruler.
  2. Unknown (#3) by Jordan L. Hawk- 4 stars, Ves and Sebastian are back to look for the third missing magical book when men who frequent Sebastian’s favorite bathhouse start being murdered.
  3. Lore Olympus (#5) by Rachel Smythe- 4 stars, we get to see Hades and Persephone get closer and secrets finally come to light.
  4. Luke and Billy Finally Get a Clue by Cat Sebastian- 5 stars, two baseball players come together after one is injured and realize they are more than teammates with a little help from fate and the one guy’s mom.
  5. Twisted Tome (#2) by Vanora Lawless- 5 stars, an mm paranormal historical romance set during WWI with a dream-walker and an illusion-creator who team up to find a dangerous book and get far more than they bargained for.
  6. In the Pit of Your Stomach by Arden Powell- 4 stars, a choose-your-own adventure story that involves a giant hole, creatures, and maybe even a touch of romance (with a human, sorry monster lovers).
  7. She Loves to Cook and She Loves to Eat (#3) by Sakaomi Yuzaki- 5 stars, a wonderful installment in this series where we get a new friend and a new neighbor who join the foodie family.
  8. The Case Study of Vanitas (#10) by Jun Mochizuki- 4 stars, a bridge volume that wraps up some of Vanitas’s backstory and sets us down a new path in the story. I’m still mildly annoyed by the forced heterosexuality of this story when the two leads have the best homoromantic chemistry.
  9. The Lover by Silvia Moreno-Garcia 4 stars, a fairytale-esque story involving a huntsmen, a poor woman, her wealthy sister, a wolf, and a mysterious stranger. It’s very short, but I am a sucker for Moreno-Garcia’s work, so I will always read it, no matter how long or short.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Finished my Halloween Village craft projects (finally, after months of working on them- take a look here)
  • Posted consistently about The Reanimator’s Soul (TRM #2) leading up to release day
  • Uploaded the final files for The Reanimator’s Soul onto all major distributors
  • Setup the paperback copy of The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Ordered a proof copy, checked it, and approved it
  • Ordered a good copy of The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Had a lovely release day for The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Reminded ARC readers to post reviews
  • Created the cover for the Reanimator Mysteries #2.5 short story
  • Came up with the title for the Reanimator Mysteries #2.5 short story
  • Wrote newsletter
  • Blogged weekly
  • Fought with the insurance company over my meds (again)
  • Graded a shit ton of papers
  • Had my car breakdown (repeatedly *laugh sob*)
  • Decided there was no way in hell I was doing NaNoWriMo

Blogs Posted

Writing

Not much writing happened this month, but frankly, I’m okay with that. This month was mostly spent preparing for the release of The Reanimator’s Soul, so I knew going into it that my word count was not going to be astronomical. In the end, I only wrote 1,000 words of the Reanimator Mysteries #2.5 short story. Do I wish I could have written more? Yes. Am I okay with only having written a 1,000 words? Also, yes. October has been ridiculously stressful, especially once my car broke down. That happened through the majority of the month where the check engine light came on repeatedly (over two weeks), but my local mechanic (twice) couldn’t figure out why. Eventually, it refused to start in their parking lot, and I had to tow it to the car dealer to get fixed by mechanics who know my brand of car specifically. You know once you bring in the specialty mechanics that it’s going to be big bucks to fix, and it was. As of writing this post on November 1st, I’m still waiting to get my car back from the mechanic due to how long it took for a part to come in. The on-going car repair saga completely stressed me out, making it nearly impossible for me to read or write. I’m hoping that November won’t be a No-Words-November and that I’ll be able to get the majority, if not all, of the short story/novella done.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention how much seeing the genocide of the Palestinian people live online is affecting me. I have made my stance on Palestinian liberation very clear on social media for years, and to see nearly every politician in the US abandon Palestinian civilians to be wiped out by Israeli forces is more than criminal. If you have the energy, please call your reps and demand a ceasefire now. More needs to be done, but a ceasefire is long overdue. If you would like to learn more about the history of Palestine and how British/American imperialism has lead us to this moment, Verso books has several free books available right now.

