Monthly Review: April 2019

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We are now at the end of April, and what?

Life-wise, not much has changed since my last monthly review. My mom has been at a friend's house recuperating, and she'll be moving back home with my sister and me by the end of next week. That will at least alleviate the travel. People up north say Dover is small, but try driving from one end to the other every day. Not being home as much as I like has really taken a toll, so at least she'll be closer.

That said, reading has been slow. I've been playing more games on my phone, because they've been cathartic. I need to get back into a reading groove, though. I also found my Introvert Activity Book by Marzi Wilson, so I'm going to do that, too, to see if that is a good stress reliever. I also need to reincorporate exercise into my day, if I want to lose the weight I want for once. I've been terrible at that.

Now that I've seen the cover, I know exactly what's going on the bookmarks and the background for the thank you notes for my Kickstarter backers. I'm really excited about that. I have to build up the courage to ask some of my blog friends to do a cover reveal with me. I just really don't like asking people for things.

I believe that's all for now. I hope everyone has had a great April. I forgot the April daily challenges are going on, too, so if you've participated in A-to-Z, Poetry-A-Day, etc., I hope you've accomplished your goals!

When I see you next time...



...so see you then. haha

April Writing Update


It wasn't until Friday that I remembered I was supposed to post Wednesday. *facepalm* This will be a short one.

So, also on Friday, I got to see a draft of my BOOK COVER! I'm so excited. That means it's really happening. I can't wait to show everyone. I plan on a cover reveal in May and publication in June, so hopefully that stays on track.

I'm working on a newsletter and trying to build something a little closer to a website via Wordpress. I'm not the biggest fan of Wordpress, though, so if I have to make a home page-type page for here, as I've already bought this domain and know Blogger fairly well now, then that is what I'll do, and just change the domain in 2020.

I've been writing in my next fantasy project, and I'm finally pulling pieces from my document of scenes for later. I can't wait to get to the end of this one and then develop the sequel. I feel that's gonna be a journey. This story is already pretty adult and darker than I've done in a while (kind of what happens when your first words came from an angry place, but c'est la vie). I can't wait to see where this one is taking me.

If you celebrate, I hope you enjoy the Easter weekend. I will see you all (on time) next week!

Wednesday Words: How Long 'Til Black Future Month? by N.K. Jemisin


It is the 2nd Wednesday of what feels like a really long month already. But at least I'm starting a new book today!!



As you all might know by now, I'm a huge fan of N.K. Jemisin, so I can't wait to crack this book open some time today. How Long 'Til Black Future Month? is a collection of short stories based on modern times. I love the title, a very poignant question for today, and the cover is amazing!

How do I randomly choose a page from a short story collection? The same as I always do. There are 397 pages in this collection, and random.org chose page 245, a page in the story "Cuisine des Mémoires." That page is a little racy, so I'm gonna go ahead and hit the generate button again. 229, "Walking Awake."

And there was something about this chaos, something so subtly counter to everything she knew about the Masters, that she understood at once these were people without Masters. They had built the vehicles and they had built the roads. They had built the whole city.

They were free.

A new word came into her head, in whispers. (Revolution.)

Yeeees. And that makes me understand the title of that story as well. I can't wait!


What are you reading this week?

Insecure Writer's Support Group



It's Springtime! Happy April. It is the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's time for another meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group, where we throw our cares to the blogosphere and share with other writers. Please visit Alex J. Cavanaugh, our great founder, and the website to join in.

I don't have a lot to say, but I am currently working with the cover artist for my novel, Fractured Princess, which I plan to publish this June. I'm so excited. I had a lot of help from people I didn't even expect to fund the Kickstarter. I officially received 10% above my goal, so I was able to cover the Kickstarter fees without cutting into what I requested. God is good.

The IWSG question this month is: If you could use a wish to help you write just one scene/chapter of your book, which one would it be?

This is a weird question. haha There are scenes I do struggle with writing; sometimes because it's not the next scene that needs to be written, and sometimes because it's emotionally/mentally hard to put down. I've always written on the darker side, even when I was a kid, so I don't have a problem with those, but "raw" scenes hold me up, the ones where my characters are most vulnerable, probably because I don't like being vulnerable myself. So, I would wish for those scenes to be written out of the air when I need them to be.

Have a great April! See you around.