I'm feeling pretty good about the projects completed last month. Unfortunately, finishing the novel edits was the only task I didn't complete, but the good news is I'm in the final act of the story and hope to finish in the next few weeks.
I actually had a lot of fun creating the website. It's something I've done before and I have to admit, it's sooo much easier with the new host I've been trying (Wix). It's simple and easy, but I've heard you can't take your content with you if you ever have to leave.
I've already built a website from the ground up four times now. At this point, I'm not too worried about it since my current posts are updates or evergreen content, I don't have to worry about this too much. If things were to ever change—like if I started blogging—I would probably have to try something else.
It was a HUGE accomplishment to send my first newsletter. It's probably the number one area I've struggled with throughout this whole process. I ended up having to call in reinforcements (thanks hubby 💙). Now, I just need to get in the habit of sending a weekly newsletter update and figure out when is the best time for my subscribers to get the newest information.
I did end up publishing to Kindle Vella, but I'm honestly disappointed in a few different things. The biggest issue is that romance is terribly throttled, and that was the genre I was publishing. The only way you could find my story was to search for the title even though it was in a tiny sub-category. Unless you're writing YA without mature scenes, it's nearly impossible to get your stories approved or supported.
It stinks because I was having a ton of fun writing this story. I know I'll find something else to do with the story in the future, and I can keep editing it during off-hours if I want. For now, I'm done using work hours for a project that is just not showing up in search. (At least not until Kindle Vella lets up on mature content.)
I love my writer planner and maybe someday I'll share it, but I am constantly modifying it. Almost every other week, I'm adding or taking away from it. It helps me stay on track with most things, but until I'm sure it's good enough, I don't want to put it up for sale.
I do feel like I set up a pretty good writing schedule around daily appointments, responsibilities, energy levels, and events. Things are projected to continue to change over the next few months since my job schedule is changing, but I think it's a good baseline until things settle.
Those were all of my main goals for the month of July. Even though I didn't complete all of them, I'm pretty proud of my progress.
With that said, I'm very curious about you. Did you have goals in July? Were you able to meet them? Do have any goals for this month? I'd love to hear about them!
Until next time,
~Alyssa