Hopes for November

  • Less chaos overall (not quite within my control, but one can hope)
  • Write most, if not all, of The Reanimator Mysteries #2.5 short story
  • Start brainstorming more of The Reanimator Mysteries #3
  • Maintain my mental health during November to avoid No-Words-November
  • Grade all the papers I receive in a timely manner (I have been bad about this lately)
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my November newsletter
July 2022 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

July 2022 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

July was a weird month for me, mainly because it’s my birthday month and I ended up having to last minute prep for a summer class I wasn’t sure if I would be teaching. Surprise, I’m teaching it, and I found out like last week that it was a-go. If you aren’t in academia, everything depends on enrollment, and in this case, I was not privy to how many students had signed up until the admins told me. If it looks like I did A LOT in the admin section, I have been panic working in case I did end up teaching that class. Anywho, here were my goals for July:

  • Finish Writing The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Start Editing the beginning of The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Figure out what to do with old room furniture/prep for reno
  • Start drafting newsletter freebie, at least a little bit
  • Do the cover reveal
  • Start making release graphics
  • Read 8 books
  • Crochet something?? Or do some other art project??

I can already tell you, the last bit did not happen. I didn’t crochet or do any art projects at all this past month, but I did play some video games.

Books

I aimed for 8, nearly failed, but I did read 8 books this month. Thank god for graphic novels.

  1. The Unmatchmakers by Jackie Lau- 4 stars, parents with baggage try to break their adult children’s budding romance and create havoc in the process (Kobo only)
  2. The Facemaker by Lindsey Fitzharris- 4 stars, fascinating read about the man who became the leading plastic surgeon during WWI and the people who influenced him
  3. A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall- 5 stars, I LOVED this book, a Regency story featuring a trans woman who falls for her ex-best friend. It is just so emotional and lovely.
  4. Saga volume 5 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 5 stars, rereading for volume 10
  5. A Marvellous Light by Freya Marske- 4 stars, an Edwardian MM story where a civil servant stumbles into the world of magic
  6. Lore Olympus volume 2 by Rachel Smythe- 4 stars, I love watching Hades and Persephone get closer, letting their walls down while also dealing with less than savory characters
  7. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Stephen Brusatte- 4 stars, highly interesting read about the evolution of dinosaurs from their origins to their extinction
  8. Saga vol 6 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 4 stars, rereading for volume 10

Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff

  • Finished throwing out all the trash from my room/office reno. Everything is empty at this point and ready to go, but now, that room is hot and hard to work in. The reno is now on haitus until September because I’m not sweating to death and having paint peel off the walls from the high temperatures.
  • FINISHED WRITING The Reanimator’s Heart! The main draft of it is DONE. I AM FREE.
  • Made lots of promo graphics for TRH
  • Made a book trailer for TRH
  • Finished beta reading a book for a friend and send them their feedback
  • Prepared for that summer class that was semi sprung on me by creating a Blackboard, tweaking the syllabus, setting up my virtual workspace in the basement (I look like I’m in a hostage video, but it’s better than the 100 degree office)
  • Made the syllabi for my fall classes
  • Got all my cover stuff squared away for TRH
  • Had the cover reveal for TRH and launched the preorders (see blog post below for links)
  • Set up the preorder for TRH at all major retailers
  • Started working on a freebie story for my newsletter subscribers (won’t be out for a while)
  • Edited some bits of TRH that I had on my list that were in need of tweaking (larger things like resplicing a chapter)

Blogs Posted

Writing

I feel like I spent a good chunk of July feeling behind, panicking, catching up, falling behind, repeat. Luckily, I managed to pull ahead and finish The Reanimator’s Heart at 97,680 words (pre-edits). This total is also not counting work I’ve done on the newsletter freebie story during the last week of the month.

