In Which The Front Row Writes

Howdy pals!

So today starts a new blog series I'm a part of called The Front Row Writes




Look, we have a logo and everything!

The Front Row is a writing group I belong to, made up of my MFA peers, the ones I walked across the stage with in Januray *sniff*

We're called The Front Row because, shocker, that's where we always sat during lectures and stuff.

Awww - look at these awesome jerks

Anyway, I blog fairly regularly and so do my pals, so were tying a new blog series where we take a topic and write about it.

I took Monday, (because it's super easy for me to blog on Mondays) and the theme this time is WHERE WE WRITE.

I used to write kind of all over the place.

Well, I used to write on the couch with my laptop and my pups on either side of me. It was great. But also distracting because the TV was right there and sometimes Brother plays video games.

And, I mean, I can write while watching TV or video games, I just am not very prolific when all that's going on.

And over the last 5 or so years, I've gotten away from writing on the weekends (unless I really have time (which, let's get serious, I never have time for anything anymore. I am busy busy busy)) and I pretty much never write in the evenings (I think the last time I did serious evening writing was in 2009, the first time I did NaNo. I would come home from work, sit on the couch and punch out my 1600 words. But that was back when I had a 1.5 hour commute (one way) so a lot has changed since then)

So now, I pretty much do all my writing at my desk.

Which is good. I love my desk.

I've talked before about how it's an uplift, so I can raise it up to stand if I want.
But it also has a ton of space. I have my little netbook on there, to keep my gmail open (this is a habit I developed during my years of querying and it has stuck fast) my current notebook for whatever novel I'm working on, knick knacks (of course) and a box to the right which is filled both with used notebooks and folders, as well as brand new notebooks and folders for whenever I need one.

Also, the windows are great (except for when it's really cold in the winter, or when the sun hits the screen during a certain time of year) because I can watch the birds at the birdfeeders.

So, yeah. That's my writing space!

Here's the schedule for the rest of the Front Rower's posts:

Tuesday: Josh
Wednesday: Zack
Thursday: Jessica
Friday: Brita
Saturday: Jennifer
Sunday: Anna

In Which I Am A Master

I've been away for a few days. Ten, actually, for my MFA residency.

My last one *sniff*

But what that means is . . .

I AM NOW A MASTER OF THE FINE ARTS.

That's right, I hold all the knowledge. There isn't any more to learn because I have learned it all.

In all seriousness though, this residency was the best one of the last 2 years. There were multiple reasons for this, one of them being that since it was my class's last one, there was a lot of love tossed our way, which is always wonderful, when you realize just how close you've become to everyone in the program (real close, by the way)

But also, some great things happened. Right before residency Gene Yang was named the Ambassador for Children's Literature, and since he's one of our faculty in the program, that was awesome (if you ever get a chance to see Gene speak, do so. He is fantastic and really entertaining)

Then, during residency, Matt de la Pena and Laura Ruby won the Newbery and the Printz respectively, and since they, too, are faculty, there was a ton of celebrating (cheers in the hotel lobby was especially fun)

Throw in me and my class's graduate readings and great lectures by faculty and other students and it was a residency to remember.

I'm glad to be done with the program, though. Well, that's not entirely true. I'm ready to be done with the work, especially since i have enough work with my other books to keep me busy, but I am going to miss the residencies. I think I could go to them every six months for pretty much my entire life.

So, yeah. But now that I'm a master, it's time to turn my attention to ASSASSIN'S HEART'S release. EEEEEE!

Speaking of which, Today begins the blog tour for ASSASSIN'S HEART.

I'm over at Adventures of a Book Junkie, talking about ASSASSIN'S HEART (natch) as well as giving some more information on more of the assassin Families that make up the world of ASSASSIN'S HEART. So stop on by if that sounds like your thing. 

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Well, it's the first Wednesday of the month which means it's time for IWSG.

co-hosts this month are L.G. Keltner, Denise Covey, Sheri Larsen, J.Q. Rose, Chemist Ken, and Michelle Wallace! 

It's also the first Wednesday of 2016. I don't know how that happened.

And, honestly, I have plenty of things to be insecure about.

