April in Review
Writing
Another 22,000 words for Frost, which put it at 98,000 words. Since writing wasn't a goal this month, that's plenty.
The Business of Writing
I finished first-pass edits on Demon's Sigil and sent it to beta-readers.
Alinsa got me the early version of the Demon's Lure e-book and I started proofreading it.
Art
I finished the couple's adopt for Flight Rising and got one customer. Alas! I think I am done making adopts.
Other
I finished my taxes! Just like everyone else, I know, but whatever. They were stressful and annoying and now they are done.
Lut and I took some money out of his disability stipend via ATM, so that works. It's kind of expensive because his debit card doesn't have a bank, so there are no local ATMs. So he'd have to pay a fee every time we took cash out. We also attempted to use it to pay one of his outstanding medical bills from last year. I don't know if that worked yet. I'll check the debit card balance by phone later this month to see if they actually debited it. We can't use the debit card to pay our credit card, alas, because the credit card will only debit checking accounts.
We did get the last checks cashed from before they started putting the money on the debit card.
We never did get a medical bill for this year. I thought we had for a little while! But that turned out to be a bill for last year and only because one provider didn't have Lut's insurance info. I sent them Lut's insurance info. I was afraid this would mean that I'd have to scrounge up documentation on one of the prescription co-pays (seriously? they're all under $5 except the Revlimid that was $25 but I paid it in January and didn't keep the receipt) just to keep the copay grant open long enough to make sure no actual bills arrive.
HOWEVER, it turns out the co-pay grant will pay Lut's insurance premiums! And that only required documentation from my employer. So I got that together and sent it to them. I don't know if it worked yet.
Lut only had a couple of appointments in April. The oncologist hasn't put him back on treatment yet because the cancer indicators were all still low based on the blood tests in March. He had blood tests today, though, and his platelet count was low so he needed a platelet transfusion. Next week is another oncologist appointment and I kind of suspect he'll be resuming treatment of some kind.
Socializing
I saw Terry for the first time in foreeeeeveeeer. ❤️ ❤️ Just for a long weekend, but it was a good visit.
Goals
Oh man I don't know what my goals are for May. There are three obvious ones:
Finish proofreading Demon's Lure
Front/backmatter for Demon's Lure
Finish first draft of Frost
But I finished writing Frost yesterday (total count is 103,359), and I will probably finish proofreading Lure tonight or tomorrow. Some other logical things are:
Final edits for Demon's Sigil
Release Demon's Lure
Initial edits for Frost
I am optimistic that the book release will happen this month. I am not going to start final edits on Sigil now, but maybe later in the month. Likewise for Frost; I want to let it sit a little while before I go back over it.
One of the strengths of my current process is that, since I don't work on just one thing from when I start writing to when I release, I always have something I can work on. If something needs to wait on cover art or layout or first readers, that's fine. I can work on something else.
One of the weaknesses is that there are no logical "take a vacation" points. I don't go "well, I finished this draft, time for a month off from writing while I let my subconscious chew on it" or "I just released a book, time to rest on my laurels". There is always another thing I could be doing. Furthermore, having consciously turned myself into a kind of workaholic, I do not enjoy taking time off from writing nearly as much as I did fifteen years ago. I finished everything on my goal list for March and April a week or more before month-end, and instead of thinking "Yay! I did a great job!" I thought "I didn't put enough stuff on my goal list. MUST DO MORE."
I am not sure this counts as a problem or a humble brag. Maybe both. It is strange to be so alien to my younger, oft-procrastinating self.
Anyway, I will split my goal list into parts, and not worry too much about what I get done on the "maybe work on these" section.
Definite goals
Finish proofreading and front/backmatter for Demon's Lure
Finish first draft of Frost
See if anyone would like an ARC of Demon's Lure, for review purposes
Work on one or more of the following:
Final edits for Demon's Sigil
Release Demon's Lure
Initial edits for Frost
Write more of The Princess, Her Dragon, and Their Prince
Outline The Twilight Etherium This entry was originally posted at https://rowyn.dreamwidth.org/627869.html. Please comment there using OpenID.