Check out my writing vlog where I read Cycle Eight to my mom, finish my final story for the month, and prep a new cover!
Week five, our final week, went so well! Granted, my numbers are down a bit again, which makes me so thankful I had gotten so ahead during the first half of the month.
Stats aside, I was able to read Cycle Eight to my mom in one day. We powered through it since he was an asshole and neither of us liked him. Too bad he plays such an important part of her development. The great outcome was getting feedback on if he was too triggering or not. So far, the consensus is that he straddles that abusive line well.
I also finished my second Lishky short for the month. This one feels a bit all over the place, but that might just be my current mental state. I’ll know more when I read through and edit it. I also have my new cover for it…almost. I’m getting mixed feedback on my choices, below. Got any advice?
I’m also not such a fan of the blurb I have for it, too. At least I have something to work with though.
Finally, I was able to create the first part of the physical compendium for two of my betas who prefer physical copies. My husband should get his tomorrow, so I’ll post a pic of it on social media. I expect it to be a chonker.
Anyway, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week Five | July 25-31
Minutes Logged: 550/630
Minutes Ahead: 160 (Whoo!)
Words Written: 2,101
Since it’s the end, let me give you some overall totals:
July 2021
Minutes Logged: 2,950 / 2,790
Minutes Ahead: 160 (Whoo!)
Words Written: 11,020 / 7,750
This makes me so happy. I love when I can complete all of my goals for a month, especially for a nanowrimo month.
Let me know how your writing went this July in the comments below, and I’ll see y’all soon with more writing challenges and fun prompts.
Check out my writing vlog where I edit Cycle Eight, draw on our sales board at work, and publish a new ebook.
It’s week four, and I’ve finally done it. I wrote those damn blurbs. You heard me! I wrote four of those little fuckers. Next week, I’ll workshop them with my betas.
That’s one massive weight off my shoulders and a big old checkmark on a goal for the month.
I’ve also managed to finish my edits of Cycle Eight, which means I will be reading it to my mom next week. Maybe this time I can capture some of that audio for the vlog, but that means I will also get that goal checked off my list before the end of the month. Woot!
All I have left is to finish the other short that I’m halfway through writing and keep at my habit of 250 words a day. Because let’s be honest, although my numbers meet the requirement, I haven’t been consistent, and that’s not okay.
Or maybe it is because I edited and published one of my Lishky shorts during one hell of a week.
Oh, yeah. I had to sit on the phone with the IRS for three hours one morning. The bonus being that I talked to a very helpful human being who fixed what she could for the moment. And I had SO MANY errands last week. It was nuts.
I’ll take the whole week as a win.
So, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week Four | July 18-24
Minutes Logged: 595/630
Minutes Ahead: 340 (Whoo!)
Words Written: 1,418
These numbers aren’t the best, but the goals are getting checked off. Funny how that works. Must be the buffer I gave myself last week.
Onward and upward! Time to kill the last week of camp nano.
Let me know how your writing is going this July in the comments below, and I’ll see y’all next week for another update.
Check out my writing vlog where I reward myself for finishing Wooing the Alpha, get my first vaccine shot, read to my mom, and write a shit ton of smut.
Week three has been productive in different ways. I’m almost finished with the first draft of one of my Lishky shorts, I made a new cover, prepped my website for a new release, wrote a blurb (but not for Wooing the Alpha), and am nearly finished reading Cycle Seven to my mom.
Plus, I’ve logged a hell of a lot of minutes! Now, let’s see if I can wrap up all of my goals, like editing cycle eight, finishing another short, and getting those damn blurbs done.
So, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week Three | July 11-17
Minutes Logged: 955/630
Minutes Ahead: 375 (Whoo!)
Words Written: 3,284
I finally feel like I’m getting my butt back in gear. Writing’s coming easier because I’m keeping to my daily habit, which is exactly what I wanted. However, I have noticed that I’m more willing to give myself a break when I get ahead…like the day I wrote 1,499 words, so all I did was edit the next day. Yeah, I need to cut that out and keep to my daily goal no matter what.
Let me know how your writing is going this July in the comments below, and I’ll see y’all next week for another update.
If not obvious by my lack of updates for the last two…three?…weeks of camp, the second half of the month did not go as planned. Check out my video explaining way more than I will below, plus kitties.
I failed Camp NaNo. Yup. But you know what? I tried. I made progress. Life keeps moving.
All of my excuses relate around the high number of hours I’ve been working, the two new jobs I landed, and how tired I am when I get home. Blah. Blah. Blah. I didn’t put the work in. Bottom line.
Still, I’m all right with that. Goals are fluid, but let’s look at them anyway.
Goal One: Write Every Day.
I was doing so well at this to start off with. I wrote 19 of 30 days.
