Tag: writing updates

New blog post: january 2023 wrap-up post January 2023 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

January 2023 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen1 Comment

Phew, January has been one of those months where it is a mad dash toward the finish line, but it has also been one of the best months I have had in a while. Writing/editing Flowers and Flourishing went well, and that’s been sent out to my newsletter subscribers. The spring semester started, and my students seem like a good bunch (hopefully energetic and interested too). Best of all, I feel like I’m finally coming out of my winter exhaustion. Anywho, let’s take a look at the goals or aspirations for January that I made last month

  • Figure out how quarterly taxes work
  • Start working on the second Reanimator Mysteries book
  • Book research
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Finish editing Flowers and Flourishing
  • Send out Flowers and Flourishing with my January newsletter
  • Finally, a little relaxation via gaming or art regularly

Books

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

  1. The Six Deaths of the Saint (#3) by Alix E. Harrow- 4 stars, still loving the Into the Shadows series (different authors each book). The way Harrow plays with time in this short work is superb.
  2. The Kingdom of Copper (#2) by S. A. Chakraborty- 4 stars, you know a book is good when you finish it and immediately dig around to find the next one. It is a doorstop, but it was so worth it, especially if you like Middle Eastern flavored mythology mixed with court intrigue.
  3. A Mirror Mended (#2) by Alix E. Harrow- 4 stars, more broken fairytales with our universe-hopping hero only this time she falls into the wrong story and she must save herself and an unlikely ally.
  4. Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse- 5 stars, so frigging good. An atmospheric mystery complete with angels, demons, and a gritty new world.
  5. Into the Windwracked Wilds (#3) by A. Deborah Baker (aka Seanan McGuire)- 4 stars, if you like Wizard of Oz-esque tales, this series is for you. It is meant for a middle grade audience, but it’s still complex and intriguing for adults as well.
  6. Lost in the Moment and Found (#8) by Seanan McGuire- 5 stars, a phenomenal read about childhood trauma and what happens when you can’t trust the adults in your life, one of my favorites from this series so far (though I love all of them).
  7. Mummies, Cannibals, and Vampires by Richard Sugg- 4 stars, a bit of book 2 research. It focuses on the way corpse medicine was used for centuries, the rehabilitation of doctors as a profession, and the way the rich made use of the poor. Fascinating stuff, writing at times could have been tighter/better organized.
  8. A Garter as a Lesser Gift by Aster Glenn Grey- 4 stars, a Gawain and the Green Knight retelling set during WWII, it does a great job of capturing the original story while keeping it fresh and modern.
  9. Not Your Valentine by Jackie Lau- 4 stars, a contemporary romance where a woman who has had her breakup go viral denounces love only to recruit her friend into being her fake boyfriend to get her friends off her back. You can guess how this goes wrong.
  10. Dark Archives by Megan Rosenbloom- 5 stars, fascinating look into the history of books bound in human skin with forays into medical ethics, book challenges, fakes, and the history of several examples.

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

Buckle in, buttercups. It’s been a busy month.

  • The Reanimator’s Heart won the Queer Indie Awards for Best Historical Romance!
  • Officially finished writing Flower and Flourishing (yes, I said I finished last month, but I needed to add/rework some stuff)
  • Edited Flowers and Flourishing multiple times
  • Proof-read Flowers and Flourishing (though I’m sure there are still typos *laugh sob*)
  • Formatted Flowers and Flourishing, set up my Bookfunnel account, and set it up there as a newsletter freebie
  • Updated all my newsletter info to match the aforementioned update/book release
  • Sent out Flowers and Flourishing to my newsletter subscribers (sign-up at the top of the page if you want it or you can add it on Goodreads)
  • Made a landing page on my website for Flowers and Flourishing
  • Announced the title for the sequel to The Reanimator’s Heart, which is The Reanimator’s Soul (add it on Goodreads)
  • Started brainstorming ideas for The Reanimator’s Soul before I start writing
  • Started doing research for The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Spoke at the Romancing the Gothic Book Club about The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Looked into quarterly taxes- more confident about it but also feel like puking every time I think about it
  • Played video games weekly to unwind
    • I started playing Lemoncake but didn’t really love it because I’m not great at those sorts of running around, optimization games
    • Then, I started playing Bear and Breakfast and have been enjoying that much more
  • Finished drafting all my lesson plans/notes for the new class I’m teaching
  • Created all the syllabi and Blackboards for my classes this semester

