Month-End Update: February 2015

My husband says that I’m too hard on myself. In that spirit, I’m going to try and be nice to myself as I reflect on February. In my defense, I was shorted 2-3 days by the calendar, spent a few weekends out-and-about, put in more overtime at work than ever, and did about twice the amount of reading I normally do.

Okay, kindness and excuses aside, I know I could have done more revising this month. I feel good about the reading and business activities I completed, but my writing/revising really suffered. My new goal is to focus primarily on my revision efforts for March, with the specific goal of finishing my revision by March 15th, when my parents-in-law arrive from Australia. So if the blog is a bit quiet, know it is because I’m finally taking time for my writing. And if it’s not quiet, assume I’ve finally become Superwoman (because obviously I would never be procrastinating).

Here’s the nitty-gritty:

Writing

• Blog Posts Written — 5 (my editing, mid-month, and month-end updates, a blog award, and one book review), The 2K International Writers’ Blog Tour was my blog’s purpose this month!
• Fiction Words Written — approx. 4,000 (all during my revising process)
• # of Days I Wrote Fiction (Revised) — 5
• Outlines Written — 0
• On a related note, my alpha reader finished the completely un-edited version of The Cogsmith’s Daughter, and she gave me some great feedback and encouragement!

Editing/Revising

• Drafts Revised — I have revised 7 chapters (about 1/3) of The Cogsmith’s Daughter, which puts me behind my intended schedule and stuck in step six of my editing process.
• Misc. Editing — Beta reading (see below, not really “editing”)

Books 

• Books Finished
  • The Earl of Brass (The Ingenious Mechanical Devices #1) by Kara Jorgensen
  • Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey
  • Write. Publish. Repeat. (The No-Luck-Required Guide to Self-Publishing) by Sean Platt & Johnny B. Truant
  • The Curious Tale of Gabrielle by Zachary Paul Chopchinksi (beta read, look for it in March!)
• Books Begun/In-Progress
  • The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey
  • A Convergence of Worlds: An Anthology of Fantasy Short Stories by Dawn Chance, Dave D’Alessio, C. Scott Davis, and Dan Thole
  • A Time to Reap (The Legend of Carter Gabel) (Volume 1) by Jonas Lee
• Books Reviewed
  • The Earl of Brass (The Ingenious Mechanical Devices #1) by Kara Jorgensen – read review

Author Business Activities

• Rented a P.O. box so that I could start my email newsletter
• Started author newsletter and sent out two emails (If interested, you can sign up here!)
• Signed up for a free membership to Author Marketing Club
• Attended a free webinar on book launches and author websites hosted by Joanna Penn
• Attended a free webinar on using Scrivener to write and publish hosted by Johnny B. Truant and Sean Platt
• Set up a Smashwords account and began exploring that platform
• Completed my first beta read (The Curious Tale of Gabrielle by Zachary Paul Chopchinksi)

As I look back on what I have done this month, I have accomplished quite a lot. However, it is really disproportionate. I need to remember to not put the cart before the horse and get back to the core of my author business: producing fiction.

Goals for March

• Finish revision of The Cogsmith’s Daughter
• Began searching for a professional editor
• Find 3-5 beta readers
• Maintain my book review schedule
• Have a sensational 23rd birthday!

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What have you accomplished this month? What are your goals for March? For the rest of the year?