Tag: recap

new blog post: may 2025 wrap-up post May 2025 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

May 2025 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

I feel like every other month I say, “Damn, that month went fast,” but truly, May went very fast. The first half was taken up by finishing my grading while the second half was taken up by letting my brain quiet before refocusing on my writing project. Since it feels like forever, let’s get reacquainted with our goals 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

Books

My goal this month was to read 8 books, and I read exactly 8. All links below are affiliate links, so I get a small kickback if you buy from them.

  1. Death in the Spires by KJ Charles- 5 stars, a mystery that flips back and forth 10 years from when Jem was a student at Oxford when his friend was murdered to the present as he tries to solve the crime and gain control of his life again. It is very queer, rich in texture, and just a fantastic read.
  2. Tasting History by Max Miller- 4 stars, an interesting cookbook based on the Youtube channel about historical recipes. The recipes themselves are great, but I really love the tidbits about the history behind the recipes. I highly recommend his Youtube channel as well.
  3. From Bad to Cursed by Lana Harper- 4 stars, opposites collide when two witches have to figure out who hexed someone at a festival. It’s an MF romance in a series with queer couples as well. Rowan and Issa have a complicated past, but seeing them come together is worth a read.
  4. Lore Olympus (#8) by Rachel Smythe- 5 stars, we’re nearing the end of the series, and this volume was chef kiss. I love seeing Persephone and Hades grow toward each other.
  5. Saga (#12) by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples- 4 stars, Hazel is maturing and growing into a teenager, so this volume speaks a lot about PTSD, mental health, and finding where you belong. I love every volume of this series and also hate that the end isn’t that many volumes away.
  6. The Magus of the Library (#8) by Mitsu Izumi- 4 stars, the young magi have their first encounter with spirits and the villains who want to bring the library to its knees. As always, Theo is just such a cinnamon roll, and this was an action-packed volume.
  7. The Other World’s Books Depend on a Bean Counter (#1) by Yatsuki Wakatsu- 5 stars, I picked this manga up on a whim and LOVED it. If you like Oliver from my books, you will love the MC. He is an accountant who gets sucked into another world by accident and takes on the accounting in this new world only to become an enemy to someone in high places and catch the eye of a magical knight who saves him from himself.
  8. The Other World’s Books Depend on a Bean Counter (#2) by Yatsuki Wakatsu- 5 stars, see review above

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Proofed the entirety of the audiobook for The Reanimator’s Remains (TRM #3)
  • Sent corrections and paid my narrator Jack R. R. Evans (they’re awesome)
  • Published the audiobook for The Reanimator’s Remains (it is currently trickling out to distributors, libraries and Amazon/Audible will take a few more weeks)
  • Wrote the blurb for The Reanimator’s Fate (TRM #4), so keep an eye out for that soon
  • Accidentally sent my monthly newsletter out super late in the day
  • Finished grading all of the papers and portfolios for my classes
  • Sent out a few job applications to non-academic jobs
  • Worked out fairly consistently
  • Fell very behind on my stitch-a-long project because my mental health dipped a bit
  • Rested mid month to avoid burnout/a mental health spiral
  • Voted in the NJ democratic primaries by mail (send in your ballots if you have them, early voting starts 6/3)

Blogs

Writing

I think I have finally found my footing with this draft. Halle-friggin-luah. Last month I mentioned that I had to scrap the draft I had because I just didn’t like the direction it was going or the tone. It wasn’t working, and sometimes, it is better to start over than torture yourself by trying to force something that just isn’t going to end well. Scrapping it was the right choice, but it put me behind. That, of course, gave me anxiety, which made it harder to write and led me to falling more behind. You can see how this can cause a downward spiral. I took a small break, got my brain shit together, and restarted my book. Now, it’s flowing much better. I have a clearer direction of where I need to go, what the characters are doing, etc. It’s especially hard when you know it’s the last book in a series and you want to make it extra spectacular for your readers. The most important thing is that I am back on track and cruising along at a slow but steady clip (as the beginning always is). When I get further along, I will post the preorder and all the relevant information for this book, so stay tuned.