Blogs Posted

Writing

I’m not going to post my weekly stats again because it’s a weird mix of writing and editing, which isn’t very quantifiable. What I can say is that I started the month at 29k words in Flowers and Flourishing and ended the month at 37k words, which means I wrote 8,000 words. Considering I was absolutely fried at the beginning of the month, I’m really happy with this. Some of these words were brand new, others were fleshing out and/or changing things I wrote in the first half of this book. Writing and editing for me is never a linear process. I tend to do a two steps forward, one step back kind of thing where I write, edit, write, edit, then do a major edit, then write more, and repeat. A lot of people like to zero/fast draft and then start a new draft from beginning to end, but that just isn’t how I work. I tinker with my past writing session’s words as a warm-up before I jump back in. For me, it eliminates a lot of stress at the end when I need to clean up the manuscript since almost all of it has been touched multiple times. While writing this month, I also made a list of things I needed to edit/tweak in a Notepad file and had that open as I wrote. That way, I could make sure I mentioned little things that became important later. Notepad as a tiny, moveable stickynote while I’m editing/writing does wonders.

I also did a lot of brainstorming for The Reanimator’s Soul. In the past, I’ve been bad about actually putting pen to paper with ideas, and then, I get mad at myself when I forget them. The hope is that if I write a bunch of stuff down and pick through it after, it will help me figure out where to start the story and make outlining a bit easier.

Hopes for February

  • Learn more about writing mysteries specifically (research!)
  • Outline Act I of The Reanimator’s Soul
  • Write 500 words a day (14k total)
  • Grade a shit ton of papers with my brain in tact
  • Manage stress
  • Do more art
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly
  • Send out my monthly newsletter
October 2022 Wrap-Up Post
Monthly Review

October 2022 Wrap-Up Post

Kara Jorgensen3 Comments

Most of October was taken up with release day preparations and anxiety for The Reanimator’s Heart. I was super hyped about it, but I’m not going to lie, it sort of stole my attention and ability to focus because I was constantly worried about something going wrong or forgetting something important. Overall though, the month went very well, and I want to thank everyone who preordered, reviewed, or shared the posts for TRH on social media. You all are awesome. Anywho, let’s check out the goals I made last month for October and how we did.

  • Have a good launch for The Reanimator’s Heart (aka release ebook and paperback and maybe hit my stretch goal for my preorders)
  • Start prepping the weekly notes for my spring classes as they are both new *laugh sob*
  • Writing goal
    • Minimum goal: 10,000 words
    • Normal goal: 12,500 words
    • Stretch goal: 15,000 words
  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly and put out my monthly newsletter
  • Enjoy doing fall/Halloween stuff

Books

My goal for October was to read 8 books, and I read 11 books.

  1. Lab Girl by Hope Jahren– 4 stars, a memoir about being a woman in STEM while dealing with mental illness and life. Very interesting, especially if you’re into trees/plant science. It was as much about her life as it was about the science she studies.
  2. Saga Vol 9 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples– 4 stars, rereading in preparation for volume 10’s release
  3. Saga Vol 10 by Brian K. Vaughn and Fiona Staples– 4 stars, definitely worth the wait, though the body count is getting high. I’m looking forward to the rest of the series and how things change/grow going forward.
  4. Three Kings by Freydís Moon– 5 stars, I had the honor of reading this book in order to blurb it. It is a M/M/M book featuring a trans main character, his husband, and a selkie that washes up by their lighthouse. Lots of magic and coziness to balance the sensuality.
  5. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu– 4 stars, I read this as research for “Flowers and Flourishing” and greatly enjoyed it. Definitely has those sapphic vibes, even if Carmilla is a vampire who just wants to drain poor oblivious Laura. Highly recommend for vampire lovers.
  6. Obsidian Island by Arden Powell– 4 stars, a shipwreck, four castaways, and a lush island that is more than it seems, completely with a creepy tree, tropical birds, and giant bugs
  7. Lore Olympus Vol 3 by Rachel Smythe– 4 stars, Hades and Persephone are lovely messes, and I really enjoyed this volume as we got to see more of how the underworld works and the fits and starts of these two figuring out what they want.
  8. Temporary by Hilary Leichter– 3 stars (more like a 2.5), this was recommended by a friend and I didn’t love it. It’s just sort of the pretentious yet empty lit fic I would have read in my MFA program. There were moments where it had something going, then the author moved on and it disintegrated. Is it trying to be funny? Is it trying to be profound? I don’t think the author even knows, but it was short, so I finished it.
  9. Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots (#3) by Cat Sebastian– 5 stars, a music reviewer (ADHD-er) falls into the life of an autistic doctor and their lives meld together seamlessly that only they don’t seem to realize they’re in a relationship. It was absolutely lovely, especially the bits about community and family (found and blood)
  10. Into the Riverlands (#3) by Nghi Vo– 4 stars, Chih (a cleric who records history) runs into a group of martial artists who are more than what they seem. Once again, the narratives in a narrative and unfolding of Vo’s layered plots held me rapt.
  11. Exodus 20:3 by Freydís Moon– 4 stars, a trans man is trying to get his life together only to find himself rehabbing a church with a man who happens to be a monstrous yet attractive Biblical-style angel

