This blog post is related to one I wrote earlier this year, What the Heck Do Authors Do? Half the year has passed, and it was time for me to turn a page in my bullet journal. I have a spread, not a fancy or artistic one as many you see out there, but one that gives me an overview of what I have scheduled and what I need to write. 

As I write this, WordPress tells me that I have published 107 blog posts, the average word count per post is 1.100 words, and I’ve written a total of 117.705 blog words during 2021.  

If I’d written those as story words, I’d have had a few more releases. But of all the ‘side stuff’ authors do, blogging is what I like best.  

So what do I blog about? 

All sorts of things. Sometimes, I have no idea what to write about, and sometimes I have so many blog posts I need to write that it’s hard to fit them all in. 

• Behind the Scenes – I do posts like this one that’s about what I do rather than about a book. 
• #WhatToReadWednesday – This is a feature I started this year. I’ve read a few books through the years, and we’re always bombarded with new releases, but what about those old books? For the #WhatToReadWednesday posts, I make a list of books in a certain trope, for a certain day, with covers of a certain colour, or whatever else I can come up with. 
• Wrap-Up Wednesday – This I do on the last Wednesday of the month. I tell you about what I’ve read during the month. Last year, I did Friday Reads posts, where I read a book for each Friday, so this is a bit more relaxed. If I haven’t finished a book one week, I won’t have to panic, but I don’t know what I like best. 
• Fridays at Ofelia’s – This is the main reason I don’t do Friday Reads posts anymore. I decided guests would be fun to have, so Fridays are dedicated to guest posts from other authors. 
• Cover Reveals – Whenever I have a new cover, I like to show it off and tell you what’s coming. 
• Release Day Posts – When something goes live, I like to tell you about it 😀 
• Character Introductions – This I always do for the Up North stories, and I did it for The Rockshade stories too. I tell you a little something about the characters in an upcoming release. 
• Book Birthdays – On the first of every month, I do a giveaway of books published in that month previous years. It’s a fun way to celebrate former achievements 😀 
• Sales – If we’re having a sale, I try to blog about it. That being said, keep an eye on Barnes&Noble, I never know when books go on sale there, but it’s pretty often! 
• Random Posts – When something happens, when someone from the morning office has a release and want to come on a day other than Friday, or if I join some kind of event or other there will be a random post. 

And it looks like this: 

 So, onto another six months of blogging! LOL 

Don’t get sidetracked by people who are not on track.

It’s update time, and I have no idea what I’ve been doing. Last month, I wrote that I’d written 36k in May. In June, I wrote 16.055 words. That’s quite a lot less. I’m currently 56.6% done with my yearly goal of writing 250.000 words, so still on track, I’d say. 

July is Camp NaNo month, and I signed up to do 20k. I’m nearing the end of Holly’s September story, so to write those 20k, I need to start a new one – bummer, right? LOL. New stories are the best 😀 

I’ve written 8.465 words in four days, but now work is messing up my flow. I’ll be back by my desk on Friday morning. 

The last few days, I’ve played with the idea of cleaning up a few WIPs and get them out there. More than once, I’ve convinced myself it’s a great idea, but then when it’s time to start working, I end up writing a new story instead. 

And I know I’ve been saying this for a couple of months now, but I need to write a holiday story if I’m gonna publish one this year. That deadline is coming closer and closer. I have an idea. Maybe I’ll go with that rather than finishing old stories.  

To wrap up, I’ve written 141.508 words so far during 2021, and that leaves me at 56.6% done 😀 

How are you doing with your goals? There is no shame in tweaking them should conditions have changed. There is still half a year left, and you can achieve great things in half a year. 

There’s never enough time to do all the nothing you want.

Bill Watterson

Another month, another 36k or so words written. Holly is doing this story, and it’s supposed to be turned in by now. It was supposed to be a short story, but things don’t always go as planned, do they? I’m now staring at a 45k long story.  

A couple of weeks ago, I told my publisher I was a good way through and just needed to wrap the story up… I’ve written 19.994 words in the last seven days. The wrapping up didn’t go as easy as I believed it would 😮   

Hubby has been away, so I’ve put the alarm early in the mornings as always and gone up to write, then I have juggled kids, animals, and housework, only to sit down to write in the evening again. Evenings are not my time of day, my brain shuts off sometime in the early afternoon, but I’ve written a few words at least. 

And we’re still in the middle of republishing old stories. They’ll come a bit more sparsely during July and August, I think we have one story in July and two in Augusts, but I’ll be completely honest and say that titles and dates are swimming around in my head without much order at the moment.  

It’s easier with Holly, there I know we have one story a month during the summer. Next month we’ll have some vampires, and in August we’ll have some shifters LOL  

I’m trying to come up with a plan for the coming months, but I know my hours at my day job will increase, and it’s so hard to plan. I always want to do more than time allows, and have a very hard time accepting not being able to write as much as I did last summer. We’ll see. There will be stories, but how often and in what order, I can’t tell you at the moment. 

I’m 53% done with my yearly goal, so I think I’m doing pretty well. I’ve written 133.562 words all in all 😀