The Bated Breath of Having Beta Readers (Quarterly Goals)

I just looked over at the different years and saw I wrote 99 posts in 2016. What the heck was I talking about?!

Anyway, happy June, basically! haha We're at the end of May on a 5th Friday, so that means time to provide an update on my goals, which I should have posted in April, especially because the next one will be in July, but ah well. Gregorian calendar problems.

So, back in January, I had the goal to finish writing Broken Princess, which I had done before my last official Weekly Words post. By end of next quarter (September-ish), I want to reach out to my cartographer to make an updated map, maybe two. I believe just one will suffice for Books 2 and 3, but I'll see. I also need to figure out what I'm doing about the next covers. I haven't been able to get a response back from the original artist, which bums me out, but I also don't have the funds anyway (and didn't the first time; will always thank my Kickstarter backers for that one). If I go the route of finding a new artist, I'll need their style to at least be close to FP's. Either that, or I work on them myself. It's been a while since I've illustrated, though, so I'll keep y'all posted.

I was actually thinking about the audiobook the other day. I don't want to give up on it. Now that Broken Princess is in the beta readers' hands, I should have time to listen to what I recorded and make some adjustments where needed, especially for the boys' chapters. I leaned too heavily into the voices I wanted them to have, and I know for a fact (if I haven't already said this), my voice sounded fried for Cyan and like very bad Kiwi for Andyrsn haha. I also can't wait to see what my beta readers have to say about some of the major things that happen in Broken Princess. I know two are re-reading FP first, so it'll be a couple weeks before I get some yelling in my chats, but I can't wait!

Job-wise, I'm still at my office job. I am peeking around still, but I think I'm on the waiting game. I hate playing it. But at least I had the playtesting job at the end/beginning of the year...You know, I haven't looked into that avenue yet...Let me do that. The video game project is going well! We've been meeting regularly, and we're now part of Ukie (UK Interactive Entertainment), a trade body for the video game industry in the UK! It's so cool to see everything coming together as a gamer myself. I can't wait for everyone to see this game!

That reminds me, by the end of this quarter, I might want to finish my video game writing courses! They have been so helpful, and I love putting the certificates in my LinkedIn. I can't believe I have certificates in video game writing! Ah! I actually started and read 7 books this year, and I didn't realize that! I'm proud of myself. I'm going to keep on with the reading. I developed a good pace, especially at bedtime.

Another of my goals for the next quarter: I have GOT to play some of these other games I've bought and never started or started and never finished. It's getting as bad as my books. The game team also keeps referencing games I haven't played, so I've added them to my collection, one of which is Kingdom Hearts, which I have avoided my entire life (I DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DISNEY CHARACTERS IN MY FINAL FANTASY), so pray for me.

That's all I have. I will see you all next month!

Quarterly Goals

 

Good evening! *in my Dracula voice*

As I'm reading my August Quarterly Goals post, I realize I was supposed to write one on Black Friday! Welp.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! These past few months have been a hellscape, but as the country burns to the ground, let's take some time to breathe, think of some good you can do in your community, and just be good and decent human beings.

My goal for the end of the year was to finish Divided Princess. Bad news, good news time. Bad news: I did not finish the book by the end of the year. The good news is I have ONE CHAPTER LEFT! I absolutely plan on being at least halfway tonight and fully done tomorrow. And honestly, I don't even expect the chapter to be very long, so I might actually be done tonight. I just have to finish this blog post and unpause my Book 2 soundtrack and Mini Cozy Lo-fi Timer.

My other two goals for...I guess the last two quarters was to start editing the audiobook and catching up on my annual reading goal. HA. I'm done setting goals for those right now. I'm lying. I do have an annual goal of reading 18 books this year. Currently reading three, but actively reading one, so as long as I get back into the other two, I can have 3 done by the end of February. The audiobook is on hold for now, especially, because...

So, about that major project I mentioned in October?

I am officially a narrative writer for an upcoming indie game named Prism from the new studio Creative AF Games! I'm SO EXCITED! Writing for a video game has been one of my dreams, and I did not expect it to come true! In fact, I had just donated the book I had on video game writing before I moved, so I had to go buy another copy. lol Please go to my Linktree over in the banner or just from clicking these words and scroll down for all the social links for the game studio! More information to come the closer we are to releasing the demo.