Once I realized that writing every day might not be possible, I shifted to include editing as hours spent on Wooing the Alpha. This helped me out a bit. I hit 28 of 30 days.
Goal Two: Edit Cycle Four
Bam. Totally completed this goal.
I finished my word lists and read cycle four to my mom. Yes, I read my smut out loud to my mother. We’ve gotten past the awkwardness of it. Mostly.
Goal Three: Betas
Another accomplished goal. I sent my betas cycle four and finalized all of their notes from cycle one: I had one major revision to do, but it reads solidly now, so Woot!
Goal Four: Track
Well, I once again did well for the first three weeks. I tracked my progress until April 18th. Then, nothing. I’d lost track of vlogging before then, and I was struggling to keep count of my minutes. Instead, I focused on working with the book to keep myself going.
Goal Five: Sprints!
Those first two weeks were sprint strong. Then, it became an annoyance to plan them with the way life got crazy. Like I said, it was hard to track.
Goal Six: Social Posts
Yeah, I don’t even think I started this. Unless you count YouTube and blog updates. I didn’t touch instagram, facebook, twitter, linked in, or reddit, et. al. Bad on me. Oh well. It’s not the end of the world.
Goal Seven: 125 Minutes a Day
Nope. Although I stopped tracking, I do think that I made it to 60 minutes a day on average. You know, a three hour phone call to my mom one day, and twenty minutes of writing on another. That’s still a nice accomplishment in my eyes.
Overall, I wrote 6,463 words in Wooing the Alpha.
I’m hovering at the end of this beast: one more major section with five scenes, and two more for the falling action. And that’s it! I can’t believe it’s so close.
And for transparency sake, I’m pretty sure I’m sabotaging myself. You know, prolonging the end because I’m scared of messing up the end. If you work on big, creative projects, you might know this feeling.
My only way through it is to keep picking at it, coming back to it, and pushing myself to move forward.
That’s my goal for May. Hit this project until I make it to the end.
It’s going to happen, especially with the new job I landed. Apparently, it’ll be pretty boring there, so they encouraged me to bring my writing with me. Talk about a win!
Let me know how y’all are doing in the comments below. I’d love to hear from you!
Check out my writing vlog with some clips of me trying out my new meat grinder, baking for Easter, making drinks, cute kitty closeups, and my struggle against the clock and writer’s block.
I’m at the end of my book, and y’all, it’s hard to craft the right ending. Being nearly there gives me so much anxiety, but I can almost feel the relief of having draft one done.
Of course, since it’s hard to write, I’m not getting a whole lot of words in, so I’m counting my plotting time—you know, the time I sit and stare at my work even when the words don’t come, and my research into my own 940+ page book to be sure I’m being consistent.
However, with all of that finagling, I didn’t catch up from last week, and I missed out on a few minutes this week, too. Oh happy days.
So, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week One | April 4-10
Minutes Logged: 831/875
Minutes Behind: 44 (plus the 90 from last week)
Words Written: 2,596
Total Words in Manuscript: 253,709
Y’all, I can’t really be too mad at myself. The numbers don’t count as much as I want them to because I just want to finish this behemoth in any way that I can. Sitting with it every day seems to be doing the trick, so I just have to stick with it.
I’m almost to the last major plot point, a couple of pages away in fact. And I’m trying not to freak out.
No worries though, I still have massive amounts of work to do on this to finish it out, filling in some scenes, and giving myself some more space to explore the alphas that I restrained in cycle fourteen—aka, I tried to limit them too much in word count and now need to go back and beef them up a bit. Let them grow!
All right, I’m going to stop stalling and get back to work.
Let me know how your writing is going this April in the comments below, and I’ll see y’all next week for another update.
Check out my writing vlog with the kitties and my crying while I write, cooking chicken noodle soup and playing in my bullet journal.
I’ve written more these last few days than I have for most of the month of March. Work has been killing my energy, so the daily habit has made me happy.
However, I am behind. Counting minutes makes me far more flexible with my writing time as long as I write every day. And that’s a win so far.
So, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week One| April 1-3
Minutes Logged: 285/375
Minutes Behind: 90
Words Written: 2,164
Total Words in Manuscript: 251,190
Here we are. I’ve got some time to make up. Days off are excellent for that as long as I don’t let myself get too far behind.
I won’t. I vow it!
I will finish this book. That is one of my goals for this camp experience.
Overall, I hope to write every day, to edit cycle four, send cycle three to my betas, track my time and my words, participate in sprints, vlog every day, and write for 125 minutes a day (my actual camp nano goal).
I don’t think I’m asking too much from myself. At least I hope not.
Wish me luck, y’all! I’m almost there.
Are you participating in camp? How are you tracking your progress this go around? Let me know in the comments below!