In a week I'll be doing my grad reading and a few days after that I'll be actually graduating from my MFA program.

And a few weeks after that, ASSASSIN'S HEART will finally be out in the world. I'm sure some people won't like it (no one likes everything), but I know some people will like and some may even love it and that's great, because those are the people I wrote it for.

And with the book launch comes a launch party and all that jazz.

So, yeah, lots of things to be worried about.

But, honestly, I'm not feeling very worried or insecure right at the moment. I know that could easily change (it could change as soon as I'm done with this parenthetical)(it didn't)
but right now I'm feeling fine. Probably I'm just too busy to worry about anything right now.

The worries will come back, but I'm not about to go looking for them, if you know what I mean.

Happy 2016 everyone. Let's kick some butt.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Well, today is the last IWSG of 2016. Seems like the year just flew by.

It was a year of a lot of new things for me. I did edits on ASSASSIN'S HEART and copy edits. And first page passes. I got to see my cover for the first time, then hold my arcs. I got my first Goodreads reviews, and my first trade reviews.

And in 60 days the book will be out in the world, to do it's thing.

Which is extremely exciting.

But also scary.

Things move so slow in publishing, so even though you have an agent, or a book deal, etc, etc, it really doesn't feel like much has changed. Unless you quit your job to write full time or something. Which, yeah, is something I would love to do sometime in the future, but also, right now, I think I want to work my day job as long as I possibly can, for financial reasons alone. A twice monthly paycheck is something I'm not sure I'm ready to give up, yet. Even though multiple times a week I sit at my desk and just think about putting in my notice.

Sigh.

But, really, nothing much feels different. And I suspect the same will be said on February 2nd, the actual release date of ASSASSIN'S HEART. It will probably just be like any other day. And that's okay.

(though, really, I'm totally taking the day off from work. Probably get something good to eat for lunch, and then maybe hit a couple of bookstores to see my little book baby in the world.)

Anyway, I have work to do. Book 2 will need to be revised. And revised again. And in January, before any of this, I'll be graduating from my MFA. Something I'm both super excited and super sad about. 2 years went by too fast.

So, yeah. It's going to be a busy few months. But exciting. And I'm looking forward to it.

In Which I Talk Monstrous Characters In Kidlit

In my MFA program we have two theses. When you're in your third semester you write a critical thesis, which is where you do a lot of research and reading and write a paper on your topic of choice. Similar to any other MFA program. And then when you're in your fourth and final semester you complete a creative thesis, which is pretty much what it sounds like 80 pages of polished, publishable creative work (this can vary some if, say, you're a picture book writer or a graphic novelist etc)

I'm in my fourth semester right now which means I'm working on my creative thesis and means I completed my critical thesis last semester.

When you're done with the paper, then you have to give a 20 min lecture on your topic, which was something I was not looking forward to at all, but then by the time I got there, I wasn't nearly as nervous as I thought I'd be.

So I got up (I was the first to go out of my class) gave my lecture, answered any questions (and I was so glad I was able to answer them. I was worried people would ask me crazy smart questions and I'd be like, bahdunno. But that didn't happen) and then I was done. And I felt great!

The lecture was recorded and I thought I'd share it here in case anyone wanted to watch it or if you wanted to know a bit more about how some kidlit authors create monstrous characters.

 

In Which I'm Back

So I'm back from my residency. And I'm busier then all hell, right now.

A lot of the business is fun stuff, like going to the cabin and hosting a baby shower, or going to the state fair (EEEEEE!! So much good food. Also, if you're FB friends with me, prepare for food photos. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED). But I'm also busy on the writing front as well.

My advisor for my last semester of my MFA (*sniff* final semester sadness), though, is the wonderful, awesome, wickedly smart Swati Avasthi!!

Which is great. I've always wanted to work with Swati and so now I'm super excited that I get the chance to!

So, yeah. Busy time of year. But things will calm down some once we hit autumn.

I hope, anyway.

How about you? Is this a busy time of year for you?

(also, how is it August already??)

In Which There Will Be A Hiatus

As mentioned last week, I am super super busy right now.

