Monthly Review

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What a difference a month makes.

A month ago, I started Door Dashing to make some extra money. 2 weeks later, the corona virus hit my state, and yesterday, I heard there was a case in one of the local school districts, so with my compromised immune system, I am officially home for 5 of 7 days. I still have to come into the office 2 days because of my timekeeping duties, but when I receive a laptop with remote access, I will be home each day. Last week, just being home 4 days drove me a little crazy. I just have to find things to do, and I'm not without things to do!

Here is a list I posted to my personal Facebook:

Read more than 5 page at a time.

Finally get some artwork started.

Catch up on anime I never finished.

Watch more Chinese dramas and dònghuà (Chinese version of anime).

Get back on Duolingo.

See if I can still tell the BTS members apart.

Clean.

What are you doing while you're being safe and staying home as much as possible?

March Writing Update

Happy Wednesday!

I forgot about Wednesday Words last week, but I've been reading very sporadically this year, so I'm unfortunately on the same book I was reading February. I've been writing at a better pace, though, so at least I have that.

I hope everyone hasn't already gone stir-crazy with the quarantines and states of emergency. As a writer, reader, and a gamer, it's easy to say this is what I've prepared for my entire life, but there are extroverts and people with social depression out there who need the interaction with others. On the bright side, I heard on the radio that China only had one new case, so hopefully the end is near soon. Until it is, I get to telecommute three of my five work days, so I'll be . . . doing about the same amount of work, really, just while I'm also doing laundry.

Yesterday, I joined a potential Instagram hop for authors of color, so hopefully we have enough to get that ball rolling. There's also a book giveaway attached to that, and because I purchased books for my church's Black History exhibit, I actually have one left that I can use for this!

Have a safe rest of the week!

Insecure Writer's Support Group: Pen Names Queston

It's already March! That means it's already time for yet another installment of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! You can visit the site and join us at the previous link. Also be sure to visit Alex J. Cavanaugh, our founder, and our co-hosts to show them some love!

The question for this month is: Other than the obvious holiday traditions, have you ever included any personal or family traditions/customs in your stories?

I can't think of any off the bat, so I don't think I have. But, as I said, I'm working on a contemporary romance, so that will most likely be where one will pop up.

In other news, I want to see what others think: I've had this corny idea in my head for a while to change my pen name depending on the genre I'm writing. This would mainly be for if I'm still self-publishing, I think, and I don't even plan to branch out of speculative fiction too often. But I am working on a contemporary romance. Would fantasy readers get confused if I kept my pen name but the book is a romance? I would like to be easy to find across the board, but I kind of want my name to reflect the genre as well. Maybe I'm thinking too much into it, though. What do you all think?