Okay, so I’m pretty sure everyone understands that 2020 didn’t go as planned. My year didn’t either, and with that in mind, I’m going to be loose in my evaluation of my goals.
2020’s actual goals:
Write 152,500 words in various projects, like the second Lily Graves novel, Loving Them Both (the final installment in a trilogy), and seven short stories.
Edit On Time, Lily Graves 2, and those seven shorts.
Market with consistent content, Kickstarter, Bookbub, swaps, and A/B ad testing.
Build a Broken World companion, a family cookbook, freelance clients, tutoring clients, and a $40k income.
Reach bestseller status, Kickstarter success, financial freedom, and 175 pounds.
Learn twelve new recipes, web coding, my camera settings, insta stories, and how to use a saw.
Create On Time book boxes, a new desk, and a filming space.
Fitness: 1 pull up, run 5-10k, do a handstand, and increase flexibility.
Make a habit of writing every day, increasing water intake, increasing cardio, eating cleaner, work abs, and reading regularly.
Fix my home.
Yeah, that’s a lot of specifics, isn’t it? I can tell you right now, most of this didn’t happen. First, let’s see what I did accomplish.
2020’s ACTUAL accomplishments:
I wrote 246,215 words in 2020. Fiction words. This does not include all of the other things that I write regularly. Next year, I will be tracking those as well. So, I definitely hit my word count goal, although not in the projects I’d planned.
I edited and published On Time. Check!
I created consistent content on YouTube, better content on Instagram, and okay content on wordpress and facebook and emails.
I started taking notes on my Broken World companion, although it’s not much. I’ve also collected a great deal of recipes for my cookbook.
I reached Kickstarter success with our On Time campaign!
I learned twelve new recipes, one includes an amazing chocolate cake that I make weekly.
I created and mailed 26 book boxes, unearthed a plain filming space, and built new organization for my desk.
I can hang for a full minute but no full pull up, and I’ve made greens a major part of my diet. Butter is still my greatest weakness, however.
I succeeded in my writing habits, my cardo habits, and my reading habits (over 100 books this year)!
And I got myself a better paying job with some fun people.
All in all, that’s not a bad list.
I feel like I’ve accomplished much of my intentions regardless of the projects I poured into. Lofty goals always make me push harder, so I plan to keep making them.
How did you do in 2020? What are you plans for 2021? Let me know in the comments below!
It’s the end of the year, and the burnout is real. Writing nearly double the words in 2020 as I did in 2019 and NaNoWriMo killed my brain function. I swear.
Pair that with editing and publishing an anthology with 74 stories, and brain has mushed. As it has a tendency to do. I often like to push myself past where I should.
I probably wouldn’t do this so often if it didn’t produce such nice results. The problem with this, however, is when my productivity dips, I chastise myself with how lazy I’m being, how I could be making this or getting that done. It’s not healthy.
So, it’s time to refill the well, and if I plan some of it into my schedule, I can feel like I’m not just wasting time.
Here are some of the things I plan to do to take care of my creativity and mental health:
Baking—chocolate cake, brownies, cinnamon rolls, cookies (of all varieties), and pies. I love to make sweets. The boys love to eat these, too, if they can get ahold of them before I do. I found this new chocolate cake recipe that is the fudgiest thing ever. We compared it to the boxed stuff, and man, does this beast kill on flavor. If you bake, try it out and let me know if you like it!
Trying New Recipes—cooking in general is my main contribution to my family, so often, this feels like another chore. Unless I’m trying a new recipe. I love experimenting. It’s the best when the family likes the new meal, which also adds a new choice to the rotation, but I also really like to try some strange things. So when I get a chance to meddle in something that’s just for me, it’s a real treat. Got any suggestions? Drop them below for me!
Reading Books—on average, I’ve been reading between eight and twelve books a month. With my new job, I’m not sure how those numbers are going to sway, but reading amps up my creativity. I’ll read in my genre, out of my comfort zone, nonfiction, and it all offers me something new. I love that about books. If you’re a reader, please make me some recommendations.
Coloring—I’m a big kid, and as I’d like to start drawing and painting again, I love to color. Give me a line-drawing and hand over those colored pencils, and I am on top of that. I’m layering colors and using different strokes to enhance my masterpiece. I used to do this for my bullet journal. I have a Bob’s Burgers coloring book that I can’t wait to crack open.
Sudoku & Puzzles—I LOVE puzzles, number puzzles, word puzzles, and jigsaw puzzles. I need to get my hands on more of the last. I’ll spend an entire day working on a 1,000 piece one, and the best part is that the family can come and help. The downfall…cats. We need a safe place to store them.