  • Week 1- wrote 3/3 days, 1,000 words total, 333 words/day
  • Week 2- wrote 6/7 days, 3,200 words total, 533 words/day
  • Week 3- wrote 5/7 days, 2,700 words total, 540 words/day
  • Week 4- wrote 5/7 days, 4,100 words total, 820 words/day
  • Week 5- wrote 4/7 days, 3,680 words total, 920 words/day (finished the book on Thursday)

I am very proud of the work I’ve done on The Reanimator’s Heart, so I’m really hoping you all will like it too when it comes out in October. As you can see, once I got toward the end, I sort of hurtled through the last few weeks. I’m finding it interesting to track the speed and fluidity of my writing at different stages in the story. Act I takes forever, Act II part 2 takes a long time, but Act III seems to flow so well once I get going.

Hopes for August

  • Stay on top of my summer class stuff (that runs from the beginning to the middle of August)
  • Set up the Blackboards for my fall classes (*quiet sobbing because I hate doing it*)
  • Edit the majority of The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Continue working on the newsletter freebie story
  • More graphics for TRH
  • Set up Google form for ARC copies of TRH
  • Read 8 books
April 2022 Wrap-Up
Monthly Review

April 2022 Wrap-Up

Kara Jorgensen2 Comments

And now we have reached the end of April. I don’t know about all of you, but April felt short yet incredibly long at the same time. That may be because I’m teaching and it’s the end of the semester, though. Here are the goals I laid out for myself last month:

  • Read 8 books
  • Start work on fixing my room/office (this is a giant project)
  • Writing Goals
    • Minimum goal: 12k to reach
    • True goal: 15k to reach
    • Stretch goal: 18k to reach
  • Blog weekly
  • Monthly newsletter released
  • Make blurb for The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Brainstorm the newsletter freebie (since that didn’t happen in March)

Reading

I set out to read 8 books, and in April I read exactly 8 books, lol.

  1. Proper Scoundrels (#1) by Allie Therin- 4 stars, I really enjoyed her first series (Magic in Manhattan), and this continuation didn’t disappoint. Grumpy x sunshine is always a favorite
  2. How to Read a Dress by Lydia Edwards- 4 stars, really fantastic resource for period costumes. While not comprehensive, it provides good info about the shifting trends and repurposing of fashion.
  3. How to Write a Sizzling Synopsis by Brian Cohen- 5 stars, if you are a writer, I cannot recommend this book enough.
  4. Saga Volume 1 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 4 stars, I have read it so many times (since I teach it in two classes) but I’m rereading the series in preparation for volume 10’s release this fall
  5. Saga Volume 2 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 5 stars, it just gets better. The world is expansive and the characters richly human (and awful)
  6. A Lesson in Vengeance by Victoria Lee- 4 stars, really great dark academia, psychological horror(ish) type story, but I feel like this would have been better as New Adult instead of Young Adult as it would have been more believable
  7. Heartless by Marissa Meyer- 4 stars, an interesting and clever retelling using Louis Carroll’s body of work, also made me sad
  8. The Forgotten Dead (#1) by Jordan L. Hawk- 4 stars, a contemporary paranormal mystery with romance between a ghost hunter and an academic studying paranormal phenomena, also yay for trans rep

Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff

  • Reached the midpoint of The Reanimator’s Heart (and then some)
  • Sent the book so far off to my cover designer, so we can get to work on that
  • Created a blurb for The Reanimator’s Heart, which you can read in one of the blog posts listed below
  • Worked on the idea/outline for the free newsletter short story that will come out later this year (you can join my newsletter by clicking Newsletter in the top menu)
  • Finished the vast majority of grading for my class this semester
  • Made a significant dent in my room/office revamping (mostly cleaning, sorting, tossing, but it’s LONG OVERDUE)
  • Researched marketing my book on TikTok, but I’m not sure if I want to wade into that cesspool
  • Edited the first half of The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Commissioned couple art of Oliver and Felipe (thank you @Bloodwrit on Twitter)
  • Was significantly less anxious than usual this month, so I’m putting that here as a win. It’s something I have been struggling with, but I think I finally found some things that actually help.