All right, the next 5th Friday isn't until May, so I will most likely do a 5th Thursday post in April to see if I'm track with my reading goal. Oh! Pending cover art and my beta readers, I might also have a release date available then, so fingers crossed, and see you next month! :)

Monthly Review

 HAPPY OCTOBER! Time for a monthly review.

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This is actually going to be short.

The past three months have been a whirlwind. I have a lot going on even in just this last month. Also, I realized sometime this past week that I had written a big continuity error into the story and had to go back and fix it before I could go forward. Splendid. On the bright side, I thought I needed to finish the book by today, but then I read my last Quarterly Goals post and realized I said "end of the year for sure," so, yay, no pressure.

I started a major project this month. I'm so excited about it! More information to come soon! I also start playtesting today. That should be something fun for me to focus on.

I also started working on managing some of my personal issues this past week. We'll see how everything turns out. I just know going forward, I'm choosing my peace!

Reading wise, I'm almost finished the audiobook Firefly: Big Damn Hero, and I love that world so much. Just wish Joss Whedon hadn't turned out to be awful. But anyway, I'm also reading The Ultimate Guide to Video Game Writing and Mel Robbin's The Let Them Theory. I'm not going to catch up on my goal, but at least, I'm getting back into reading.

I hope you've had a good month. Happy Halloween!

Monthly Review + Writing Update + Quarterly Goals

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I was actually working today, so I forgot to post around Noon. Back-timing this.

I had a great time at Bento Con last Saturday. I had a really cool conversation about thermodynamics, which I'm really going to look into when I finally get to the sci-fi anthology I've wanted to write. The one thing I love about a local convention like this is the diversity of the people that come to my table. I had older men stop by, one of whom said, "Let me go get my wife, she'd love this," other writers, and teens and 20-somethings, who are the target audience for my book. I took 24 books with me and not only sold 12, but I had my first sale of my illustration cards! That alone excited me, because some man told me to have illustrations on sale when he stopped by at Blue Hen Comic Con the year before last, and when I had them last year, no one was interested. Perhaps by next year, when I have two books to sell, some fans of Book 1 will want the illustrations!

That said: I made it to Part 3 in the sequel! I was so excited to finally get these pivotal scenes I've had in my head for the past few years in the order that they belong. I feel like this part is going to be a little shorter. The first book had 46 chapters. As I'm typing this, I realize I haven't been updating the chapter list to the second book, so...

*Five minutes later*

...I have 30 chapters at the moment, and I'm into the third chapter now. I don't want to drag it out if I don't have to. Maybe ten chapters? We'll see.

On that note, my goal from last quarter was to edit the audiobook and finish this book. I haven't even touched the audiobook. I keep thinking about it, though. I imagined I would have more time while I was on my medical leave of absence, but for the first three of my six weeks, I slept, so as evident in the last section of this post, I didn't write enough to finish the book. I'm getting there, though, and I'll take it. End of the year for sure. I just realized the quarters are off, too. There are five Fridays in October and November, so I'll be posting a goals update on Black Friday. I hope to hear from the cover artist by then, because I would like to have both of the second and third book covers completed before I publish Book 2.

I also stopped reading the short story compilation I was reading. I don't know who taught them how to make an anthology, but they didn't tell them not to include half of a novel. I'm not even joking. It was one half of a novel! That held up my reading goals for sure. So, I jumped into a new book that I actually might do a Weekly Words for next week. It's been a long time since I've done one. We'll see.

So anyway, goals for the next quarter are:

1. finish Book 2.
2. At least START editing the audiobook.
3. Catch up on my annual reading goal.

Wish me luck!

Quarterly Goals

 

I can't believe June is on Sunday.

First things first, I did not finish the book before the quarter ended. I'm not even sure I was doing much writing those first couple of months, and if I did, I just had more writing to do than I realized. I am fortunately coming up on the end of the second part of the book with just one or two chapters before it closes out. I even streamed myself writing last Friday, Saturday, and Monday. I think I hit about 2500 words that weekend. If I keep it up, I'm almost sure I will complete the book by this next quarter.

I also did not touch the audiobook yet. My laptop was also away some of last quarter getting repaired. I think I mentioned the major crash it had. That was stressful. I'll have a lot of downtime in July, so that might be the time for me to get it done.

