Well, autumn is officially here, and we’re into the final stretch for all goals 2020. September was a bit of a crazy month for me, mostly because of a couple work weeks with longer hours than usual.

We’re also in the midst of toddler craziness, but it’s been fun seeing how quickly Nugget has grown and developed in so short a time. We’ve gone from a few scattered words at the end of August to a few full phrases at the beginning of October. Ridiculous.

Last Month’s Goals

1. Write 6,000 words.
2. Figure out next steps for “Uprooted”.
3. Yoga and walking again.
4. Finish current read and start another.

So how did I do?

Write 6,000 words?

Nope, but I had acknowledged that this would be a tough goal to reach with a new story. I wrote about 2,800 words for my as yet untitled story for “The Herb Witch Tales #2”.

I think I have this story off to a good start. The first chapter flows well between scenes and introduces the main two or three themes I really want to focus on. I’m just not sure how I want this story to develop yet. In some ways, sequels can be more difficult to write than first installments, precisely because there is already so much backstory to the characters. How much do you rehash from the first story versus moving on to the new one?

But, there’s no reason to let that stop me from writing. Discovery drafts are for discovering the story! So I need to focus a little bit more on just getting words onto paper.

Figure out next steps for “Uprooted”?

Yes! It took me longer than a couple weeks, but I read through “Uprooted” last week and sent it to my editor and to Marcy for some feedback!

My read-through was encouraging. The middle part of the story was not as sluggish as it seemed. It only took me a while to get through writing it. I still have some questions about the pacing overall, but I feel good about the story. I also want to ensure that the ending is airtight.

My editor is a high school teacher dealing with online learning, so I didn’t want to put too much pressure on her. She agreed that a full revision was not really feasible for her right now, so she’s just giving this a beta read to look for the big things.

This is slightly different from what I’ve done with previous stories, but I’m looking forward to hearing from both of my readers. Both indicated they’d be done around end of this month or beginning of next!

Yoga and walking again?

Yes again! Since I’m not comfortable going back to the gym yet, I’ve upped my at-home workout a bit. I do a set of pull-ups, then a yoga-ish routine of crow pose into push-ups, followed by a yoga video from the channel I’ve been following.

Adding those resistance-type workouts has been a huge boost to, if nothing else, my confidence.

We also spent last weekend in Rehoboth, DE, and walked a ton. Taking Nugget to and from the beach or just around the neighborhood where we rented a house, walking to and from town or the boardwalk a couple times. It was a very relaxing but not-lazy weekend.

Finish current read?

Ugh, no, although I made progress. I also powered through a couple Audible shorts, so it’s not like I haven’t been reading. I’ll likely write a review for one next week.

I think instead of reading for 30 minutes or so, I need to find just 5 or 10 minutes each day to read. Small progress is better than none, and I have other stories I want to get to!

Goals for October

1. Write 6,000 words. I think small progress is key here, too. When writing by hand, I find it intimidating to think about writing 5 or 10 pages. However, if I write three pages over the course of a week, that’s a lot more manageable. I’m going to try that approach and see what happens.
2. Prepare “Uprooted” for next steps. I’m not sure what revisions will look like after I get feedback for this story, but I can still move towards publication this month. Even if I just line up a cover designer or proofreader, that’d be cool. I’m only publishing on ebook for now, so I don’t need to worry about the trim size as much. I just need a good digital cover.
3. Continue yoga and workout routine. Adding resistance training to my yoga routine has been really motivating, but I want to build on it with additional workouts, or even just more intense yoga workouts.
4. Read more. That’s it. I just want to read nearly every day, regardless of what I finish or don’t finish.

Steve D