Tuesday, May 1, 2012

April recap and what to expect in May

Well, April is officially over, and what a month it was. I participated in the A to Z Blogging Challenge for the second year, and definitely found it a challenge. I heard about it several weeks ago, and started jotting down ideas for different letters, but didn’t get very far, thinking I had lots of time. Does that ever go well? Not for me. I ended up flying by the seat of my pants through most of the challenge, and even though I didn’t have an actual theme, I managed to keep most of it book or writing-related. It was difficult and tiring, but it was fun, and I’m glad I did it. Here’s the run down of my A to Z posts:

U2

 

Click here to check out/sign up for the Are You Writing Now? accountability group!

April Writing:
Well. Ha. I’d sort of like to skip right over this part, actually lol. I had big hopes for April. I was sure I’d be able to finish my current WIP, but I had a ton of issues in April. OMG, I just opened up the document for my WIP, and I keep track of the days I write and the word count for each day and I only wrote six days in April. I could cry. That’s horrifying. I’m actually embarrassed, and wouldn’t even be admitting it except that clearly I need motivation and support! In those six days (god, it makes me cringe to type that), I did manage to get 11,537 words written, and I hit the 80,000 word mark, so that’s something right? At least I had a decent word count for my lame-o six days. *sigh*

Part of it is having my 2-year-old nephew here four (sometimes five) days a week. I love him to death and it’s a joy having him here - he’s sweet and happy and loving and so GOOD - but it’s very hard to sit down and write when he wants to be wherever I am. The days I did manage to write, it was while he was napping, but then all the rest of the time, I either had a nap myself, or worked out, or caught up on other stuff. I hate excuses, but I just wasn’t feeling it in April. It didn’t feel right, I couldn’t find the motivation. My heart and mind just weren’t in it. Kind of a scary thing for someone who makes a living off writing.

My writing goals for May:
Finish my current WIP. I’m at 80,000 words, and the story is going to be longer than I anticipated, but there can’t be that much more to write. I need to finish in May. No ifs, ands, or buts, no excuses.

Reading:
And since this is a book blog, here are the books I read in April (none of these have been reviewed yet, because I didn’t have time with A to Z. All reviews will be posted in May and June):
Lucky Stiff by Deborah Coonts
The Princesses of Iowa by M. Molly Backes
Switched by Amanda Hocking
Welcome, Caller, This is Chloe by Shelley Coriell
Gossip by Beth Gutcheon
The Summer My Life Began by Shannon Greenland
The Catastrophic History of You and Me by Jess Rothenberg

I’m also partway through Cinder by Marissa Meyer, and The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa.

In other news:
If you haven’t already seen my all-call for Canadians (or people who love Canada/Canadians), please, please, please take a minute to read this page. I’ve already got some amazing authors and bloggers on board, and so far a total of 8 amazing books (most of the signed) by Canadian authors. You’re going to want to be part of this, trust me! I'll be talking more about that very soon.

Also, because running two blogs isn’t enough (this one, plus my author blog, which, by the way, is in serious need of updating), I’ve started a new blog. It’s brand new, and it’s called Lost and Found - Reflections of a Daydreamer. I love book blogging, but sometimes I want to talk about other things...I just don’t want it to get too confusing by having a bunch of different things here, plus I realize some people aren’t interested in the 'other stuff', so I don’t want to lose readers who are here to read about book-related stuff. In the interest of keeping things separate, I started the new blog. I’ll be posting random stuff, photographs, my graphic designs, basically anything non-book-or-writing-related. I’m actually pretty excited about it, and I hope you’ll check it out (even though there’s not much over there yet). 


April was crazy, but I'm optimistic about May. I think part of my problem is that I set too many goals, so this month, my goals are simple and straightforward. Hopefully this time next month I'll have some exciting book-related news for you guys!


If you set goals in April did you achieve them? What are your goals for May?


6 comments:

  1. Aww, don't feel bad about your lack of writing in April! Sometimes things get in the way and it can't be helped. You made some progress, so that is something to be proud of! :D

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  2. Even though you don't think you got far, I still think you accomplished a lot. Life sometimes gets in the way, but hopefully May will be a great month for you writing-wise! Following your other blog, btw. :) Looks like you read some awesome books, a couple I'm eagerly anticipating the chance to read.

    I think I did pretty good in April. I wanted to bypass 15,000 total words and I did. I'd like to make a big goal for May but my family will be going on vacation and I'm not sure what to expect from that, if I'll have the time for writing.

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  3. Mostly, I didn't get anything done last month that wasn't A to Z related. But I'm hoping to turn it around in May now that I no longer have the A to Z excuse.

    11,537 words is a heck of a lot more than I managed to write, that's for sure.

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  4. Six days in April is better than no days! =)

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  5. You aren't alone with April not being productive. We just found out that my grandma has multiple myeloma and that her kidneys are bad and she may have to go on dialysis and between helping her, keeping her company and worrying about her, squat is getting done here.

    I did get my new design done, but that was more of a 'save my sanity' thing -- I find working with images relaxing because I just have fun with it -- for some reason my inner perfectionist doesn't get in the way.

    I'm still working on the revisions for Moon Dance and they are like fighting a war. The novel is 27 chapters long. I am almost ready to start editing Chapter 9. I was suppose to be DONE by now, because I am hoping to release the book in December and I need time to get it beta'd, proofed, etc. plus to organize things for its release.

    Some months go up. Some months go down. That's just part of how life works. The trick is to not let it stress you out; at least for me. I can't do revisions when I am stressed. I have to be thinking of how all the puzzle pieces fit together because this round is about solidifying my book's plot.

    Keep your chin up, Marie! You're almost there and you WILL get there!

    P.S. Did you know they announced the date for the next Ontario Blog Squad meet up? It's November 3rd. They have a survey up looking for feedback from people who went last year OR who are hoping to attend this year. It can be found here. Are you thinking of going? If I remember right, we both missed it last year. I say we see if we can change that. :D It looked like it was a lot of fun from the posts people did about it.

    Anyway, have a great day!

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  6. I didn't have any goals for April, and I think I've already failed for May. My May goal is to read more review books than I get this month.

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Thanks for visiting Ramblings of a Daydreamer! I love hearing what you have to say, and I appreciate every single comment. I hope to see you here again soon! ♥
~Marie

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