I also expect to get more reading done! I made the mistake of starting another short story anthology, but this one has a novella in it, and I'm struggling. I'll get through it little by little for sure. I plan to finish a book I started on my birthday cruise last year. I took it from the library, so of course I had to put it back before we made it back home. 

Today is also the 2nd anniversary of the second edition of Fractured Princess! I made a photo-tok of the past two years, and I'm proud of myself for actually getting out there and selling what feels like the same book over and over. This has been a super long journey, but I see the end of this series coming, and I'm excited to get it completed and put my attention into new stories! And if I'm lucky, I'll successfully get my book into Ingramspark. I keep having book cover trouble, so I'll be happy to be able to say it's processed when I get that straightened out.

So, my goals for this quarter are the same as last quarter (edit the audiobook and finish Book 2), but I'm fine with that!

Quarterly Goals

 Well, I'm guess I'm glad I looked at the calendar. It's a 5th Friday! So, let me look back at whatever my goals were in May and see what I accomplished *nervous whimper*

So, in May, I was getting back into the groove of writing, and now I'm really, really back into the groove, to the point that I am finally once again at the end of part one, which is where I ended up stopping and restarting during the first pass. I'm actually able to pull scenes from the first pass and revise to match the new words I wrote in the meantime. It's going to fit well. I'm excited again.

Audiobook recording did NOT happen. I actually plan to do the brunt of it tomorrow. I'm contemplating doing all of Jonnie's chapters first and then the supporting characters to protect my voice, but also, if I have them talking in the chapters anyway, how much will that matter? Meh. I'll know by the time I wake up tomorrow. I wanted to stream recording, so I can get some eyeballs on the book, but we'll see. No one pays attention to me when I stream lol.

My reading goal, I am behind a couple of books. I'm disappointed in the book I'm currently reading, because it's the third in a series. I'll probably discuss it when I'm done, but not too much. Once I get past the book, there are a few I know I can read through easily (Mo Dao Zu Shi Book #3, eeee), so I think I can catch up.

The Ace Aro Raid Train went very well! It was so fun to connect to other ace gamers. I'm still in the Discord, but I have so many already that I don't talk lol. I also started a Discord for Black aces and aspecs, and hopefully that will pick up soon. I'm going to open an IG account for it as well. No idea what I'll post yet, but I'll figure it out. Like I need another social media account. *sigh*

Also, in October, I will be at Bento Con, a book convention in Claymont, Delaware. I'm excited to do another convention, and hopefully this will be more successful for me than Blue Hen, because the people are coming specifically for books! I'm also planning on selling prints of my character artwork this time. I'm waiting on my VistaPrint order to see how my artwork of Jonnie comes out. If it doesn't look too dingy (I can see the eraser marks on my laptop), then I'll order the other characters. Anyway, more details about Bento Con are in my Events Banner -------->.

Goals for this next quarter: I need to at least be halfway through part 2 of this sequel and editing the audiobook recording of Fractured Princess. I'm going to start small, and we'll see how it goes. I also need to be caught up on my reading. Pray for me.

Weekly W...*delete* Monthly Re...*delete* Quarterly Goals!

 

The title is literally what just happened, because in my head, I thought, "Well, you can't say Weekly, because you haven't written in a month." So, I deleted it and started to write Monthly Review, and as I went to see which Friday it was for my tag, I noticed it's a FIFTH Friday, so here's an early Quarterly Goals post! Let's see how I did.

Last quarter, I was supposed to have gotten to part three of Divided Princess. Well??? I restarted, I think, twice? So, I'm not even at part two yet, BUT I do have scenes written FOR parts two and three, so there's that. I've actually been back to writing more, and the scenes I kept from the third pass are about to be placed, so I'm excited that it's coming back together.

I also had a goal to record the audiobook in January, but I'd been getting sick so much I didn't have the energy or the voice to, but I've figured out the issue and am periodically (quite literally periodically, ladies) increasing my Vitamin C and Zinc intake to boost my immune system. Since I work from home Thursdays and Fridays now and they're typically slow workdays, I'm going to do my best to record during those days.