Planning—I truly love my bullet journal, my traveler’s notebook, and my home-made mini–Happy Planner. I also have so many sheets for preplanning and book planning, and I probably overdo it just a tad, but when I’m exhausted, I like to dabble in them. It means drawing and crafting and paper and markers and a different kind of creativity that can lead to future results. Two birds meet stone.
Down Time with the Family—Sometimes, it’s just nice to sit on the couch, play a game on my iPad and have the boys talk about gaming and stocks and reddit and the news. It’s nice to play with the kitties. It’s nice to watch a movie or new show or eat cake together and talk. It’s just nice.
YouTube Binge—I have some clear trends on my YouTube feed: Korean cafes and cooking, planning/bullet journaling, booktube, authortube, cake decorating, Eva Fitness (Mira is magnetic y’all) and other workout girls, soap making (Royalty Soaps!), illustrators and their packing videos, and pop music. I can find myself running the rabbit hole in spirals.
Working Out—this is a habit that’s serving me so well. I started working out consistently about ten years ago. And not only does it have all of those chemical reactions that signal happiness and elevate the mood, but I’ve noticed while working with some people half my age to eight years my junior that I have a lot more energy than they do. I don’t have complaints about standing around, bending or lifting things, or a bad back. I mean, sure, my back or my hip or my neck might get me on the occasion, but regular weights and stretching and cardio really do keep me young. Also, walking and running and stretching is a great way to brainstorm ideas, too.
Resting—Oh, this one is hard. Sitting or lying with nothing to do. Just letting my mind wander…it’s not something I often do. Even when I go to bed, I have cartoons playing in the background. It’s my overactive mind. When I don’t engage it, it goes off on its own, and that can be great, but it isn’t always, which is likely why I tend to avoid it. I think some meditation or guided breathing might do me good.
Yup, that’s a great big list. Is there anything on your unwinding, self-care, or refilling the well activities list that isn’t on mine? Please, share them with me! I love new ideas. If you do anything on my list, tell me about it!
Check out my writing vlog with the kitties and Bob’s Burger Monopoly, sweet tart martinis and workouts, bullet journal set ups and lots of freaking out about my word count racking up to the sweet 50k.
Welp, I did it. I wrote all of the words.
Somehow, the universe lined up just right to let me complete this challenge. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I put in A LOT of work. I sat with my book when I didn’t feel like it, when I barely had the time for it, when the words didn’t want to come, when I had too much going on with life. I forced myself to hit that wordcount or make it up if I got behind. And it worked.
I managed no zero-word days. One day below a thousand, and most of the days were close to the goal (between 1600 and 1800 words). I got one day of over 3,000 this week because of my 500-word day, which was Thanksgiving. I had a headache all day, plus, holiday.
So, let’s look at my final numbers:
Week Four & Five| November 22-30
Words Written: 50,053
Words Ahead: 53
Total Words in Manuscript: 204,116
Yup. That happened. It really did. And as excited as I am about it, I think I need a rest! Not that I plan to put my book down for any length of time. I’m just going to take it easy on myself. 850 words a day doesn’t sound too bad after 1,667 a day, right? Well, we can thank my writeropoly board for that.
Ultimately, it pushes me toward my goal of consistently writing a thousand words a day. One day. One day.
I also have no planned celebration for winning Nano (and getting a new job). Let me know what you think I should do to celebrate. And please tell me about how your November went in the comments below.
Check out my silly writing vlog where I freak out about how close I am to completing not only NaNoWriMo but my manuscript as a whole. Yikes! I also pack and ship my new book boxes.
This was a good week for the words, which is odd since I had a couple of low-energy days. Or to say plainly, I’m getting tired. However, I am almost DONE with story thirteen of fourteen. Yeah.
Yeah.
I’m pretty sure the looming end is the only thing keeping me going, even though I have no idea what I’m doing in story fourteen.
I also had two interviews this week for a job, and that’s made me excited and is pushing me to get the words before I might not have the time to put into it.
But y’all. I am actually keeping up. I can’t believe it.
So, let’s look at my numbers so far:
Week Three | November 15-21
Words Written: 35,047
Words Ahead: 40
Words To-Be Written: 14,953
Look at that! I’m way past the hump, and if I’m being honest, I’m a bit terrified about the end of this project.
It’s so long, and it’s come together so quickly. I hope I make the right choice at the end.
As a side note: with the tired I’ve been feeling, I’ve distracted myself with some fun, like making a new reading challenge game (aka a TBR game), and it’s complicated, which I totally love. Next week, I’ll be working on my new writing challenge game.
If you didn’t know, I currently play bookopoly and writeropoly every month to challenge myself.
So with that in mind, if you have any challenges or prompts for either game, please leave them in the comments below for me so I can add them to my game. And be sure to let me know how you’re doing!
