Well hi again! It’s officially the end of the FIRST QUARTER of 2025. Which is … wild, right? I’m not entirely sure how that happened, honestly. It feels like just yesterday we were talking about SETTING goals for the year and now we’re wrapping up the first quarter. Weird how that happens. Anyway, the end of a month means it’s time to check in and see how things are going. Let’s dive in. 

As a reminder, here are the goals I was working toward this year. 

If this lofty list has a chance of success, I have to have micro-goals for each month. In March those were:

1. Finish the proofread and second edits on the Slasher novel.
2. Brainstorm cover ideas for the same novel.
3. Check in on the beta readers. 
4. Then, idea journal for some new ideas. 
5. I also needed to read/review 10 books from the official 2025 TBR in order to make that MASSIVE reading goal happen.
6. I needed to post to the blog three times, one being a poem. 

So, how’d I do?

The short answer is GREAT. 

The longer answer is:

1. I finished the 2nd round of edits on the Slasher novel. I also managed to get the proofreading done. I even had time to go back and input the (small) changes coming from the beta feedback. Really, the story is pretty tight now. Most of the things I changed this month were word choices or grammatical fixes. I’m pretty pleased with it. I’ll probably do one FINAL proofread in April, but I expect I won’t fix much. 
2. Two possible cover options have been drafted. Feedback has come in on those and everyone seems in agreement on preferring one over the other, but there are some tweaks I’ll likely still do. I expect I’ll probably have another draft idea to look at soon. 
3. Betas are all making progress. I got great feedback in March that allowed me to tighten up a lot of things in the opening act of the book. I’m excited to see what they think as they get deeper into this one. 

4. I spent some time reviewing old ideas in the journal to see if any spark some decisions on the new WIP front. Nothing has climbed out into the lead YET but I am getting a few ideas tickling the back of my brain, which is right on track for getting a new idea before June is over (which is what I’d really like). 
5. I managed to read/review a shocking 15 books in March, 14 of which were on the official 2025 TBR. Heading into April I’m ahead of that shockingly specific and lofty reading goal by 8 books. More on the specifics of that reading goal in a bit.
6. I posted to the blog 3 times: with the wrap up of February, the poetry challenge for March, and a scene from the idea journal.

Here’s what that 2025 Progress looked like at the end of March.

Here’s some fun stats for you related to writing and my projects:

• 7,826 words written across all projects and platforms
  • 4,513 of those were book reviews
  • 2,826 were blog posts
  • 487 added to the Slasher WIP (remember, I want this number to be low in editing)
• 32 Chapters Edited
  • Each one from the Slasher WIP, as expected.

Now, Reading. 

Remember, a LOT more information can be found over on alltherightreads.com where I’m a part of the review team. But, here’s the basics for you. 

The Graphic:

I read 15 books in March but only 14 were on the official 2025 TBR. See, what happened was, I forgot to put Sunrise on the Reaping on the official TBR but there was NO WAY I was not reading it. Anyway, 15 books, 4,772 pages (about 152 pages per day). 40% of those were independently published. 

The Reading Journal:

The Stats:

Where did I get them all?

• 3 ½ Borrowed from the library (my library would say I borrowed 6 but, as you probably remember, I only count it as a half if I’m also flipping back and forth from some other format that I own in some other way). 
• 3 ARC or Review copies provided by authors or publishers (those are the three listed at the top of the first page)
• 6 ½ purchased (I actually purchased 8 but, again, I only count it as a half if I borrowed it from the library in another format)
  • 1 purchased used from Goodwill 
  • 2 purchased used from a local independent store
  • 2 purchased directly from the authors
  • 2 preordered from Barnes and Noble
  • 1 purchased from Amazon for Kindle
• 2 giveaway wins or gifts. Actually it’s 3, but two of them I also used another format to enjoy them. In this case it’s actually 1 gift from my family, 1 gift from the publisher (randomly showed up at my door, it happens all the time), and 1 giveaway win. 

What formats were they all:

• 6 ebooks
• 3 ½ audiobooks (6 in some form or another, you’re getting the idea behind halves by now)
• 2 paperbacks (3 in some form or another)
• 3 ½ hardcovers (5 in some form or another)

Star Ratings:

• 0 1-star books. That makes sense because this is RARE for me. At alltherightreads we say a book has to be one we cannot recommend to get this rating. 
• 2 2-star books. These are books that were problematic, for some reason. The full reviews would lay out why. Safe to say that something about them rubbed me the wrong way. 
• 9 3-star books. This is probably my most common rating. For me, these books are GOOD but they’re NICHE for some reason. I’d have to find out if you were in that particular niche before I’d recommend them to you. Sometimes it’s because of content warnings, sometimes it’s because they’re just for a really specific reader. If you happen to be in this niche, however, these could be your absolute favorite books!
• 4 4-star books. These are books that I’d recommend just based on the fact that you say you read this genre. They’re just GREAT examples of their genre. For this month those were:
  • The Chain, a mystery/thriller that will keep your blood PUMPING! If you like a good thriller that doesn’t feel like all the rest of them, this is one I’d definitely recommend. It was original and terrifying. 
  • I Know what UFO Did Last Summer is a middle grade science fiction with a cute cast and a great story! If you (or someone in your life) are a middle grade reader who likes alien stories, adventure, and great friendships this is a good one to grab. 
  • After the Fall is a post apocalyptic story that grabs your attention and won’t let go. Great cast of characters and solid world building. 
  • Sunrise on the Reaping is the latest in the Hunger Games franchise, focused on the 50th Hunger Games (the ones Haymitch was crowned victor in). The story was everything we were promised AND MORE. If you’re a Hunger Games fan or a fan of dystopian fiction in general, I’d recommend this one. 
• 5-star book. These books are ones that CROSS GENRES. I’d recommend them to almost any reader but definitely to readers of at least 2 genres. Crossing genres can be difficult for any author because you have to do both well. These books do that. Unfortunately, I didn’t have any of those this month. We’ll try again next month, I guess. 

So, that’s March. 

If you’re curious, here’s how totals are looking after Quarter 1 is officially wrapped. 

• 36,711 words written across various projects
  • 2,080 in the idea journal
  • 11,333 on book reviews
  • 7,018 on blog posts
  • 15,389 on the Apocalypse Project
  • 1,539 on the Slasher Project
• 126 chapters edited (mostly the Slasher Project)
• 39 books read (13,462 pages read, if you prefer it that way), only 37 of which were from the official 2025 TBR
  • 12 ebooks
  • 13 audiobooks
  • 8 ½ paperbacks
  • 5 ½ hardcovers

TLDR: Getting back into making goals is working for me even three months in. Set a bunch of micro goals for March and hit them all. Win-win.

Back to the grind we go. See you again soon!