It is a frigid 37º outside right now, and with the wind it feels like 29º. But the sun is shining and the skies are a crisp, bright blue. Not a cloud in sight. On our drive home from our walk this morning we saw Mt. Hood and Mt. St. Helens, which always feels like a special treat. What a lovely way to start the week!
But before we can start looking forward, we gotta take a minute and look back on where we started…
Last Week
- Write 3x this week
- Prep Newsletter
- Record Podcast
- Read a book
How'd I Do?
- Write 3x this week
- Yes! I sat down to work on the novel exactly three times this week!
- Prep Newsletter
- Yep! There’s just a couple of finishing touches, but it will be out by Sunday afternoon, yesterday as of this reading – check your inbox!
- Record Podcast
- Yep! It’s recorded, edited, AND scheduled. You’ll be able to listen to it on Friday. Speaking of which, have you listened to last month’s episode yet?
- Read a book
- Yep! I finished reading The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern this last week.
Weekly Word Count: 5,022
Soooooo, that was a wildly productive week. I made a schedule and stuck to it for the most part, and I got my ADHD meds back (at a higher cost), so I think that definitely helped. The good news is that I crossed the halfway mark on this novel (~45k) and am on track to just cross the 50k mark before the end of the month! The book is going well.
Other awesome things happened this week too! I got my eBook contributor’s copy of Life Beyond Us (preorder here!) and should get the paperback copy in a week or so! Then, just a couple days later, I got my paperback contributor’s copy of LOLcraft (buy it here!). I took it to work and shoved it in friends’ hands saying, “I’m in this,” and watching their confusion shift to excitement. It was amazing!
And then, on Friday, two members of my critique group drove down to visit me. We walked around downtown, bought each other Tarot cards, and even did a past life reading (which was a very strange, unexpected experience)! We had drinks and talked about writing and had an amazing time. I am so so so glad they made the trip down to see me. 
And on Saturday night the Library Pros™ and our spouses reunited for dinner at our favorite (2x James Beard nominated) restaurant. We ate ridiculously delicious food, drank fantastic beverages – including the best Whiskey Sour Laurel’s ever had –and got to hang out in person for the first time in a long time. It was perfect.
What I’m saying is that this week was basically an ideal week and I wish I could just play it on repeat.
But, that’s not how living works. We don’t stay still, we move forward.
So, What's Next?
- Write at least 3x this week (~3,500 words)
- Read a book
- Keep up on blog posts
That’s it. I’m keeping things pretty straightforward this week because the biggest priority is crossing that 50k threshold by Wednesday. If I can do that, then the book is on track to be done in May. As for reading, I’ve got two novellas queued up for this week – the newest Wayward Children book, and Tread of Angels by Rebecca Roanhorse. Since they’re both no more than 200pgs, I feel good about making some good progress on both of them.
It’s the end of the month, so it’s going to be a busy week on the blog. I’ll be back Wednesday with the usual Outings! post, then again on Thursday to recap January, and then Friday there’ll be a reminder post about the new episode of Top Shelf Librarians. So, yeah. I’ll be around.
Until then, Blogland!
BZ
