The month that certainly felt like more than a month has come to an end.
Goodbye, April 2020.
The official wrapup video dropped today on the YouTube channel, I’ll drop it at the end of this post so you don’t miss anything. Let’s dive into your insider information, shall we?
FUN FACTS
- My kids and I are definitely in the “anything to get us out of the house is fun” mode. We have taken to bike riding down to the local elementary school to get the free lunch they’re giving out for the kids each day.
- My audiobook productivity is suffering the most during quarantine. This is largely because I use audiobooks in my car, which I’m currently not spending a lot of time in. Because my audiobook productivity is down, my reading productivity is down a little.
- Outtakes for this video included one minute where my dog decided he needed to let himself into his dog crate and try to dig a hole through the bottom. This resulted in a LOT of background noise and dissolved into me laughing at him.
ACTUAL NUMBERS
Reminder: The month isn’t technically over. These are the numbers as of RIGHT NOW. For official “end of month” numbers, make sure you’re following me on Instagram (@ShipleyTabatha) where I post the pretty pictures of my little journal after the month ends.
39,545 words written
- Highest writing day was yesterday when I wrote 4,138 words
- Overall, 13 days were above 1500 words and an additional day was above 1000
- I averaged 1,464 words per day in April
STATISTICS
Because I cannot resist analyzing this stuff.
Genre Count
I’m not really surprised by any of this, honestly. I’m not sure what it would take to surprise me in genre at this point. I read everything. We know this. Anyway, it looks like Fantasy took the top spot this time around. I think for the second quarter I may look at genres I choose vs genres that are review requests, just for the heck of it. That could be interesting.
Star Ratings
Absolutely no 1-star ratings this month, which is pretty cool. There were a LOT of niche books this time around (3 star). Those, if you’re unfamiliar with my rating scale, are books that are good … but you may not love them even if you normally read in their genre. They have a more specific audience, basically. This is actually the second month in a row where I’ve had no 1-star ratings and a heavy dose of 3-star.
50% of what I read this month was independently published.
That’s the highest percentage in the last three months, for sure. LOVE IT!
TO SUM IT UP
- I tried to focus on alternating indie and traditional this month, which obviously worked for my indie percentage. What it didn’t work for was front loading my shield challenges. One of those (Empire by Orson Scott Card) will have to end up on a March video, which is unfortunate.
- On the surface, I look really productive this month. In reality, my focus has been all over the place. Like everyone else, I have good days and bad. This quarantine is kicking my butt. Keep on keeping on, that’s the best we can do.
I’m calling this month a win, overall.
THE VIDEO
Check out the rest of the 2020 goals to see how I’m looking ⅓ of the way into the year.