And one of those busy reasons is because starting on Thursday is my MFA residency.  Which means no blog posts next week and probably the week after.

But I will have posts for the rest of this week, including a Wednesday Weird for tomorrow, so I hope you stop by!

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month (first day of the month, actual) which means it's time for IWSG.

Co-hosts this week are Charity Bradford, S.A. Larsen, AJ, Tamara Narayan, Allison Gammons, and Tanya Miranda!

I feel a bit like a broken record. I think my last 3-5 IWSG posts have been pretty much the same. I'm worried about time.

I think this is the busiest I've ever been in my life. I'm working on book 2, I'm preparing to go into my last semester for my MFA, and I have to give a presentation on my Critical Thesis in two weeks.

A lot of this stuff has and end date of course. But, of course, then more things will crop up. Like, in a few weeks, I'm done with the presentation, but after that I'll have to start working on my Creative Thesis, which is my MG fantasy. Which, of course, is great! I love it and I'm excited to work on it.
But I still need to finish the draft of book 2, and that obviously has to take priority.

Still, though, once we're into fall, things should hopefully slow down a bit.

But then, of course, come winter I'll have the BOOK LAUNCH (eee!) for ASSASSIN'S HEART.

So I guess that means it's time to put my head down and get back to work. The only way out, as usual, is through.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

Here we are, the first Wednesday in June which means it's time for IWSG

Co-hosts for today's post are  M. Pax, Tracy Jo, Patricia Lynne, Rachna Chhabria, Feather Stone, and Randi Lee

I'm really excited for June. Well, maybe excited is the wrong word. June is the first month in a while where I'll be able to feel like I can breath again.

My semester is over, which means no more homework until July (except for my critical thesis presentation. I have to work on that and have it ready to go for my presentation in early July.) So because the semester is over, it means I don't have to work on more than one manuscript at a time. Which means I can completely focus on my sequel. Which also means I will be pulling out all the stops on it this month and pumping through it as hard and as fast as I can.

Finishing it is the goal. And by goal, I mean THIS IS A THING I MUST DO. Preferably finishing it as fast as possible so I can immediately jump into the revisions I know it desperately needs. The first 80 pages need to be pretty much rewritten. I mean, not from scratch, but my MC completely changed after that, as did a villain, as did her motivations and goals, so all existing scenes need to be changed to reflect those changes, though the bones of the scenes, I think, can stay.

So, yeah. I mean, maybe I should be worried about the amount of work I'm facing, and I am a bit worried, but mostly, it looks easier from where I'm standing since I've been facing this work for a few months now, it's just that before I also had schoolwork to accomplish as well.

Anyway, that's what's up with me. How about you?

In Which I Attended AWP

AWP (Association of Writer's Programs) is an annual conference that roams around the country, landing in a new city each year. And this year it was at Minneapolis, so I registered to go.
Also, since I was a student, my registration cost was vastly cheaper than if I wasn't a student, so that was awesome.

AWP was a three day event, running from nine in the morning until after midnight. I'm not even kidding. There was a party on the schedule every night at the hotel that didn't even start until 10.
I, though, am an old person and so I didn't stay out later than 9pm.

The schedule had like 15-20 panels every hour, so sometimes picking what to go see was a bit of give and take. A couple of my MFA friends were there, though, and some of my MN KidLit peeps, too, so there were times when we were sort of able to split up and then reconvene with stories of what we missed.

Going in, I knew that there would be a lot of great panels by the MN KidLit peeps and the Hamline MFAC peeps. On day one I was torn, did I want to go see the panels my friends and teachers were on? Or, because I see them at school, and locally, did I want to take the opportunity to go see panels I couldn't usually see?

Logic won out and I decided on the latter.

That only lasted for one day.

None of the other panels were as good. And I wasn't the only who thought so. Time and again I heard the same story from others, and as the days went on, the Hamline MFA booth at the book fair got busier and busier as more and more people saw the Hamline panels and then decided to check out the program. Which is awesome. The program is amazing and I would love to see more people apply.

