Monthly Summary: June 2015

Wow this month went by fast. It wasn’t as crazy as May, but it was still pretty activity-filled and very productive in the writing department! I’ve fallen a bit behind in editing, but not too much. I’ll catch up!

What I did:

1.) I finished rewriting Red Hood at 84,014 words so I was only 4K over my intended amount! So happy!

I’ve now jumped on the Pratt bandwagon since Jurassic World.

2.) I finished Clives Staples Award finalist The Seventh Door! Review up next month!

3.) Two of my cousins came over for a few days and we had an awesome time watching anime, drinking Bubble Tea at this amazing tea bar we discovered, and just being crazy cousins.

Me (left), Kate (middle), and Zach (right)

4.) I finished my drawing of Matt’s expressions finally, and I’m now working on Emil’s expressions which will be used in a special project coming up next month!

Matt (Subsapien)

5.) I went to the zoo, er, will! I’m going Monday. I thought I was going today, but, well, friend changed plans so I’ll update with pics soon!

Update: Zoo pic!

Me in front of the gator tank in this dome that looks like Jurassic World at Zoo Atlanta

What I Learned:

1.) I’m Grateful – The end of last month was incredibly stressful for me. Too much activity plus lack of sleep plus some drama going on really strained me, but during that tough time I realized I am really grateful for my home environment, my chosen career, my family, and how God has put things together for me. Envy is my fatal flaw and I tend to want what other people have so this was a big thing for me. I’ve always tried to be thankful, but being grateful has always been difficult.

When I think of Envy, I think of Envy from Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, okay? XD

2.) Cutting and Writing Tightly – I’ve been doing a lot of cutting in Red Hood to get my word count down for the publisher guidelines. I’ve had to choose which sentences are really important and this has helped me boil down to the best of the manuscript and make each sentence count. I’ve noticed as I’m rewriting Subsapien Biomech I’m writing tighter and my sentences are far better. Cutting isn’t always evil.

3.) Acquiring Betas – I’m gonna be honest here. I haven’t had the best luck with betas. Most of them have proved unreliable or they’ve given me pretty shoddy feedback. I’ve tried getting them in a lot of ways: asking friends, posting on a group, etc. Choosing the right betas is really important so instead of choosing like ten, I chose five people I know pretty well and so far the experience has been great. I have not looked at the feedback in its entirety yet, but I’m already getting back chapters to read later and hearing little tidbits of critique and comments and it’s been so encouraging. Choose your betas wisely.

4.) Schedule in Vacation Time – For the past two years I’ve been determined to break the stereotype that no one ever finishes their New Years resolutions. Last year I blasted that out of the water when I worked on three books and I did at least one drawing every month. Since I’m a stubborn and determined person, I naturally decided to do that again this year, and I’ve been doing pretty good so far.

I made this detailed schedule on how to accomplish my goals, except I forgot to schedule in one teensy little important thing … VACATION TIME. I have something planned for every month almost down to the week with no time to breathe, so I’m having to carve out precious vacation time, because after writing practically non-stop since March has burned me out a bit. Note to self: next year figure in that I’m not superhuman and need some off time.

5.) God Will Work it Out – I tend to be a worrier. I’m awesome at speculating the worst possible ways things could go. This month my plans got very thrown with different visits that were supposed to happen and I got very stressed out, but thankfully God arranged the plans so they worked out better than what I had in mind and I had a peace about both of the ventures. I thought that was really cool. ^ ^

What I’m Going to Do:
July I’m focusing on writing and drawing with probably only going out of town for the Fourth if that.

1.) I’m going to finish microedits on Red Hood by the 13th then start on going over my beta readers’ feedback. I’m also doing July Camp NaNoWriMo to finish up Subsapien Biomech. Poor baby has had to take the back burner since Red Hood has gotten all the attention. Sorry, charries.

2.) I’m going to read Omega Dragon by Bryan Davis and finish Failstate: Nemesis. I’m also hoping to start the Judgement Stone by Robert Liparulo.

3.) I’m going to Realm Makers in August in St. Louis so I’m starting to prepare one sheets and research agents and editors I’m going to pitch to at the conference! So excited! 😀

4.) I’m planning on doing a lot of drawing next month. I’m going to finish my expressions drawings of Emil (if I don’t this month), then work on expressions drawings of Mor and Able.

5.) I’m going to celebrate the Fourth of July. I don’t know how, but it’s going to be good.

Last Month on Stori Tori’s Blog …

The top five most popular posts on the blog for June 2015 were …

1.) Tea Tuesday: Jayne

2.) Questions for Faol!

3.) Inciting Incidents 101

4.) Writing Lessons from Anime: My Neighbor Totoro

5.) Interview with Faol (Red Hood)

Coming Soon to Stori Tori’s Blog …

Next month packs a lot of awesome posts!

For Tea Tuesdays I have two blends from the Tea and Spice Exchange and another Adagio blend coming up! The rest are undecided.

July 3: I have a call for questions for an interview with my character Emil from Subsapien! The interview will follow two weeks later. I did one of these a long time ago, but this was before I started asking you all for the questions. He’s very excited about doing it this way. 🙂

July 4: I’m doing a post called How to Handle Critique. Happy Fourth by the way! 😉

July 8: Stori Tori’s Blog’s third birthday! Be sure not to miss this post for a giveaway, reminiscing, and a special surprise!

July 10: Beautiful People day! This is a character link-up I do monthly hosted by Paper Fury!

July 11: My book review of From the Mouth of Elijah by Bryan Davis goes up on this day!

July 18: I’m doing a writing post called Writing Lessons from Anime: RWBY!

July 24: The Creative Blogger Award which I was tagged in forever ago and now I’m finally doing. XD

July 31: The Really Neat Blogger Award which I was also tagged in forever ago and now I’m finally doing it.

Lots of cool things happened and lots of cool things are coming! Thank you everyone for your comments and views! 😀 And I hope you had a happy June 2015!