I'm a little behind on my reading goal, because I was struggling through a book I've since given up on. I think I can catch up, though. I'm currently reading Mo Dao Zu Shi Book 2, and it's an easy read, especially having watched the Netflix show (The Untamed) twice. I love this franchise so much. I also want to get back into Chinese and Korean series. So little time to watch everything I want to watch, read everything I want to read, write everything I want to write. GAH!

I was supposed to be more engaged last quarter. I did join Threads, but Fractured Princess is no longer on Barnes & Noble's website. :( Maybe they stopped working with Amazon? I'm not sure. I just need to try to keep engagement up and generate interest. I will be participating in an Ace Aro Raid Train which starts tomorrow (click the banner to the right for all of the info and participants), so hopefully there will be some avid fantasy readers in the mix. I may also try to stream recording the audiobook again. We'll see. All that said, check my Linktree for updated links.

That's all for now. More convention news to come next quarter! Hopefully there are a few more down the line. Have a great weekend and see you next month! ;)

Quarterly Goals: Conventions and Sales

I saw a Reel the other day asking September if it has someone to be, and that's a great question, because how is October on Sunday?

It is a fifth Friday, so that means it is time for my quarterly goals. Last quarter, I sought to publish Fractured Princess, and I did! It is now available in all text formats (see the links below!). My goal for this coming quarter is to record and publish the audiobook. I had started practicing reading it aloud last quarter on Twitch, but then I got sick for an entire month, so now I have to strengthen my vocal cords and lungs back up. I definitely want to get the audiobook out before the year is up, though.

Also, of course, in the next quarter, I would like to try to have--at least--the first two parts of Divided Princess completed. I know just about all of the major plot points. I just need to connect them. If I can say "THE BOOK IS FINISHED" in January, that would be just the bees knees. Wish big. Work big.

My other goal was to make my reading goal. I've read 11 books so far, so that means I'm going to make the 12! Depending on how many I finish, I'll try to add a book a quarter. No promises. I'm only doing it for myself anyway. I started Poe's complete works, because I've only read a few of his short stories and one poem in school ("Annabel Lee"; I haven't even read "The Raven"), so I'm going to power through this weird story about Hans Pfall, which is mostly a rambling so far, and go from there.

Another goal is to try to get more sales in. For me, that will mean a little more marketing and trying to get into more conventions as a vendor. I have Blue Hen Comic-Con in November. I didn't make the cut for the Multiverse Con in October. I know there is a big fantasy one in D.C. in the Spring? Early Summer? So, I will keep an eye on that. Marketing and social media-ing is tougher. I deleted my Twitter account, so I'm down an avenue. I'm thinking more about Threads than any other newer outlet. I like Spoutible. It's being ignored even by articles listing new social media apps, but so far, it's the one with the least issues. I need to keep a better presence on Facebook, but they always recommend I post around 7:00pm. I mean, I guess I can schedule something, but I like to be in the moment. We'll see.

Anyhow, those are my goals. Have a happy Spooky season! I'll see you next month. ;)

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FRACTURED PRINCESS is now available in Kindle, Paperback, and Hardcover! Get your copy today!

Kindle Edition (amazon.com)

Paperback Edition (amazon.com)

Hardcover Edition (amazon.com)

Monthly Review & Quarterly Goals

 

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It's been so long since I've had a monthly review, I even forgot what picture I was using. At this point, I'm not even going to say I didn't mean to miss three weeks. I'm just bad at keeping a schedule.

This has been a very eventful month for me! I released Fractured Princess at the end of May and had a very successful day at Dover Comic Con two weeks later. I was even surprised to meet people who had remembered me from the 2021 Comic Con and last year's, where I just handed out "Coming Soon" gift bags. I'm proud of myself for talking to people and coming up with an elevator pitch on the fly. A few people didn't know what Final Fantasy was, so it was pointless to use that all the time. The pitch definitely made some eyes light up. I loved to see it.

The day after Comic Con, I flew over to Nashville to watch my friend conduct his second annual Juneteenth Symphony. If you love symphonic music, please follow the Nashville African American Wind Symphony. They're going to do even bigger things in the future. I know it. Being in Nashville, first off, makes me never want to leave (I absolutely love it there), but seeing my friend do what he loves also makes me want to do so much more of the things I love, especially as a career. How I'll shift into that, we'll see, but I do not want to be a State worker forever. Could be a bit of near-40-life crisis talk emerging, but we'll see about that over the next 12 months as well. When I got home, I met with my cousin to help him do some plotting (pantser me? what?) for his novel. We were two very excited squirrels, but we got some work done! I love seeing how his story evolved, and he said my writing journey helped him do it, so that's a major bonus for me. If I could do something like that every day as my job, that would be ideal.

