We have reached another month, and that means that, on this first Friday, it’s time for a writing update.

Notice the new title card? I kind of like the idea of switching up the photo each month, as a sort of thematic gesture.

And the theme for this month is that I spent a hell of a lot of time in my home office in February.

Between applying for jobs, writing and re-writing cover letters, writing, and otherwise vacantly surfing the interwebs, I can’t remember the last time I was on my computer this much outside of work. Certainly before I began my office job in 2014.

Since I’m now only doing these posts monthly, I think it would be interesting to look back on my goals for the previous month in greater detail than I have in the past.

The Writing

I wrote 2,975 words for The Warden of Everfeld: Legacy in February, which is nowhere close to my original goal of 12,000. However, I spent the first two weeks of the month stress-applying to a billion jobs after I was suddenly laid off.

I talked last week about how I had to reset my mind and daily schedule around the idea that I wasn’t just going to go back to work in two weeks.

So, I wrote 1,800 of those 2,900 words over the last nine days of the month. I figured out my routine. I just need to keep improving it.

Speaking of goals…

Last Month’s Goals

1. Write 12,000 words for WoEL
2. Revise and publish chapter two of Grand Mythos on 2/26
3. Read Parador, by Peter A. Dixon on Wattpad
4. Subscribe to Audible and start listening to books on my extended morning commute

1- Obviously, I didn’t hit my first goal, but I made some decent progress anyway–the most in a few months, in fact.

2- I definitely published chapter two of my mythology series on Tuesday… so go read it! I also decided to not wait another five weeks to post chapter three.

3- I did not finish reading Parador. I honestly haven’t been that interested in reading it. I haven’t DNF’d it, because I think I need to give it a fairer shot. I’m maybe one-fifth of the way through, so I’d like to make a bit more progress.

4- Finally, I definitely subscribed to Audible and finished The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, which was excellent. I even wrote a review last week. Right now, I’m only purchasing books from Audible using the monthly credit that comes with the subscription, so if I can stick to listening to one book per month for the entire year, I’ll cover a lot of ground.

So not bad.

Goals for March

1. Write 10,000 words for WoEL. This goal should be well within reach. I wrote 1,800 words in nine days without even writing every day, so if I write just a little more consistently, I’ll get there. 10,000 words per month is still much lower than the pace I’d like to be at for a first draft, but I need to work up to it.
2. Read another book on Audible. Title TBD. Right now, my Audible wish list is pretty heavy with contemporary fiction and more academic nonfiction. I used to read a lot of pop-history /politics and analyses on specific topics. I’d like to get back to that, so my Audible reading will probably reflect that.
3. Read Parador. Like I said, I want to give this book a shot. It’s not heavy reading, so even 10-15 minutes per day should get me there.
4. Find a job. I haven’t talked a lot of specifics about my job search. I’m working with a recruiter who’s convinced me to pivot to a specific career path that I’ve really bought into. I’m even using Codecademy to brush up on some technical skills I picked up in my last position. This recruiter has been awesome, and he’s really advocating for me with some great companies. I might not get a job this month, but I have feeling I will be much closer come April 1, even if it’s just waiting for the official offer.

Steve D