Let me help you do crunches, Mom.
Another summer month has flown by. I’m going to be honest — my production on the creative side has been crap. Even the unbuilt LEGO sets calling my name from my guest room haven’t been motivation enough to get work done. I’m not going to stop working on the Steel Empires series. But after 4 years of cranking out a book a year, I think I’m going to…not take it easy on the next one, but write with more intention. That’s going to mean fewer words a month, and more months to write the book. But my physical health also needs to starting taking a higher priority as I get older, and I’d rather build good habits now.
So my monthly goals are going to look less challenging, but the hope is that those of you reading at the other end won’t actually notice a drop in production. This may or may not make sense. I’m only on my first cup of coffee for the day.
July Wrap-Up
- Revisions to Steel Shadows are not complete, and have not been sent to my editor.
- The book 6 outline has not been completed, though there’s lots of fun ideas rattling around in my brain.
- I did attend Confluence in Pittsburgh last weekend! Being around other authors is always a great shot of creative juice. Check out my full con report.
- I came up with some great ideas for how to launch Steel Time in September. Now I just have to implement them.
See, I told you this month was a wash. I did get lots of reading done, however, which I will never regret.
July Book Reviews
- Writing Mysteries edited by Sue Grafton (3 stars)
- Invincible (Volumes 7-9) by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley (4 stars)
- Mastering Suspense, Structure & Plot by Jane K. Cleland (4 stars)
- Urban Dragon (Volume 1) by J.W. Troemner (5 stars)
- “The Steam Pump Jump” (Chronicles of St. Mary’s short story) by Jodi Taylor (5 stars)
- A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (Seducing the Sedgwicks #2) by Cat Sebastian (4 stars)
- Invincible (Volumes 10-12) by Robert Kirkman & Ryan Ottley (4-5 stars)
- Born to Love Wild edited by Cara McKinnon (4 stars)
July Speculative Chic Contributions
August Goals
- Seriously: Steel Shadows revisions to my editor.
- So that I can build a LEGO set!
- And also complete a first draft of the outline to book 6 and send it out for review.
That should be do-able, right? I’m not traveling this month, though I do have a bunch of things planned on the weekends. But today is Friday, so tonight I’m going to put on some music and bury myself in Steel Shadows. Wish me luck!
This whole linear time thing is for the birds. I feel like it was just yesterday that I sat down to write last month’s version of this post. That usually means that I got a lot of work done during the month, or absolutely nothing at all. Let’s see how it all fell out.
It’s been done before, so I’ll skip the trite comments about “OMG how is June here already??!” Instead, let’s get to the good stuff. After you admire the absolutely adorable dragonling that I bought at Balticon last weekend. Fable has been tasked with protecting my TARDIS die, and if you think he’s amazing, check out 
I’m totally having that weird feeling of having accomplished so much in the past month while also doing not much of anything at all. Take a look below and let me know where you think I fall on that spectrum.
On top of everything else, my husband and I joined one of those meal delivery services in an attempt to eat healthier and learn new skills. Since my social media has already been inflicted with a bunch of food pictures, it’s only fair to spread the love here.
Wow, is the first month of 2018 done already? Seems like it flew by in a whirlwind of writing and reading and LEGO. Oh wait — because that’s basically all I did this month.
