Things are getting back to a sort of new-normal around here. If you saw my October goals post, you know we had a major surgery in October. My husband is recovering well (thank you to all the well-wishers) and is back at work. That means I’m having more writing time. But, if you’ve ever dealt with any major surgeries or anything like that you also know that your mental focus takes a hit for a long time after something like this. We’re working on finding that new normal and keeping our mental health in good spots.
So, let’s take a look at what my November progress looked like with an open mind!
You’ll likely remember I started on January 1 with these goals in mind:
Each month I set a smaller subset of goals to help me focus. In November those were:
- Proofread the Romance
- Start the Cover Process for the Romance
- Proofread That’s What Friends Are For from my print copy
- Open preorders for That’s What Friends Are For
- Work on the Zero Draft of the Superhero (book 1)
So, how did I do?
The short answer is pretty good, all things considered.
The longer answer is:
- I did proofread the Romance. I still think I want to do one more read-through of this one before it’s all said and done because I made some changes to it (again). It’s come such a long way from the original. Sometimes I’m happy with that. Other times I find myself looking for ways it can be even better. The beta feedback, which is due back next month, should help with this a lot.
- I only started the cover process if, by that, I meant start day-dreaming about what elements I think I want on the cover. I have a list of things I want and things I absolutely do not want to see on the cover. I’m hoping to actually start putting things together in December. Basically, I’m happy enough with the progress on this one that I just went ahead and finished off the pages for it in the journal.
- That’s What Friends Are For is basically done, at this point. I did manage to get through my author copy and made only a few small changes (proofreading type stuff).
- Preorders opened on 11/16. My copies are actually HERE ON TIME and will be heading out for anyone who preordered SOON! My hope is to have them DELIVERED by release day. Nothing left to do now but the official release (December 16th).
- I did also take a day or two to work on the Superhero project. I added just over 6,000 words to that draft.
After all that, here’s what the 2025 Progress looked like at the end of November.
This marks the second time all year that I’ve missed the blog goal and the poetry goal. I’m not mad about it. My focus has needed to be somewhere else and if that’s the only balls I managed to drop during this juggling routine, I think I’m alright with that.
Here’s the stats for you related to writing and my projects in November:
- 13,042 words written across all projects and platforms
- 3,721of those were book reviews
- 2,974 were blog posts
- That leaves 6,347 on the Superhero Project
- 30 Chapters Edited
- Full disclosure, I don’t think that number is right. I read through a lot more of the Romance project than that but I think I forgot to log a few (lot) of them. Plus I didn’t count the final proofread of That’s What Friends Are For. Whatever, the number is close enough for my purposes.
Now, onto Reading.
Remember, if you’re looking for the actual reviews those can be found over on alltherightreads.com where I’m a part of the review team. But, here’s the stats for you.
The Graphic:
I read 13 books in November but only 10 of those were on the official TBR.
Here’s that quick time out where I explain “official TBR”:
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.
As of the end of November there are 8 of those original TBR books remaining.
There are also books on the TBR that do not count toward the challenge. 2 of those are books I have to read/review as part of the All the Right Reads team before 2025 ends. That means I have to read at least 2 books NOT on the official TBR as well as the ones that are.
I have only myself to blame on this one.
Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled information. In November I read 13 books or 3,997 pages (about 121 pages per day). 85% of those were independently published.
The Reading Journal:
The Stats:
Where did I get them all?
- 1 Borrowed from a person or the library (borrowed from a person this time)
- 3 ARC or Review copies provided by authors or publishers (those are the ones listed at the top of the first page)
- 8 purchased
- 1.5 purchased on Kindle (There’s actually 3 here, but I also bought them in paperback so I counted it as half of each).
- 5.5 purchased directly from the author’s website or from the author at an event (3 of these were also purchased on Kindle)
- 1 purchased at BN
- 1 Gifts or Giveaway Wins (In this case, giveaway win)
What formats were they all:
- 4.5 ebooks (again, a bunch of halves because I had both)
- 0 audiobooks (There’s a serious lack of available “official TBR” books available on audio, in case you’re wondering why this keeps happening)
- 8.5 paperbacks
- 0 hardcover
Star Ratings:
- 1 1-star books. 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.
- 4 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!
- 6 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:
- Cause of Death: ?? is a fantasy story that dives into the world of Death, Life, and their crew. This one also has mystery elements because SOMEONE has swapped souls and Death must figure out who did it … and how.
- Elemental is a high fantasy series opener. If you like to get immersed in a fantasy world with a big diverse cast, this one will make you do a happy dance! It does a great job at tackling reincarnation and setting up the series.
- The Chained is the first in a fantasy series that features fallen angels. If you like character driven fantasy, this one is worth your time! Solid characters, lots of emotional entanglements, and a great set up for future books.
- Everyone in the Group Chat Dies is a mystery thriller coming next month. This one moves fast, sets up a solid mystery, and keeps you guessing.
- The New Council is the second book in the Blood Drive horror series. This one packs a punch, introduces some amazing vampire characters, and is definitely worth a read for horror fans.
- Surviving the Angel of Death is a nonfiction story from WWII. The story delivers a good message and wonderful facts that you don’t find in every WWII story.
- 1 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. For October that one was:
- Rituals & Grimoires is a short story fantasy collection. Packed with dark stories, great fantasy tales, and some shocking twists, this one is recommended for fantasy fans OR short story fans. It was a very pleasant collection!
So, that’s November.
TLDR: Officially hit the last of the big 2025 goals with one month left to go and forgave myself for missing the blogging goal.
See you again soon!