July has officially come to an end. Around here (Phoenix area, meaning desert southwest) that means it’s still as hot as it was before but now our kids are back in school. Yeah, it’s weird. Anyway, I have a little time this afternoon that wasn’t dedicated to sitting in a parent pickup lane full of people who act like they’ve never done parent pickup before so let’s take a look at how my July actually went.
First up, Individual Projects
First up, the Short Story Collection (actually known as In Trust We Fall). This one is still on track for an October release! Preorders should open in September. I do still need to finish my final proofread, but that’s really the last major step before this thing goes live.
Meanwhile the most exciting news to come out of July is the Apocalypse Project. As I already blogged, this one has actual momentum now! I’ve managed to completely outline the project (on index cards) and have a clear path to the end now. Each of the little drafting boxes on this image represents 500 words, so as of today I’m at about 10,000.
If you’ve been following along with this HASSLE since the beginning, you probably know this is the fourth (I think) attempt at a draft. 10,000 words is the longest it’s gotten though, to the best of my recollection. So this is a GOOD SIGN! I’m hoping to carry this momentum into August.
The rest of the projects remain in the same state they’ve been in since July started. I can only work on so many at a time!
Next up, Monthly Progress
My monthly progress pages are designed to help give me focus in a given month. In July I knew I needed to work on some of the publication things for In Trust We Fall and then I was hoping to complete the planning for the Apocalypse Project.
I ditched my goal of making progress EVERY day and decide to just focus on forward momentum at all in the month. I didn’t want to stagnate, basically. Then I added in a goal to proof read In Trust We Fall.
The Apocalypse Project took OFF and went better than I anticipated. As I already mentioned, I was able to finish the planning AND start drafting. That did cost me in the proof read department, though. No worries, I have time! I’ll just move that one to August.
I made what I would count as progress on 18 of the 31 days.
I wrote a total of 18,224 words (3,881 on the blog and 3,200 on book reviews).
Wow, look at the number of book reviews I wrote. That leads me right into my final section …
Reading
I finished 10 books (about 116 pages per day) in July. That included the 3 ARCs I promised to get to before their releases, a whole bunch of library ones that came available, a Kindle read I purchased a long time ago and was excited to squeeze in, and a paperback my husband and I picked out months ago that I was excited for.
Prefer covers? I got you.
There was a lot to love in my July reads! If you like YA Contemporary that feels like it was ripped from the headlines, you HAVE to try After the Fire. If you like nonfiction and want a memoir that will hit you in the feels, try Voices Carry. If you’re more of a psychological thriller fan, try First Lie Wins.
Well, that was my July.
- 10 books read and reviewed
- Just over 18000 words written
- A WIP that is officially back on track
I’ll take it! Here’s hoping we all have a productive August!
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