Blogs Posted

Writing

In total this month, I wrote 15,000 words, and I am really happy with that, especially since I tend to write fairly clean drafts. Secretly, I had hoped I could hit 17,000 words by the end of the month, and I was on track to do so until I sort of burnt/spun out at the very end of the month. I have officially hit and gone past the midpoint in The Reanimator’s Heart, so we are on the downward swing, tying up lose ends and such. Aka watch Kara get stuck on and off til it’s over, lol. I’ll definitely update you all during the month about how it’s going.

  • Week 1- 1,505 words and 0 missed days, 502 words/writing day (3 day week)
  • Week 2- 2,855 words and 2 missed days, 571 words/writing day
  • Week 3- 3,955 words and 1 missed day, 659 words/writing day
  • Week 4- 4,685 words and 1 missed day, 781 words/writing day
  • Week 5- 2,000 words and 3 missed day(s), 667 words/writing day (6 day week)

I did so well in the middle of the month, and then I just faceplanted week 5. I fried myself a little bit trying to edit the first half of the book and then write profusely after. That worked for like a week before I tanked myself. I feel better now, but I need to remind myself to not knock myself out by overdoing it daily. Exponential monthly writing group isn’t really possible, and that’s fine.

Hopes for May

  • Read 8 books
  • Word count goals
    • Minimum goal: 15k
    • True goal: 17k
    • Stretch goal 19k
  • Blog Weekly
  • Monthly Newsletter
  • Finish majority of room/office clean up
  • Play video games and craft more to unwind
  • Do a craft for fun (I’ve been slacking)

Now that the semester/teaching is nearly over, my hope is that I can devote more free time to more crafty, artistic pursuits than I have been lately.
Let me know in the comments what you have planned for May!

February 2022 Wrap-Up
Monthly Review

February 2022 Wrap-Up

Kara JorgensenLeave a comment

So last month in January’s monthly wrap-up post, I made a few goals for myself, which I promptly forgot. Let’s go over what those goals for February were:

  • Read 8 books
  • Write 20k words with a stretch goal of 30k
  • Finish a syllabus for a future class
  • Finish a proposal for that same class
  • blog weekly and send out my monthly newsletter
  • crochet more because I haven’t since before Christmas

So let’s see how that went.

Reading

I set out to read 8 books in February since my goal for the year is 100, and I read 9.

  1. Leather and Lace (#1) by Magen Cubed (4 stars- monster hunter x vampire with a cute dog chase down monsters and accidentally fall in love)
  2. A Southern Gothic Summer Vacation and Other Stories by Magen Cubed (4 stars- see above)
  3. A Southern Gothic Holiday Special by Magen Cubed (4 stars- see above)
  4. A Bloody Little Valentine by Magen Cubed (4 stars- see above)
  5. Six Figure Author: Using Data to Sell Books by Chris Fox (3 stars- much more useful for people who are churning out books very fast and using Kindle Unlimited. For those that don’t, not very helpful)
  6. Newsletter Ninja 2 by Tammi Labrecque (4 stars- very helpful in regards to creating a reader magnet or cookie)
  7. We Free the Stars (#2) by Hafsah Faizal (4 stars- a lovely ending to an epic fantasy the duology)
  8. Rest in Pieces by Bess Lovejoy (4 stars- didn’t love it as much as Caitlin Doughty’s books on the same subject, little too sensationalized for my taste)
  9. The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan (4 stars- greatly enjoyed RR’s books as always)

Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff

  • Finished the syllabus for the class on monsters (basically went through what I had, changed some books, tinkered with dates)
  • Finished the course proposal for the class on monsters (justifying why this class should exist beyond Kara wants to teach it)
  • Finished another hypothetical syllabus for a literary magazine class that I put off for months
  • Listened to and approved the first 15 minute sample of the audiobook for Kinship and Kindness as read by Jack RR Evans
  • Updated the keywords for all my books on Amazon, though I may still tinker with this in the future as I’m not sure if I actually did a good job or not
  • Completed 3 out of 5 weeks of Sarra Canon’s Publish and Thrive course (it runs through mid-March)
  • Added the proper Amazon categories to all my books in the US ebook store (I still need to do this for CA, UK, and all the paperbacks *quietly weeps*)
  • blogged weekly
  • sent out my February newsletter, you can read it here
  • Permanently set The Earl of Brass (book 1) to free and The Gentleman Devil (book 2) to $0.99 (make sure to grab them if you like queer historical-fantasy with a hefty dose of magic and the gothic)

Blogs Posted

If there is anything you ever want me to write/talk about, leave it in the comments! I will never complain about suggestions.

Writing

So if you read last month’s wrap-up post, you know January was a STRUGGLE when it comes to writing. By the end of the month, I had only written about 3,000 words. Luckily February was much better, and I ended up writing 10,000 words. For a lot of people, that really isn’t much, but between starting a new story (which is were I struggle most) and grief shit and current events, writing has not been easy for me. Here are my weekly stats (not including blog post word counts):

  • Week 1- 1,130 words and missed 3 days of writing, 377 words/writing day
  • Week 2- 1,160 words and missed 2 days of writing, 232 words/writing day
  • Week 3- 2,700 words and missed 2 days of writing, 540 words/writing day
  • Week 4- 3,615 words and missed 1 day of writing, 602 words/writing day

This doesn’t include Monday’s/February 28th’s word count since it runs into the new week for me, but I have reached 20k words in this draft *cue the flaming Elmo gif* and I’m feeling good about it. I’m also very happy to see the days off decrease and the word counts increase. I just hope I can keep this going in March.

Hopes for March

  • Read 8 books (to reach 25 total by the end of the quarter)
  • Finish Sarra Canon’s Publish and Thrive course
  • Brainstorm a short story for my newsletter subscribers (click on the newsletter tab at the top of the screen to join)
  • Writing goals
    • Minimum goal 10k to reach 30k words (323 words/day)
    • “True” goal 15k to reach 35k words (484 words/day)
    • Stretch goal 20k to reach 40k words (645 words/day)
  • Blog weekly and send out a monthly newsletter
  • Craft/Crochet something

Well, I never got around to crocheting really anything in February, so I will at that to March’s list. I do want to get into my craft projects again. It’s just been hard when I have a lot of writing to catch up on. I’m also trying to be realistic with my writing goals, so as not to overwhelm myself or set myself up to fail. I’ll do a post about writing goals in the near future.

So let’s see how March goes. What are some of your goals this month?

January 2022 Wrap-Up
Monthly Review

January 2022 Wrap-Up

Kara Jorgensen2 Comments

So back in the day, like October 2016 back in the day, I used to do a monthly wrap-up post where I talked about what I accomplished that month and what I hoped to do in the next month. I have decided to start doing that again because

a) I think seeing my progress will be good for me (even if it’s a lack of progress sometimes)

b) it’s an easy place to put up book reviews without doing a book review

c) I can talk a bit about things I’ve been doing behind the scenes that are not interesting enough to warrant their own post

Reading

I set out to read about 8-9 books this month since my yearly goal is 100 books, and I ended up reading 10 books in January. (The numbers beside the titles are where they are in the series, if there is one)

