November came and went in the blink of an eye, it seems. It’s already December, which means it’s time to review my goal progress for Quarter 4 of 2024. I’m braced, because I know I did not do well in November. 

Here are my goals for November:

Goals

• Release Newsletter. This, once again, is being put off to the next month. I want to release it with the Man’s Best Friend novella. Good news is I’ve finalized the edits and have sent it off to my beta reader for one last look. This Newsletter is absolutely coming out January 1st, so sign up here if you’d like to receive it every month!
• Blog weekly on Sundays. I’ve done a good job with this one. Every week, I’ve posted something. I started a series on my literary universe which goes into more detail of the things I’m writing and the worldbuilding behind it. 
• Post mindfully and often. I did okay with this. I took quite a few days off in November because of the holidays (Thanksgiving and my birthday!), and I anticipate there will be more days off during December for more holidays, parties, doctor appointments, birthdays, etc. I’ve only been posting on Bluesky for the time being. 

Reading

• Currently reading:  Broken Sky by Morgan K. Bell. I’m 17% through this one. I finally finished beta reading a book for a my friend, Edward Patrick. So I can dedicate more time to Broken Sky. 
• Next up: I want to get through two short stories with the hopes that I can reach my three-book goal for the quarter. These two stories are The Conjurer’s Wife by Sarah Penner and The Answer is No by Fredrik Backman. I’ll be sure to actually leave reviews when I’m done with these.
• Taken off the list: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson. Not for lack of interest, but I’ve removed this one from my to-read for the year. Hopefully, I can get to it next year. 

Words

• Goal. My goal for November was 10,000 words.
• Total. I wrote 9,069 words, putting me 931 words under my goal for the month.
• 

Projects

• Draft Man’s Best Friend. Done! I sent it off to my beta reader this past week, and hope to receive edits before next week. 
• Edit Her Demons. Didn’t touch it in November. I plan to be better in December.
• Outline Strange Enough. I started this project in September, but I haven’t touched it since the beginning of October. I’ll be putting this one on the backburner for now, because I have a new and exciting project that I want to give my attention to for the foreseeable future. 

I had a lot of zero days in November where I did nothing productive. Resting is just as important as working and writing, though, and it’s important to remember that. Sometimes I need to take time off and just enjoy my day without the stress of being productive—for my mental health. December might be better, but it also might look the same because of all the holidays and other obligations I have. We’ll see!