So, this was certainly a weird couple of months, huh? I didn’t expect to take such a long hiatus – or even a hiatus at all. Mental health is a funny thing and it’s odd to me how I can feel restricted and depressed about some things I love to do such as blogging and writing. I can’t explain why it happened or why it took so long for me to get out of my funk, but I guess that doesn’t matter now. I’m back with my July 2019 goals.
I got myself through this funk and I’m ready to be back. This blog will resume the daily posts among other things and that’s the way I like it. I did think about cutting back, but I enjoy the daily posts and I even came up with more content ideas while I wasn’t blogging. That said, I’ve come up with a plan to cut back temporarily should this ever happen again.
Some things will be a bit different on this blog. I’ve updated a lot of things. (Seriously, go look at the different pages. I added some things, took away others, and updated and improved them all. I’m proud of how they turned out.) The content here won’t be 100% writing/reading. I know I’ve been talking more about my mental health recently but there may be even more than that. Plus, I want to add a lot of bits from life. You know, sort of bring this blog back to its roots. It’ll still be a platform for writers and readers though and the prompts, short stories, book reviews, etc. will all remain the same.
Thanks for your patience with me as I tried to figure myself out. I’ve missed you guys and I’m ready to get back to work. I appreciate all the comments and messages while I was away as well. I want to say though that I won’t be replying to any comments. I’ve gotten so behind on checking them that I’ve just decided to not… I think that would be more work than worth. I do my best to reply to them all, but I’m just going to start fresh with that starting with this post. So, I apologize for not responding to past comments, but I appreciate all them nonetheless.
Reading
It’s summer which means I’m going to be posting two book reviews a week on Tuesdays and Saturdays. I’ve gotten so behind on my reading goals and there are so many books I want to read that I’m excited to drown myself in stories again. I actually got a couple of books on the shorter side just so that I could get myself back into the habit of reading again that I read during the last two weeks of June. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
That and I’ve discovered that my local library has an app so I’ve been putting books on hold like crazy.
I’m still closed to review requests, but I did update the policy and the reading list if you’d like to check it out.
Writing
At the end of 2018, I sat down and created a schedule and deadlines for myself for my novels for 2019. I’ve sort of hopped off that schedule the past month or two but, surprisingly enough, I’ve stuck with it for the most part. I decided the other day to recreate it for the rest of 2019. I went a bit over my head and created a tentative schedule and deadlines through 2020 and into the beginning of 2021. I’m sure it will change throughout because things will happen but at least I have a good idea of where I want my stories to go. At this point in time, I have two books scheduled for self-publication in 2020, which I’m excited about. But again, that’s if everything goes according to plan because it’s not just me working on these books.
The hunt for an editor and a cover artist will begin soon for my mystery series, so if anyone has any recommendations, feel free to let me know in the comments. I’ll be shopping around for a bit. Thank you!
July is another Camp NaNoWriMo session. I wrote a novella for Wattpad during April’s session but never got the chance to edit it and actually publish it in June like I originally intended. So, I’ll be using July’s Camp session to edit it as well as August so I can publish it in September.
I’m also working on the second installment of Sunday Morning as well as the first in my mystery series. I’ve updated the My Books page and you find more information on all my Wattpad stories, Sunday Morning (paperback is on the way finally!) and everything I’m working on in the Coming Soon section.
Blogging
As I said at the beginning of this post, the majority of the posts are going to remain the same and I’ll be back to publishing daily content. However, some themes may change slightly as I make them a bit more personal and the like.
That said, I’ll be sharing blog space with my Patreon page. Every other Thursday is going to be a patron-only post which means you can only view the post if you’re a patron of mine and logged into Patreon at the time of viewing the post. I’m doing this because I want to integrate my blog with my Patreon page since they go hand in hand anyway.
The patron-only posts will be an exclusive short story and sneak peeks of my books. Pledging just $1 each month will give you access to an extra short story from me each month plus more information on my upcoming books such as excerpts, fun facts, early cover reveals, and more.
Of course, there’s no obligation to become a patron. Two posts a month will be locked but the rest of the blog is wide open and free regardless if you’re a patron or not. However, if you enjoy my work and love reading this blog, then consider becoming a patron because you’ll get more than just those two exclusive posts.
Becoming a patron helps me out in more ways than one, but financially it makes it easier for me to save up for an editor and cover artist. If you want to learn more, check out my Patreon page here or click the button below.
Overall
As you can see, I’m ready to be back and I’m happy to be back. I’m eager to get started on my goals again and continue making this blog the best it can be and keep on writing. Happy July and happy summer, everyone! Let me know what you’ve been up to lately. It’s been quite a while.