  1. Newsletter Ninja by Tammi Labrecque (4 stars- helped a lot with shifting my feelings about my newsletter)
  2. How to Read a Suit by Lydia Edwards (4 stars- highly interesting if you want to learn more about period specific clothing as well as masculinity)
  3. Where the Drowned Girls Go (#7) by Seanan McGuire (5 stars- absolutely LOVE this series, YA portal fantasy)
  4. Heartstopper (#4) by Alice Oseman (5 stars- the focus of this one was heavily on mental health and I loved that love couldn’t solve/magically fix it)
  5. The Care and Feeding of Waspish Widows (#2) by Olivia Waite (4 stars- this series is f/f historical romance, and this one features a beekeeper and has tons of queer side characters)
  6. Winter’s Dawn (#3) by Arden Powell (4 stars- every novella in this series has been magical and wonderful)
  7. The Missing Page (#2) by Cat Sebastian (5 stars- Page and Sommers team up to solve Sommers’ cousin’s disappearance from 20 years ago, fantastic)
  8. Boys Run the Riot (#4) by Keito Gaku (4 stars- a manga with a trans lead about fashion, mad it’s over)
  9. The Excalibur Curse (#3) by Kiersten White (4 stars- I am so upset this series is over but it was a fabulous King Arthur retelling filled with queer characters)
  10. Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel by Hallie Ephron (5 stars- very useful as a I work on The Reanimator’s Heart)

Admin/Behind the Scenes Author Stuff

  • Updated the back matter and formatting for the ebook versions of all my books
  • Republished said books on Amazon and D2D
  • Published all of my books on the Google Play store
  • Fixed my website aesthetically to make it pretty again after I wrecked it last year
  • Updated every page of my website to be current
  • Created, uploaded, and published the second box set in the Ingenious Mechanical Devices series, which contains books 4-6 (Dead Magic, Selkie Cove, and The Wolf Witch)
  • Updated the covers/titles for the audiobooks for The Earl of Brass and The Gentleman Devil
  • Contacted/contracted a narrator for the audiobook of Kinship and Kindness (which will hopefully be out by summer. PS- my narrator is trans, and I’m super excited to have a trans narrator for a series that has a trans lead in each book)
  • Fixed/relaunched my monthly newsletter (You can read January’s here)
  • Read some author craft books (Newsletter Ninja and Writing and Selling Your Mystery Novel)
  • blogged weekly and did weekly marketing

I did a lot of admin stuff this month, but I want to emphasize that I didn’t start teaching until over halfway through the month, so I got a lot of work done while on break. Please don’t judge my productivity against yours if you are working full-time. Due to pandemic mess, I’m teaching less classes and trying to make up for it by [theoretically] boosting my author income. Hence, all the admin stuff.

Blogs Posted

If there’s ever anything you want me to write about, feel free to let me know. I will never complain about blog suggestions.

Writing

Oh boy. So this is where I find myself cringing because while I look very industrious in all the things I mentioned above, I did not get a whole lot of writing done. This month The Reanimator’s Heart reached about 11,000 words. This was due to multiple reasons. Part of it was that I had to tweak the beginning of my book to make it work, which then created a cascade of tweaking. Most of it was due to stress though. I had bad anxiety at the beginning of the month, which led to a horrible bout of writer resistance. I can’t even pinpoint why, but I was struggling. I also had car issues, a dog with diarrhea, and my classes started up again all within a two week period. As soon as I get stressed out, my ability to write plummets. It’s something I’m working on, but it still throws me. My hope is that, while I probably won’t catch up completely in February, I will make a dent in my word count goal and actually get close to where I hoped to be.

I also figured out that I do significantly better doing 20 minute writing sprints than 15 minute ones, so here’s hoping that I can use that new information to build momentum going forward.

Hopes for February

  • Read 8 books
  • Write 20k words (stretch goal is 30k to fully catch up)
  • finish a syllabus I need to write for a future class
  • finish a course proposal for a future class
  • blog weekly, February author newsletter
  • crochet more because I barely crocheted at all this month

That’s it for this month’s wrap-up. Let me know what goals you hope to achieve in February!