September was crazy busy. Between our kindergartener starting school, some big family events, and work, I didn’t have time for much else. I basically fell off of every single routine I had, aside from work and family pick-up/drop-off.

I just realized that I didn’t even post a September Write Day post in September. I posted five haiku total, where I might have posted 10 times over the course of the month, including longer-form posts.

Anyway, I’m not trying to beat myself up. I’m just coming to the realization that an entire month of life has passed me by.

Last Month’s Goals (…meaning from August)

1. Read three books.
2. Plan for/test a writing routine.
3. Figure out my next writing steps.

So that’s where I left off a full two months ago. I guess I’ll speak to each point, but not in terms of what I achieved. I need to allow myself space to reset.

Reading

I read during September, just not as much as I had hoped. I’ve completed A Curse of Krakens, which rounds out Kevin Hearne’s Seven Kennings trilogy that I’ve been working through. I really want to write a review, and likely one other post, about that one.

I also finished reading The Storyteller: Tales of Life and Music by Dave Grohl, which I really enjoyed. Not the type of book I’m interested in reviewing, though.

Writing things

In August, before all of my routines disappeared, I had started to write/revise the first part of my duology. This wasn’t with incredible consistency or progress, but I had started tracking how much content I was able to write/revise in a short session, usually 15-30 minutes. The idea was to see how I could progress and increase my writing time each month, without necessarily chasing a specific word count goal.

I haven’t done any writing in weeks. Now that we’ve ironed out our home routine a bit better, I feel like I’ll be able to put a bit more attention to it, but it will still just be an effort to see what I can accomplish for now.

Goals for October

1. Read three books.
   • Current reads: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, by George R.R. Martin, which has been on my shelf for a few years, and An Afro-Indigenous History of the United States by Kyle T. Mays, an historical essay that’s been in my Audible library for a while, too.
   • Likely next reads: I don’t know. I’m on the hunt for my next big fantasy series.
2. All the routines. With our new pick-up/drop-off schedule that takes some pressure off my workday, I’m thinking about where I can fit in the things that I tend to put aside for family and work: exercise, writing, music. I have ideas for each. This has been the first week on our new schedule, so I’m still adjusting. Overall, I just want to get back to life in a way that I haven’t been mentally available for the past several weeks.

Steve D