Admin/Behind-the-Scenes Stuff

  • Made quite a few graphics for The Reanimator’s Heart, including ones for reviews and blurbs from Magen Cubed and Cat Sebastian (they both are awesome)
  • Posted weekly on social media until release day
  • Blurbed my first book as an author (Three Kings)! Blurbing is when an author gives another author a marketing tagline they can use on their books or social media. I was very excited to blurb for an author I really like and respect.
  • Revised my paperback for The Reanimator’s Heart and released it
  • Contacted my narrator about doing the audiobook for The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Got a commission of Oliver and Felipe from Kay Fine. You can see it here. I’ll add it to the art page soon. As an FYI this is not cannon in book 1, but it will be in a future book (not spoilery)
  • One of my ARC readers is also an AMAZING artist, and she made fan art of Oliver and Felipe that is absolutely mind blowing. Definitely follow OblivionsDream on IG, Twitter, or Tumblr. You can see the picture here.
  • My partner and I split the cost of a cheaper tablet in hopes that I can get into digital art again (after like 15+ years of not doing it) and to do some writing away from the computer.
  • Turns out that I’m only teaching one new class next semester, which is a bit of a relief in terms of prep workload. Sadly, it isn’t the one I was super hyped about, but I didn’t start the prep for it yet this month.
  • Gazed longingly at the beautiful trees in my backyard and the farm behind it. Highly recommend this activity if you want to just mainline pretty colors and fall coziness while still void staring.
  • Sadly, the extent of my Halloween activities has been buying a Spooky Vibes Only shirt that has the agender flag colors from On Trend Tshirts on Etsy.
  • The launch/release of The Reanimator’s Heart– My baby is out in the world! I want to thank everyone who bought it, reviewed it, shared posts, etc. You all have been absolutely amazing and supportive of my weird little book. At some point, I might do a whole post about this book’s release because it went really well, like REALLY well. Like so well it freaks me out a little. My stretch goal for preorders felt like I was really dreaming when I made it, and I blew past it in the last week or two.

Blogs Posted

Writing

It has been a rough month for me in terms of grading and anxiety, which means writing is hard. A lot of the anxiety stemmed from The Reanimator’s Heart coming out, so for the past week, I’ve been sort of a mess. I wish I could say that was the only reason I’ve been a mess, but I felt like crap the first week of the month too. Luckily, I think I have caught up or will be able to. I only hit my 10k goal, but at least I hit it and am content with that.

  • Week 1- 710 words total, 2/2 days written, 355 words/day
  • Week 2- 345 words total, 1/7 days written, 49 words/day
  • Week 3- 2145 words total, 5/7 days written, 306 words/day
  • Week 4- 2050 words total, 5/7 days written, 293 words/day
  • Week 5 + the 31st- 4750 words total, 5/8 days written, 596 words/day

Hopes for November

Something I am really looking forward to next month is the lessening of my workload with my freshman writing class. The last big paper comes in during the first week, which means it’s all downhill from there. October was the month of giant papers (*laugh sob*), so this should give my brain a little more breathing room. That and The Reanimator’s Heart being out.

  • Read 8 books
  • Blog weekly and put out the monthly newsletter
  • Keep marketing The Reanimator’s Heart
  • Word count goals for “Flowers and Flourishing”
    • Minimum- 10k
    • Intermediate- 12.5k
    • Stretch- 15k
  • Shop for majority of the Christmas presents
  • Actually work on that spring class’s lesson plans
  • Do something relaxing- not sure what exactly but video games, drawing, crafts count