Hopes for June

  • Write at least 20,000 words of The Reanimator’s Fate (TRM #4)
  • Try to write every single day at least a little to be consistent
  • Get the audiobook for The Reanimator’s Remains (TRM #3) out everywhere
  • Maintain my mental health and balancing my writing and hobbies to avoid burnout
  • Catch up on my stitch-a-long
  • Exercise consistently
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my monthly newsletter
  • Enjoy my 20th anniversary with my partner

Personal Life · Writing

Good Riddance to 2018

Kara Jorgensen3 Comments

To be blunt, 2018 was an exhausting train wreck that I am glad to see the back of.

More than anything, I try to be a positive person for my own sanity and those around me, but this year has tested my resolve. It wasn’t like I had any deaths in my family or any grave illness or anything that was an obvious issue. Bad things don’t always have to be grandiose. They can be quiet and subtle, like a voice whispering to you that you are worthless, your work is worthless, and you will get nowhere.

2018 was the year of crippling doubt and disappointment.

As you might have noticed, I haven’t finished The Wolf Witch despite starting it in 2017. I dove into writing that book before I was ready because I felt I needed to produce something even though I was creatively exhausted. That was a massive mistake that led to a mental spiral that probably could have been prevented had I waited a few months to work on it. Instead I drove myself further into the ground, wrote 50,000 words that needed to be totally rewritten, and wrecked my self-esteem and mental health. I felt horrible about myself. I couldn’t write and my draft was garbage (it truly was; it’s not just me being hard on myself). This led to cycle of not writing, then feeling bad about myself, then not writing even more. Since writing is one of my coping mechanisms, you can see how this went downhill quickly.

Apart from being a writer, I’m also an adjunct English professor, which means that I don’t have predictable work (my semesters can range from 1-4 classes) and I’m constantly applying for jobs that might give me some semblance of stability because I’m living below the poverty line and it sucks. I’ve applied for at least twenty teaching jobs and as many writing/copywriting jobs. Toward the beginning of the fall semester, I heard back from a job I really wanted because it was a way to combine my science and writing background while at the same time providing the financial stability I’ve been craving. After an interview and positive feedback, they decided they didn’t need to hire anyone. To say I was crushed is an understatement.

Somewhere along the way, I lost myself this year. I lost sight of who I am and what I want and what I do. On top of that, Anthony Bourdain’s suicide shook me. I looked up to him as someone I aspired to be like. Much like my other inspirations, Julia Child and Tim Gunn, Bourdain was passionate and well-versed on his subject while still injecting it with humor and an openness that I think is necessary for exploration and innovation. When he killed himself, I was in a low point in terms of how I saw myself, and it freaked me out. If someone as together and passionate and awesome as Anthony Bourdain could lose hope and kill himself, how did others in more precarious situations manage to stay sane? Obviously, I don’t know what demons he was fighting, but my situation felt bleak in my mind and I didn’t know how to get out of it.

But what made that easier was my students. My classes this semester were filled with bright, lovely students who made me look forward to work and reinforced that I’m in the right place doing the right thing. Their drive and kindness took the sting out of rejection and hopelessness. I had two really personable College Writing classes that took as much of an interest in me as I did in them, and those sorts of relationships where you know your students care about you and look forward to your class makes it easier to keep going even when things are difficult outside the classroom. So, thank you, guys. They know who they are and some of them stalk my social media, so I hope they see this and know the impact they made in my life.

Do I wish I received the copywriter job? Hell, yes. But do I feel as awful as I did a few weeks ago? No. My hope is still that I will be able to get a job as a creative writing professor soon and that I will continue to write and publish books as I set out to do. Going forward, I’m going to try to stay focused on my goal of publishing two books in 2019, but if I go off course, I will try to roll with the punches and do my best.

It’s all I can really expect of myself. And in the past few weeks, I feel like I’ve come out of the fog I’ve been fighting all year. I’m hoping I can maintain and progress on my book before the semester starts. All I can do is keep moving forward and doing what I can to make a better life for myself.

Here’s to a less shitty year and the people who make it infinitely better.