You know you’re tired and brain-foggy when you spend no less than three minutes looking on your computer for a document YOU HAVEN’T WRITTEN YET. I sat down this afternoon specifically to check on my May progress. Then, I opened my goals folder and wondered WHY MAY WAS MISSING. I then spent those three aforementioned minutes looking for it before I remembered … THAT’S WHAT I SAT DOWN TO WRITE. 

So, if that’s an indication of what I’m about to discover … buckle up!

First up, let’s all remember the goals from January 1 for this year. 

In order to make this GIANT list of things happen, I have to give myself micro-focuses for each month. In May those were:

• Reveal the cover (and title) for the Slasher WIP
• Get those ARCs out
• Finalize the formatting on that project
• Proof Read the Print Sample
• Next round of edits on the YA Contemporary
• Then get that one out to betas.

So, how did I do?

The short answer is not bad but not great.

The longer answer is:

1. The cover of the Slasher project was revealed! The title of this one is actually Darkest Fears and the cover is AMAZING. There were at least 4 options thrown around by the cover team this time but we just kept coming back to this one. In the end, with a few small tweaks, this one was the one that had the vibe we were going for. 

2. Darkest Fears went out to ARC readers on time (maybe even early, I honestly forget) and some incredibly fast reviewers have already read/reviewed it! The book releases in August, preorders will open in July, and anyone in attendance at Phoenix Fan Fusion this weekend can pop on down to my booth and PRE-preorder it! 
3. As for the formatting finalization, I’m working on it. I have some small notes but that should all be finished up here soon. 
4. Same with the proof read. Things got a little chaotic in May, but I am working on it and it will get done in time! Release day will NOT be affected and it WILL be the best it can be!

Really, at this point, DARKEST FEARS is down to the last steps. I like to share the graphic as it gets chaotic though because a lot of indie authors ask what all the things you have to think about are… and here’s most of it. This will continue to get little check marks on it right up until the pub date in August! SO EXCITING. 

5. I also had a goal in May to get the 1st round of edits done on the Contemporary YA. A few things about that. First, it’s not actually the first round of edits. This one went through 2 rounds of edits already in 2024. But I wrote new scenes and dropped those in. So this was the first round WITH THOSE SCENES IN PLACE. Basically, that means it’s further along than it may seem. Also, it’s a terrible nickname for it because it takes place in the last 1990s… so contemporary isn’t fully accurate. I should’ve called it the Toxic Friendship YA but it’s too late for that now. Anyway, no problems with the editing round. Flew right through that and added like 5,000 words. All as planned. 
6. The assembled beta team got their hands on this one early and feedback is already trickling in. I don’t foresee any problems pushing this one along on the route I had planned for it, so I went ahead and added all the pending steps to the tracker.

7. I did also wrap up that SUPER SECRET PROJECT I teased about in April and it went off without a hitch. MORE TO COME ON THAT, I promise! It’s actually on my June goals to blog all about the process so you’ll all be clued in when that drops. 
8. Fan Fusion is coming THIS WEEKEND so a lot of May behind-the-scenes went to planning, ordering, and overthinking all the details for that. I’m incredibly excited for this year. Each year of Fan Fusion gets BIGGER AND BETTER for us and the team is so ready to get out there and mingle with all of you!
9. Oh, and I did post to the blog three times. The Birth of a Slasher post talked about the history behind Darkest Fears so that one is a lot of fun! 

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

It’s looking really good but there’s also a lot left to do! Actually, one of the other fun things that happened in May was that I started outlining a possible idea for another project. I’m not ready to talk about it YET but that might be coming as an active WIP. We shall see. I’ll certainly feel more confident about making these goals if I can get that other WIP solidified.

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

• 11,109 words written across all projects and platforms
  • 2,991 of those were book reviews
  • 3,035 were blog posts
  • 4,761 were added to the YA Contemporary.
• 45 Chapters Edited
  • Again, that makes sense. I’m pretty sure that’s how many are in the YA Contemporary. 

Overall, for a month when I actually MISSED two of the small goals I had, those number don’t look too bad. 

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 11 books in May but only 9 of those were on the official TBR. This is going to happen a lot from this month forward, so let me pause to explain. My goal this year was to read all 119 of the books that were on my TBR on January 1. So not just 119 books… those specific 119 books. I am still part of the review team at All the Right Reads. That means I’m taking on 2-3 books per month that I didn’t know anything about on January 1. Basically, this makes things a lot more complicated for me. I’ve checked, as of the end of May there are 62 of those original TBR books remaining. I’m adjusting the rest of the months to be 9 each instead of 10 in hopes that I can make this happen. I’m not behind on the yearly goal yet because I was so far ahead going into May. From this point on, I just need to be careful.

Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled information. In May I read 11 books for a total of 4,371 pages (about 110 pages per day). 63% of those were independently published. 

The Reading Journal:

Try as I might, one book is being carried over to June. I did my best but this one is a chunky monkey!

The Stats:

Where did I get them all?

• 3 Borrowed from a person or the library (2 library and 1 from my sister)
• 3 ARC or Review copies provided by authors or publishers (those are the ones listed at the top of the first page)
• 4 purchased
  • 2 purchased on Kindle
  • 2 purchased directly from the authors at events
• 1 giveaway win or gift. In this case, I believe it was a giveaway win. 

What formats were they all:

• 6 ebooks (I’m really trying to get through the ones I purchased on my Kindle)
• 0 audiobooks (TWO MONTHS IN A ROW? What’s wrong with me?)
• 3 paperbacks
• 2 hardcovers

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. 
• 1 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. 
• 6 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:
  • What’s So Bad About Being Poor is a nonfiction story that centers around the author’s experiences growing up poor. It’s well written to incorporate real data and statistics among her story. 
  • Queen of Volts is the conclusion to a trilogy I ADORED. If you liked darker fantasy following characters you get a chance to LOVE, start with Ace of Shades and enjoy. 
  • Bloom is a middle grade fantasy. It’s a perfect blend of cute, borderline silly, and a great message. Plus, beautiful illustrations. 
  • Bad Vibrations is a short horror story that deals with a women who winds up in a cult. It’s fast paced and highly entertaining. 
• 0 5-star books. 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. There just weren’t any book I read in May that did that.

So, that’s May. 

TLDR: Hit most of the goals, still on track even with the ones I missed, and still enjoying this whole back-to-the-goals thing!

See you again soon!