stacy benedict

I can’t believe another quarter has past. For me, 2017 is flying by at a snail’s pace.

With regards to my writing life, I’m months behind. My goal to have my debut novel, Hound Dog Confidential, published on August 1^st, must be pushed back. There are so many more steps to this self-publishing thing than I first thought. And, everything about the process is time consuming. If only publishing a novel on Amazon was just a click of a button.

With regards to my personal life, the days can’t go by fast enough. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and can’t believe it’s only July. That end of the year ‘blah’ feeling I usual get around fourth quarter has taken over me.  Each day drags on with too many and too little hours in the day. Emotionally, I feel as though it should be Thanksgiving already.

The reason why I blog about my quarterly goals is to keep myself on track to meet the annual resolutions I wrote about on January 7^th. You can read my first quarter progress in the April 5^th blog post.

Reading Goals

I read the following:

Prince Lestat by Anne Rice (5-stars. Beautiful writing, memorable characters, both old and new, great twist on the Vampire mythology.)

The Thought Readers by Dima & Anna Zales (4-stars. Fast read with an interesting main character)

Vengeance Be Mine by Louisa Lo (4-stars. It’s a funny Urban Fantasy)

Discern by Andrea Pearson (4-stars. The characters are a little cliché, but it is a fun story)

Wings of Hope by Pippa DaCosta (4-stars. A prequel to her Veil Series. A little story that packs a punch)

Angel Vindicated by Viola Estrella (4-stars. A well written Angel/Demon PNR. The MC, Abby, does make some idiotic decisions)

Feral by Laxmi Hariharan (3-stars. A vividly drawn world with shifters, Bombay the year 2036 after an apocalypse, but a teen love triangle & romance isn’t my thing)

Tutoring the Wolf by Jacqueline Sweet & Devon March (3-stars. Well written with well-developed characters, but I didn’t feel anything with the romance)

Soul Ties by LJ Swallow (3-stars. A great start to an Angel/Demon series. The love interest, Keir, and his best friend/sidekick, Delilah, are annoying and at times drag the story down)

Romancing the Null by Tina Gower (5-stars. This novel was awesome. I loved the main characters Kate & Ian as well as the overall storyline)

Crimson Shadow: Noir by Nathan Squiers (3-stars. A well written book with no typos. I couldn’t sympathize with the main character, Xander, and was actively rooting for the bad vampires to kill him & his mentors)

A Touch of Darkness by Yelena Casale & Tina Moss (3-stars. There were no typos. A great Angel/Demon main plot was overshadowed by a boring romance that didn’t have a good build up and the main character, Cassie, makes multiple dumb decisions)

Currently Reading: Dream Stalker: Talented: Book 1 by Amy Hopkins

Writing Goals

I wrote two flash fiction stories and made outlines for three novellas.

I’m further along on the 3^rd novel in my series, The Children of Ekhidna and Typhoeus. Because my first drafts are hand written, I don’t know how many more words I’ve added, but there are more chapters than before.

Author Goals

Hound Dog Confidential is with a proof reader. Final phase yay!

I set up TinyLetter, MailChimp and Mailerlite accounts to host my mailing list. When I’m ready, I’ll have a sign-up post for readers to join my future ARC (advanced review copy) team.

The self-editing on Through the Villain’s Eyes is finally finished (for now) and a comprehensive editing appointment has been book for later in the month.

 

The next things to tackle in third quarter are: 1) Write novellas for Instafreebie and my mailing list sign-ups; 2) Write more flash fiction and a short story; 3) Publish Hound Dog Confidential.

Are you on track to meet your annual or quarterly goals?

I hope you liked this week’s blog post.  You can read the first chapters of my urban fantasy series The Children of Ekhidna and Typhoeus on the books page.

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