How did I do this year? Not bad, according to Goodreads! 311 Titles Read in 2024* *Includes novels, novellas, and graphic novels What's the monthly breakdown? January: 29 | February: 26 | March: 31April: 25 | May: 29 | June: 23July: 28 | August: 26 | September: 19October: 18 | November: 29 | December: 25 … Continue reading A Year in Reading: 2024
A Year in Reading: 2023
Once again, I set my Goodreads annual reading challenge goal at 50 books. And once again, I blew past that number sometime in March. Here's the final total: A slight decline from last year, and definitely not the insanity that was 2021, but that's because I'm back to hitting a balance between reading and writing. … Continue reading A Year in Reading: 2023
December Wrap-Up & January Goals
Happy New Year, friends! I had an amazing holiday cruising in the Bahamas with my family, then visiting friends in Atlanta for my birthday. As with most of my vacations, I spent most of my time reading (and only snuck in a little bit of work, but I couldn't complain about the view). Now that … Continue reading December Wrap-Up & January Goals
November Wrap-Up & December Goals
Apparently, today is December 1. The year is almost gone. Sounds fake, but okay. My highlights from last month included running away to the beach for a writing weekend with friends I haven't seen in way too long, finishing revisions to Earth and Water, and having a few writers friends look at the outline to … Continue reading November Wrap-Up & December Goals
August Wrap-Up & September Goals
Since I finally wrote "the end" on Earth & Water on August 1, the rest of the month was focused on the boring admin side of officially launching myself in the self-publishing world. Most of it isn't very fancy, beyond being able to say I am officially a Maryland small business owner, but I am … Continue reading August Wrap-Up & September Goals
May Wrap-Up & June Goals
I did so well in May! I wrote! I read! I adventured! Not as much of all of those as I would have preferred, especially since the day job ate me for the solid week before I left on my vacation at the end of the month, but I suppose we can't have it all. … Continue reading May Wrap-Up & June Goals
April Wrap-Up & May Goals
In the spirit of full transparency, I rode the struggle bus for the first half of April, without much productivity other than keeping up with reading ARCs and writing book reviews. Then, the spouse and I spent a lovely long weekend with our besties down in Atlanta to join them for their local Renaissance Faire … Continue reading April Wrap-Up & May Goals
March Wrap-Up & April Goals
I had grand plans for last month, but got caught up in the intersection of physical and mental health issues that reduced my productivity output to a few book reviews and way too much time playing World of Warcraft. It's more than a bit frustrating, but I'm trying to be gentle with myself. I didn't … Continue reading March Wrap-Up & April Goals
January Wrap-Up & February Goals
I think I'm coming down with something, so obviously, the answer is to ignore it and power through, right? We'll see what wins, my to-do list or my motivation! Do you use to-do lists? How do you keep track of your goals? About 6 months ago, acting on inspiration from a fellow author, I expanded … Continue reading January Wrap-Up & February Goals
A Year in Reading: 2022
Every year, Goodreads invites me to its annual reading challenge with a helpfully suggested goal of 12 books. Every year, I bump that goal up to 50, because I figure that's always doable unless the apocalypse occurs. In the last few years, I've more than blown that number out of the water. Here's my final … Continue reading A Year in Reading: 2022
December Wrap-Up & January Goals
Happy New Year! Let's approach 2023 with caution, offer it treats, and hope only good things come of it. I'm home from my fantastic holiday vacation, both wishing I was back at the beach and looking forward to everything I get to do in the months to come. Lots of authors have shared some truly … Continue reading December Wrap-Up & January Goals
November Wrap-Up & December Goals
You know how time seems to speed up the older you get? It's a combination of math and perspective. You've lived longer, so a month is a smaller proportion of your life than when you were 8 years old and enjoying endless summer break. Between recovering from my epic adventure in Israel, friends visiting from … Continue reading November Wrap-Up & December Goals
October Wrap-Up & November Goals
October vanished in a whirlwind of trying to get everything done before leaving for my 10-day trip to Israel, then the vacation itself. Did I get everything done? Of course not. But I had a fantastic time meeting many family members from around the world and checking items off the bucket list, so it was … Continue reading October Wrap-Up & November Goals
September Wrap-Up & October Goals
Signing books at FanX! Another month passed in the blink of an eye, and as usual, my ambition outpaced my ability, but I'm still pretty satisfied with how September went. In another of the endless attempts to better wrangle the multiple goals I have every month, I took a cue from a fellow author and … Continue reading September Wrap-Up & October Goals
August Wrap-Up & September Goals
I have no idea how many words I wrote this month on the first draft of Steel Legacy, but I know I wrote the most important two: Trust me, I'm just as shocked as you are. As shown in the picture above, the final total for what is currently a total mess is 120,560 words. … Continue reading August Wrap-Up & September Goals
July Wrap-Up & August Goals
Before starting this write-up I hit send on my part of a massive freelance project I've been working on all summer. One of my favorite aspects of medical editing is knowing that my work has a measurable positive effect on the world. I was thrilled to participate in a small way in making a chapter … Continue reading July Wrap-Up & August Goals
June Wrap-Up & July Goals
Summer has finally arrived where I live, and I always get a huge boost from the warm weather and sunshine. I spent an even warmer week with friends in Atlanta at the beginning of the month, which was fun and relaxing at the same time. Right now, I'm still riding the high from attending In … Continue reading June Wrap-Up & July Goals
April Wrap-Up & May Goals
Awesome things I did this past month: Doubled my word count from March.Read a ton of ARCs (advance reader copies) by some of my favorite authors.Got together with my best friends. Squad, assemble! All in all, a pretty successful 30 days! I don't expect to double my word count again for May, but I'll be … Continue reading April Wrap-Up & May Goals
March Wrap-Up & April Goals
Can't talk about books without a shelfie I'll get to my writing progress in a bit, but first I want to talk about reading! (You know, that thing I do instead of writing.) I have two bits of news on that front. On the website: I updated the Book Reviews page so that multiple search … Continue reading March Wrap-Up & April Goals
February Wrap-Up & March Goals
Remember how we all hoped that 2022 would be more chill than 2020/21? Yeah, that was hilarious. I'm side-eyeing a lot of what's going on in the world right now, along with some people's reactions to it. But all I can really do is focus on making the world a better place in my small … Continue reading February Wrap-Up & March Goals