The good news is that we’re starting a whole new month, full of promise, unsullied by any past performance problems! So that might give you an idea of how well I did on my March goals.

• Get feedback on Theoretical Magic from my critique partners and compile it into an editing plan. I have the feedback. I’ve been ignoring it.
• Write weekly episodes of the Kindle Vella dragon serial. DID THIS!
• Create two digital bonuses for my awesome Patreon supporters. DID THIS!
• Create and load the cozy omnibus. DID THIS!
• Finish the audiobook of Shift Happens and load it to the retailers. <Sad trombone…>
• Add words to the next Portal Storms book. I did add some words. This goal was remarkably non-specific and I’m laughing.

I mean, aside from the absolute fail with the audiobook — I’m still in the steep growth phase of the learning curve — I did okay. I’ll give myself a B.

April Goals

• Write weekly episodes of the Kindle Vella dragon serial.
• Create two digital bonuses for my spiffy Patreon supporters.
• Finish the audiobook of Shift Happens and load it to the retailers. Really, this time.
• Get the next Portal Storms book to at least 50k. (It’s currently at 15k, so this is not an unreasonable goal!)
• Foster some kittens!

Obligatory Pet Picture

Bluebell is finally healthy and has returned to the shelter to find her forever home before the adoption floor is swamped with cute little kittens. We wish her all the best!

And just like that, February is gone. The only surprising thing about the leap day was the amount of software that didn’t handle the existence of February 29th. These kids today… As someone who used to write software, all I can say is: don’t write your own date manipulation functions, and if you absolutely must, learn the rules for leap years. But before we move along to the March goals, how did February go?

• Clean up Theoretical Magic and send it out to my critique partners. DID THIS!
• Write weekly episodes of the Kindle Vella dragon serial. YES!
• Create two digital bonuses for my amazing Patreon supporters. YES!
• Create and load an omnibus for the cozy series. (I’m not sure how many books I should put in, which is why I haven’t done this before now. But I’ll just have to make some decisions.) I think I have the graphics done (for the retailers that don’t allow 3-D omnibus covers). But I didn’t do the rest of it.
• Continue narrating Shift Happens. I’m roughly 55% through the book, so I may be almost done by the end of the month, but I’ll probably have to go back and re-record some things. I’m getting better as I go along, so this may be a two-pass affair. I have three chapters left to narrate and an additional four to edit.
• February is also Thingadailies month, and I think I’m going to use that to get better at photomanipulation. The cover for Theoretical Magic is going to take some work, and my skills aren’t currently at that level. SKILLS WERE IMPROVED!

Regarding the photo manipulation, here’s a thing I made (following a tutorial):

I’d give myself an A for the month but I totally forgot about the omnibus until yesterday and I absolutely slacked off on the narration halfway through the month. But I’ll still give myself a B+.

March Goals

• Get feedback on Theoretical Magic from my critique partners and compile it into an editing plan.
• Write weekly episodes of the Kindle Vella dragon serial.
• Create two digital bonuses for my awesome Patreon supporters.
• Create and load the cozy omnibus.
• Finish the audiobook of Shift Happens and load it to the retailers.
• Add words to the next Portal Storms book.

Obligatory Pet Picture

This is former foster Sabrett and a tiny dragon.

Welcome to February! The last few weeks have been a little wet and stormy, but I’ve also managed to go out a few times to stare in dismay at all the weeds popping up all over the place. I guess spring is on its way. Before we get to the goals for February (which I have now misspelled three times already), how did I do in January?

• Write weekly episodes on the Kindle Vella dragon serial. DID THIS!
• Create two digital bonus things for my amazing Patreon supporters. DID THIS!
• Finish the rough draft of Theoretical Magic (the urban fantasy novel). DID THIS!
• Re-cover the Jackpot Drift series. DID THIS!
• Audio: figure out the voices. (Surely I can get at least this part done!) DID THIS! (I’m actually 16 chapters in, so progress is being made.)