Shifting gears a little bit, if you're reading this straight from my blog, you'll notice a new Comic Con event in my sidebar! There is a Blue Hen Comic Con coming to Dover this November, and it will be TWO days long! I should stay in a hotel just for the heck of it, but I live less than 10 minutes away from the venue. haha This will be my first indoor convention, so I can't wait to see what the difference is. It will be held in the old Sears building at our slowly dying mall, so if we're lucky, they'll have more events like this in that space. 

Today is also the 5th Friday of the month, so it's time to look at my quarterly goals! Back in March, my main goal was releasing FP and getting the word out. I put together two Facebook ad campaigns, one leading up to the relaunch and one after. I believe they did pretty well. A few people at Comic Con said they saw the ad! That's really cool how it works. I wish I could've seen it. I really don't get on social media like I used to.

My goal for this quarter is to practice more voice work. If you follow me on the socials, I've posted two readings and a character voice so far. I plan to do more, and maybe listen to another audiobook, because I said I was going to, so I could hear different narrators.

Speaking of books, I'm almost halfway done my Goodreads goal, which is great at the end of June! I'll share some of what I'm reading next Friday (promise). Writing-wise, I'm almost finished the second chapter of Divided Princess (again), and I hope to incorporate some of the action I wrote in the first draft. I know for sure how this book is going to end and how the final book will turn out. I just have to get to them. Always A and Z with me.

So, for reading and writing, my goal is to read at least three more books and maybe get to the midpoint of the first part of DP. I can do it.

Did you make any goals this past quarter? What are you looking forward to this summer?

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FRACTURED PRINCESS is available on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback, and on Barnes & Noble's website in Paperback!

Weekly Words: Women in Writing & Quarterly Goals - Fractured Princess

 

Can you believe it's the last Friday in March?

I'll get to my quarterly goals in a second, but as I've been highlighting my favorite female characters written by women, I wanted to shamelessly add myself to the mix, because why not?

 

When I started writing Fractured Princess, back when it was called Save the Queen, I strove to have strong women in the background supporting what was a very passive and tragic main character. A few critiques and drafts later, I realized Jonnie also needed to be a strong, active main character. Still tragic, but better able to take charge of the tragedies going on around her. She might be impulsive and make some life-changing mistakes, but I also wanted her to have flaws that she could overcome on her own, whether in the present or the future. Wink. I put a little bit of myself in Jonnie, so she's like my child. I want to see her succeed and be happy in the end. Hopefully she's someone readers have liked and will continue to like in the books to come.

Of course, I skipped a season in my quarterly goals, but I didn't have much going on in December except prepping for my book freedom, which was part of my September goals post, so check. By the end of the year I had read 13 books, so I just made my 12-book goal. I made a goal of 18 books this year, and I've read 4 so far, so I'm close to schedule! I had finally started reading Tomi Adeyemi's Children of Virtue and Vengeance, but it had been so long since I'd read Children of Blood and Bone that I had to stop to "reread" it. I'm currently listening to the audiobook version, and it's jogging my memory! The majority of my physical books are packed up for my hope-to-come-soon move out of this house, but I have what's probably over a hundred ebooks I can read in the meantime.

Career-wise, freelancing has been slow, but I've realized I can still enjoy my job (because I actually do) even though it's not what I want to do full-time. We'll be moving to the new office in June, so at least I'll gain half an hour's sleep back and won't have to take the bus or pay for parking anymore. That will most definitely alleviate some of my blanket exhaustion.

My goals for the next quarter: well, obviously, publication. The Kindle version of Fractured Princess is currently available for pre-order. The paperback will launch May 30th. So, my biggest goal is to generate more interest and get some books sold. This is the 3rd version of the first book, so I just hope that hasn't discouraged readers.

I'm going to read/listen to more audiobooks. I find that I like them, and also, I need to listen to different narrators to hear their technique if I want to record my own. I not-so-secretly love doing voice work, so I know it will be fun.

