That’s a wrap! January 2019
One month down, eleven to go! January has blown past, but I managed to make some decent writing progress as well as read 8 books. Read on for all the juicy details in my first wrap-up post for 2019! →
Can you BELIEVE that January is already over? I sure can’t! It feels like only yesterday I was standing on my garage roof to spy on the New Years’ fireworks in the city! I haven’t done a whole lot this month, and what I did manage to do was centred around the following:
Making the most of my last university holidays. In March I will start my (hopefully) last semester of uni, so I have been milking this break for all it’s worth! Staying up until the early hours, sleeping til noon, snacking all through the day…it’s been heaven!
Trying to get organised. This year is going to be a busy one, what with study, my part-time job and all my writing goals! I’ve been trying to get the ball rolling on organising myself, though this will continue to be a work-in-progress throughout February.
Catching up with friends. I am a massive introvert and don’t catch up with my small group of close friends anywhere near enough. It’s SO HARD to find a good time when everyone is working and studying and travelling, but I did manage to see a few friends this month!!
As per my tentative targets for 2019, my goal is to publish 2-3 blog posts per month throughout the year. This January, I managed to release 2 posts in addition to this one. Check them out here:
As you may be aware, I currently have 2 key writing projects: one a contemporary YA novel, and the other an epic fantasy series. My progress on these is revealed below…and you can click on each heading for more information!
Holding Up the Sky
“The weight of the sky—of the whole world—was pushing down, and it was crushing me.”
Status: 3rd draft complete
Word count: 84,200
What’s new: This January, I did another read-through of Holding Up the Sky to identify minor errors such as spelling and grammar mistakes and repeated words. The purpose of this was to produce a polished copy ready for beta reading later next month! In the meantime, you can read chapter 1 here.
Blood of Old (Graceborn #1)
“The Old has returned…and what once was, will be again.”
Status: Outlining 2nd draft
Word count: 42,900
What’s new: I spent a significant proportion of January outlining the 2nd draft of Blood of Old, the first book in my fantasy series Graceborn. After deciding to construct a detailed outline, I proceeded to write ALMOST 43k WORDS. I’m shocked the outline is so long, but now I’m excited to get on with the draft next month!
This January, I read a total of 8 books…but it feels like more than that since the Stormlight Archive books are so long (and SO GOOD btw)! I’ve decided to lay out my reading summaries a little differently this year. I got tired of the mini reviews I was doing in 2018, but my star ratings will give you an idea of what I thought of each book!
“What has happened to us?” Dalinar asked. “Where is our honor?”
“Honor is dead,” a voice whispered from beside him… “But I’ll see what I can do…” Spear in hand, he grabbed the edge of the wall and flung himself over, dropping to the sands of the arena floor below.
— from Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
You know those lines you read that make you want to squeal and jump up and down and then dissolve into a mess of laughter-slash-tears. Well, this was one of those for me. I was super tempted to include the entire quote, but I cut out some spoilerish bits (…) in case you haven’t read Words of Radiance yet. And you kind of have to read the book to understand the sheer brilliance of these lines!!
What did you get up to this January? Did you make any good writing progress? How many books did you read and what was your favourite quote?
Rebecca Alasdair
I'm an Australian indie author who hoards books, loves dogs and coffee, and has a tendency of staying up all night!
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D. Allyson
Wow, you rocked it! Your book covers look amazing btw, did you design those yourself? I just started my blog this month and managed to get a handful of blog posts out but thinking about slowing it down to focus more on my WIP. Love your book list too; I saved Oathbringer to my list, it looks like a good read!
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you so much!! My book covers I “designed” by licencing images from Adobe Stock and then putting them together using Canva and Photoshop. I’m glad you like them! I was blogging fairly regularly last year (once a week) but want to focus on my own WIPs this year. It’s a hard thing to balance! And the Stormlight Archive books are awesome. Have you read the first two?
M.L. Davis
You’ve had an amazing month! Love your blog post and layout too – beautiful!
Rebecca Alasdair
Thanks!! It took a bit of work to get it sorted out but I’m pleased with the outcome. I hope you had a productive month too 😊
Andrew McDowell
Best of luck to you!
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you, and to you!! 😊
Andrew McDowell
You’re welcome, and thank you!