That’s a wrap! August 2020
August 2020 has been yet another wild month! Between further lockdowns, my birthday and blogiversary, and a complete overhaul of this site, I don’t know how I managed to get any reading or writing done. Come check out the details and tell me what you’ve been up to!! →
August 2020 has been yet another wild month! So much has happened—some of it good, some of it bad—and when I look back I can’t quite believe how busy it’s been. How on earth did I manage to get anything done? Here’s a snapshot of the key developments in my life over the last several weeks:
Further lockdowns. We hoped to be coming out of COVID-19 lockdown in mid-August, but it wasn’t to be. Instead, my city was put into stricter Stage 4 lockdown to limit movement, and a curfew was imposed. It sucks, but case numbers are finally going down! Fellow Melbournians, please do the right thing, and follow all COVID-19 updates on the DHHS website.
Annual leave. I experienced some fairly extreme mental fatigue this month. This was no doubt caused by a combination of so many months cooped up inside, the stresses of being in my first full-time job, and the longest time I’ve “worked” without a break. So I took a week of annual leave, where I slept in, watched Netflix and played with the puppy etc. I’m feeling much fresher now!
Birthday & blogiversary. August is the month where I celebrate both my birthday and my blogiversary! Due to lockdown, the evening of my birthday was spent on the couch with my family eating takeaway…which is my idea of a good time anyway! I published a celebratory post for my 3rd blogiversary, and held a giveaway to commemorate the occasion.
Website migration. You may have noticed something different about this website / blog since you last visited…and that’s because something IS different. Over the last fortnight, I’ve migrated my site to self-hosted WordPress, which was a body of work in itself. There were a few minor scares along the way, and things still need doing, but otherwise I’m so pleased with the result!
As per my goals for 2020, I published 2 full blog posts this month, which you can check out below. I’d be interested to know if you have any issues viewing the images in these posts; unfortunately, a lot of my media didn’t survive the site migration so I’m going through my content post-by-post to sort it out!
I didn’t spend a lot of time looking at other blogs this August, unless you count the technical blogs I trawled through while migrating my website! Yet I still came across a few posts that I thoroughly enjoyed and highly recommend you check out:
- 10 simple ways to add happiness to your writing life by Madeline Bartson @ Happy When Writing
- Don’t lose your novel! 5 ways to backup your writing by M.L. Davis @ Uninspired Writers
- Is the pandemic blocking your writing? by Lorraine Ambers
- The next project reset by K.M. Allan
I didn’t reach all of my writing targets this August, but that was the sacrifice I made to migrate my site. So it’s not all bad news, especially since I still made progress! The current status of my three key writing projects that span four separate novels is as follows:
Holding Up the Sky
“The weight of the sky—of the whole world—was pushing down, and it was crushing me.”
Status: Querying
Word count: 84,878
What’s new: Nothing to report this month on my contemporary YA novel Holding Up the Sky. I’m tossing up participating in #PitMad again this September (why not?) and I have a few other things in the pipeline that I’ll report on later. I’ve been thinking a lot recently, too. 2020 has really highlighted to me the importance of making your dreams happen, so I may end up expediting some of my publishing plans for this project. We’ll see!
Blood of Old (Graceborn #1)
“The Old has returned…and what once was, will be again.”
Status: Beta reading
Word count: 195,170
What’s new: I’ve had some great feedback come in for Blood of Old, the first book in my fantasy series Graceborn, from one of my new betas this month. Feedback is always exciting! A few more ideas have been stewing about the changes I’ll make for the next round of edits, especially as I make my way through the first draft of the sequel. I’m already looking forward to the task of rewriting in 2021, but one thing at a time, right?
First the Song (Graceborn #2)
The story continues…
Status: Writing 1st draft
Word count: 118,069 (53.7%)
What’s new: I only managed to write three chapters of First the Song, the second book in the Graceborn series, this month. However, they were some very important chapters, and I can’t complain about adding another ~12k words to the draft! Though the last few weeks have been a bit of a struggle, my motivation has returned in the last few days, and I’m still on track to finish Part Two by the end of September.
<Top secret project>
A brand new WIP!
Status: Structuring
Word count: 0
What’s new: This August, I completed the “structuring” process for my 2020 NaNoWriMo project, another contemporary YA standalone novel. The process involved filling a few gaps in the scene structure before sorting them all into chapters. I then jotted down a few key notes, lines, and snatches of dialogue, which was fun. Next month will be the big one, though, as I intend to write the outline so I can take a break in October!
I devoured a total of 4 books this August, which puts me only 2 books shy of my 2020 Goodreads challenge goal! Though I briefly considered increasing my goal since there’s still time left in the year, but ultimately I decided against it. The books I read this month were:
NOT RATED
What have you been up to this August? Made any writing progress or read any good books? How do you like my new website?
12 Comments
Andrew McDowell
I got some writing done, though not so much on the sequel to Mystical Greenwood. Viewing stats for my site were certainly up this month.
Rebecca Alasdair
That’s great to hear! And hey, any progress is a good thing particularly this year! 😀
Andrew McDowell
Thanks. Good luck with everything. Hope you’ve been enjoying my posts.
K.M. Allan
I like the new site. Great job, Rebecca! I did need to find you in WordPress and enable notifications again so I don’t miss your posts, but I assume that’s because you moved. Sounds like that annual leave was just what you needed. Thanks for the blog post shoutout-that was the only writing I did in August. I’m hoping to get back to book writing in September 😊.
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you!! I’m pleased with how it’s turned out. And I appreciate the feedback about having to reenable notification! Do you use the WordPress.com Reader to acess posts on blog you follow or go about getting updates a different way? Someone else mentioned they’re having trouble finding my post on the Reader so I may have to do some digging and find out if there’s anything extra I need to do at my end! It’s such a learning process!! 😂
I think you’ve earned a break after publishing two books this year! Amazing! I hope your month was relaxing, and all the best for September!!
K.M. Allan
I use the WordPress reader. Usually I see your posts because I had notifications enabled. Then I saw on Facebook that you’d posted a new blog and checked the reader and didn’t see it. I then searched for your blog and saw it wasn’t enabled for notifications for me anymore and turned it back on. I don’t know if that means you need to fix something on your end because I have no clue how any if it works 😅.
I’d take a break, but I have two books I promised to release next year 😁.
Rebecca Alasdair
Wow that sounds like a bit of work!! I don’t know how it all works either so I might do some investigating! Really appreciate the feedback 😊
K.M. Allan
😊
Lorraine Ambers
Happy birthday and blog-anniversary!!
Yay! Well done on migrating your blog. You have been busy. I’m so glad you took a week off. It really does pay to listen to our bodies and relax when stressed. Thank you for recommending my post. 🙏💜
Rebecca Alasdair
You’re most welcome, and you’re so right that a good rest pays off! It’s so easy right now to just keep working, working, working!
Energyflux2012
I’m glad you found my feedback helpful 🙂 I’m looking forward to polishing up Blade of Dragons myself. I still need to find a cover artist and perhaps hire a professional editor, but I’ll likely e-publish on Amazon. Good luck with your story, Rebecca.
Rebecca Alasdair
Thank you!! And yes your feedback has been very useful indeed. I’m looking forward to seeing the cover Blade of Dragons. All the best with the search!!