But then I added this note at the bottom of my goals: “I’m aiming for an average of 2024 words/day. I may face-plant on that goal.” Ha ha ha! Consider my face planted so hard that I’ll be sprouting like the daffodils hiding among the weeds. I don’t think I’ve hit 2k words in any day yet. Still, I give my January performance an A.

February Goals

• Clean up Theoretical Magic and send it out to my critique partners.
• Write weekly episodes of the Kindle Vella dragon serial.
• Create two digital bonuses for my amazing Patreon supporters.
• Create and load an omnibus for the cozy series. (I’m not sure how many books I should put in, which is why I haven’t done this before now. But I’ll just have to make some decisions.)
• Continue narrating Shift Happens. I’m roughly 55% through the book, so I may be almost done by the end of the month, but I’ll probably have to go back and re-record some things. I’m getting better as I go along, so this may be a two-pass affair.
• February is also Thingadailies month, and I think I’m going to use that to get better at photomanipulation. The cover for Theoretical Magic is going to take some work, and my skills aren’t currently at that level.

Obligatory Pet Photo

Georgie has defeated both Halloween and Christmas. Now he’s on the hunt to take down Cupid!

“I think I can do all that, despite the holiday madness.” — December 2023 Theresa, wildly overestimating her ability to get things done.

Before I go over how I did on my December goals, can we all take a moment to look at that statement? Okay, now that you’ve had a good laugh, let’s look at my performance:

• Release Death Paints a Picture on 12/16/2023. I have the edits back, so I just need to make the changes and write the back matter. Then it’s just a matter of loading it to the retailers. (Marketing? What’s that?) DID THIS!
• Write weekly episodes on the Kindle Vella dragon serial. DID THIS!
• Create two digital bonus things for my awesome Patreon supporters. DID THIS!
• Finish the rough draft of the urban fantasy novel I started in November. Currently at 65k and have not approached the ending.
• Re-cover the Jackpot Drift series. Two covers are done and I did some work on the third.
• Stretch goal: audio stuff. At the very least, figure out the voices. Oh, hey, didn’t even touch this. Surprise!

It turns out I don’t get much work done while traveling, especially if I’m on vacation. Anyhow, I’m giving myself a B-minus, mostly for my terrible planning.

January Goals

Some of these may look familiar…

• Write weekly episodes on the Kindle Vella dragon serial.
• Create two digital bonus things for my amazing Patreon supporters.
• Finish the rough draft of Theoretical Magic (the urban fantasy novel).
• Re-cover the Jackpot Drift series.
• Audio: figure out the voices. (Surely I can get at least this part done!)

I’m aiming for an average of 2024 words/day. I may face-plant on that goal.

Obligatory Pet Picture

Hey, it’s only August 5th, so I’m already five days ahead of last month. That’s good, right?

Speaking of last month, how did I do with July’s goals?

• Two new stories/digital bonus things for my awesome Patreon supporters. YES!
• Add another 10k to PS5. (Currently at 35k) Almost. I’m at 43k, but I think I’ve figured out the part I was stuck on.
• Weekly space opera and dragon episodes. YES!
• Load more of DAMAGED CONSTRUCT onto Kindle Vella. Everything is loaded!
• Start planning the next Portal Storm book. Do vague daydreams count?
• Play with the foster kittens! YES!

Considering I was already 33% through the month when I came up with those goals, I’ll give myself a B+. There is room for improvement, but isn’t there always?

August Goals

• Two new stories/digital bonus things for my awesome Patreon supporters.
• Finish first draft of PS5.
• Weekly space opera and dragon episodes.
• Start planning the next Portal Storm book.
• Get prepared for audio recording trial.
• Play with the foster kittens!

Seriously, I just need to finish this darn book! My outline really didn’t work for me, so there’s a bunch I need to go back and modify. But it’s going to be done this month!

Obligatory Pet Picture

This is handsome Damian, who has already been adopted into his permanent home.