I will keep you all posted! Next week, I have a movie review to share with you, so tune in!

Quarterly Goals

 

It is the last Friday of September, which is a 5th Friday, so that means it is time to look at my quarterly goals!

I actually had a dream one of my friends from high school who also wrote a book series asked why I wasn't at a(n imaginary, because it was in my dream) book festival. I think it was Kitty Gang, and if it was I'm laughing. That is a term fans of BTS use for Park Ji-min. I told him I didn't know about it but also that I can't do any promotion until January because I'm technically still on contract. On that note, the countdown is ON. But that's for next quarter.

I also just realized I skipped July's 5th Friday because it was my birthday month. So, I have to look back at April's quarterly goals. I had only read 6 books then, and I'm at 11 now, one away from my adjusted Goodreads goal. I had the week off, and I wanted to read more, but I think I slept more than anything the first three days. I guess I needed it. Then, I caught up on some of my DVR and played a couple of video games. I'll get back to reading on the bus this coming week, and especially tomorrow, because it's football season.

The last quarterly post, I said I planned to publish Divided Princess by Winter next year...I mean, I guess it's still possible, but I'm only a third of the way done with it at the moment. Maybe I will do NaNoWriMo so I can work on more scenes, even if they're not in any particular order. We'll see. I actually just moved a scene or two around, and whereas I said I had 20 chapters in the first part, I merged a couple of chapters, and I also think I miscounted, so now there are 17. I'm still reading through, fixed some continuity, and making sure things make sense overall. The first few chapters are establishing what Jonnie and Cyan have been up to the past year, so diving more into their personalities and dynamic is one of the primary goals.

Ew, in April, I had that job interview for a proofreader that didn't pay anything. Fortunately, in that same post, I started doing freelance work with my sister's friend's company, and I'm now on their roster for proofreading projects when needed. I also did QA for the first time, and I liked it. We just finalized that project, so hopefully this will lead to more frequent work with them. I go back into the office Monday, and the only thing I'm dreading is the early wake up. I'm enjoying the job right now. Once we relocate, only a few months away now, I'll gain an hour of sleep back. I can endure. But I do want to be a full-time proofreader, whatever that looks like.

Tomorrow, I plan to continue my staycation vibes, but I hope that everyone in the path of the hurricane(s) is somewhere safe and with some semblance of power. Be careful out here! I saw a video where someone ordered UberEats, so also just be mindful and EAT WHAT IS IN YOUR HOUSE during storms!

Anyway, see you next month!

Quarterly Goals

 

It is the 5th Friday of the month, and that means I reflect on the goals I set the previous quarter, check my progress, and set new goals if needed!

I should have read 8 books by now, but I've at least finished 4 and listened to 2, so I'm patting myself on the back. I'm glad Goodreads doesn't count when I started reading a book, though, because, oof. I actually saw a tweet that said to DNF (do not finish) a book you're dreading picking back up, and I believe I will have to do that. I have so many other books I need to start, books that I bought almost 10 years ago at this point. If a book is bad or just not for me, then, that needs to be okay, Deborah (I have to tell it to myself).

I've actually been writing more, some just getting "off-screen" narratives out of my head and some that are actually going to end up in Divided Princess's pages. My contract with WCP ends in January, so in the meantime, I am working with someone to prepare the re-release of Fractured Princess that Spring (a more definitive date is forthcoming). If all goes well with that, I want DP finished, edited, beta'ed, and ready by Winter 2023. I wish I could keep publishing the books on my birthday like I did the very first one, but maybe the next series premiere (*wink*).

So, I had an interview for a proofreading job this past quarter. Unfortunately, it pays pennies, and if I were younger, that would suffice, but I have a mortgage and student loans, so it does not suffice at all. I actually saved the description of a job I saw on Upwork as something I'd love to do. I've done a few jobs on Fiverr, too, and I also have a couple of other pending job prospects that may just turn me in the right direction. We shall see!

And since scheduling this post, I've also picked up a freelance job as a copywriter for my sister's friends' company and discussed another full-time role with another company. Both have told me I was low-balling myself, so my price is about to go UP!

So overall, things are continuing to move, some even speeding up. I'm feeling a little more optimistic about everything, and I hope that continues.