Another month of solid progress behind me. I’m hoping this month will see some of that progress appear in the wild.

Status

School Days: SC Marva Collins, Book 1 – Back from the editor. Formatted for both ebook and paper. The manuscript has gone to Podium for audio scheduling. I’m just waiting on the cover art. (Yes, this is the correct title. I has a brain cloud in there somewhere and called it School’s out for a few weeks.)

Working Class: SC Marva Collins, Book 2 – Completed my clean up. It’s with the editor, waiting for her to work her magic.

Hard Knocks: SC Marva Collins, Book 3 – Almost done with clean up on this one. Some last minute changes to the ending. While I liked the one I had, I thought it could be better.

Still looking forward to getting into The Wizard’s Cat this month.

What Am I Reading?

I’ve read a bunch last month. You can find them all on my BookWyrm list.

My classic of the month was Hesse’s Siddhartha. I loved it. After slogging through three heavy hitters in the first quarter, I cruised through this small volume in large part because I found it so intriguing. If you haven’t read it yet, it’s worth the time. You can find several editions in the public domain.

My recommendation this month is Paranormal Women’s Fiction from one of my favorite authors. Deanna Chase is one of the authors I don’t sample any more. I just buy her books and inhale them. Star-Crossed Witch didn’t let me down. The story is the first volume in a new series that I’m looking forward to as it develops over the next few months.

As always, the characters drew me in and wouldn’t let me go. Marion Matched gets sandbagged as she’s trying to start her new match-making business. Hilarity ensues, aided and abetted by an inappropriate, unfiltered spirit.

I may not sample Deanna any more, but maybe you should grab one and give her a try.

Notes in the Margin:
I’ve got a pile of SF/F samples waiting for my attention. I’ll get to them soon.

Looking Ahead

I have yet to pick a classic for this month. I’m leaning to a re-read of Jules Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea or H G Wells’s War of The Worlds. I haven’t read either of them since high school and I suspect I’ll find new meaning in them now.

I hope to toss Hard Knocks over the fence to Karen this week and get dug into The Wizard’s Cat. I don’t know if I can get a good first draft before June, but I’m going to at least see if I can get a handle on the story. I’ll send Working Class to Podium as soon as I get the manuscript back from her and get it cleaned up. The sooner they have them, the sooner they can schedule Jeffrey Kafer to do the recording.

This year has proven to be one of my most productive – maybe, ever. I’ve been using ObsidianMD’s Daily Notes to keep myself on track. I reserve writing time and I try to be mindful about using it. Some days it falls apart, but it’s giving me a Year-at-a-Glance calendar with a lot of green check marks on it.

Compared to the reds – and the blanks – from last year? Yeah. This year is going very well indeed.

Fingers crossed that it continues.

Until next month, safe voyage

-N