May Recap + June Goals

It is the beginning of June, and my second month as a full-time author. So did I achieve my May goals? How was my first month writing full-time? I’m sure you are full of questions. I am too. So, without further ado, let’s look at how the month went.

How did it go?

I got a lot done on the Dragon Book. I edited the first quarter of the book and started re-writing the middle. The month started off strong, then got a little bogged down in the middle and have figured somethings out at the end of the month and the beginning of this month that I think will be helpful long term.

It is a little rough transitioning from working for someone else to working for myself. I have been gainfully employed since I was 11 (if you count babysitting). So it has been a little bit of a mind shift to be working for myself instead of having a boss tell me what needs to get done each day. So, creating an external source of accountability is something I am working on doing this month.

I am learning to be a lot more flexible with my schedule. Some days I want to write at 6am and some days I don’t get started until 9am. And that is okay. Again, the transition is a little weird, but all in all it has been good.

Goals:

May:

1. Finish the 2^ndDraft – This didn’t quite happen. This isn’t surprising. This last month was all about finding out how much I could actually get done. I think I should be able to finish the second draft by the end of July though…
2. Find a Content Editor – I did a bunch of research into this but haven’t quite finished. I need the Dragon Book to be more done so I can write a coherent summary of the book, because some major things changed this last month.

June:

Writing:

1. Finish the 2^ndDraft…for realz. Actually, if I can get through middle I’ll be really happy.
2. Finish confirming content editor. Again this is predicated on the Dragon Book being a little more finished than it is right now.

Business:

1. Post consistently on social media.
2. Do more research on Indie Publishing.

Reading:

Okay, I read a bunch of books this last month. Is this really a surprise?

Beneath the Sugar Sky – Seanan McGuire

The Pilot’s Wife – Anna Shreve

Trigger Warning – Neil Gaiman

Written in Red – Anne Bishop

Murder of Crows – Anne Bishop

The unexpected Mrs. Pollifax – Dorothy Gilman

The Amazing Mrs. Pollifax – Dorothy Gilman

The Elusive Mrs. Pollifax – Dorothy Gilman

A Palm for Mrs. Pollifax – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax on Safari – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax on the China Station – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax and the Hong Kong Buddah – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax and the Golden Triangle – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax and the Second Thief – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax Pursued – Dorothy Gilman

Mrs. Pollifax and the Lion Killer – Dorothy Gilman

Also, if you haven’t you really should read the Mrs. Pollifax series by Dorothy Gilman. I have read them many times. The first time when I was a teen.

Misc:

I got to meet my author hero, Tamora Pierce at Baycon. She is super cool in person, and I really want her to write faster. She talked about what she has planned and now I’m super impatient.

Griffin and I spent a long week in Big Sur. It was the first time I’ve been down there, and wow. It is amazingly gorgeous.

I discovered I’m terrible at console games. But, I really knew this before.

We are prepping the house for summer which involves some major weeding. But Rosanna, you say, I thought you didn’t like plants or planting or landscaping? No, I don’t particularly gain joy from gardening, but I gain less joy from a yard overrun by blackberries, so back to blackberry cutting it is.