But the other panels. I would be so excited about them. They had titles like "What I Wish I'd Known Before My First Book Came Out" (this is timely and relevant to me, since my book will be out in less than a year) or "Women Writing Darkness: Violence, Villains and Unhappy Endings" (I write a ton of violence and I was so excited to see what other women had to say)

The Women Writing Darkness panel was packed. This photo was before it even filled up.
I did come away with this gem of a quite from Kate Acculia:
"No one ever questioned if Walter White should be respected."

But I would get to the panels and they would fail to deliver on the topic at hand. Women Writing Darkness was less a conversation about the problems we face in regards to publishing (women are "supposed" to write "likeable" characters, whereas men can pretty much write whatever they want) and instead was a panel where the panelists just read parts of their books. Which, I mean, I came away wanting to buy their books (which I'm sure is a bonus for them) but with no greater knowledge or understanding of the topic.

And for the first book, panel. Two of the panelists were poets with small houses, which didn't really help me much, and the one novelist on the panel's first book came out in 1979. I wasn't even born, and to say that publishing has changed a bit since then is just a tiny understatement. Also, none of them actually addressed what they wished they'd known, other than "Have a writing group before you submit anything", which, for those of us who had already sold a book (and the panelists took a poll beforehand. There was a large chunk of us) knew, or complaints about how much social media has to do with marketing now.

Anyway, for the TL;DR crowd (and sorry, this post ran longer than I planned) my MN KidLit and Hamline MFA peeps were the highlight of the conference. By the end of the week their panels were standing room only, something I hope the conference organizers took note of.

AWP may come back in 2020, and if it does, I'm going to try to put on my big girl pants and get on a panel or two myself. Because more than once I was a spectator in the audience wishing I had been on the panel because I had things to say regarding the topic at hand.

How about you? What kind of panels do you like to attend when you hit a conference? Something unexpected? Or the tried, yet true, panels of your colleagues?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month means it's IWSG.

Co-hosts for the April 1 posting of the IWSG will be Suzanne Furness, Tonja Drecker, Toi Thomas, Rachna Chhabria, Fundy Blue, and Donna Hole!
And because this is the first day of April, it means a ton of people are taking their first steps on the A to Z blogging challenge. Not me, though. I'm way too busy right now to deal with that. But good luck to everyone jumping in. The month will be over before you know it.

Things have been pretty much same 'ole same 'ole for me lately. Just tying to keep my head down and get as much writing and work done as possible.

It's been really hard trying to juggle writing two books at once, Book 2 for ASSASSIN'S HEART and my MG fantasy for school. I thought I'd be able to work on one in the morning, and one in the afternoon, but that only worked once.

The problem with switching between stories is, it gives me an opportunity to stop writing for the day, which I almost always take. And then throw in other work that needs to be done (revising my critical thesis, revising my picture book) and it's just too easy for me to say "well, I'll work on that story tomorrow because right now I'll revise stuff because that needs to be done too"

Things went a lot better for me when I hit my page goal for the MG fantasy and then was able to completely set it aside and work on Book 2 alone for a week.

So I don't quite know what the solution is yet. I'm hoping things will go better once the thesis is officially done, but I guess we'll see.

How about you? Ever write two novels at the same time, both with deadlines? Have any tips for me?

In Which I Read BONE GAP And I Think Maybe You Should Too

So, we're half way into March and I'm fairly certain I just read the best book I'm going to read all year.

Yeah. BONE GAP by Laura Ruby* is just that good. You know how you can tell I really mean it? Because I never review books. If you look through my five years of blogging, you'll find maybe one or two book reviews. If you check my Goodreads page, you'll find the same.

Mostly that's because I'm not really good at reviewing books. I'm not good at critical reading, and I'm also not really good at expressing why I like certain things (you can take a look at my end of year best books I read posts and see this is true. They're mostly paragraphs of "this book was great and I lurved it!" without much else).

But I loved BONE GAP so much, that I knew I needed to try to do a review justice. Because I think so many of you would love it too.

When beautiful Roza goes missing, no one believes Finn when he says a man took her, because Finn can't remember what the man looked like.

Roza is beautiful, a fact she's lived with all her life. And she's well aware of how some men treat beautiful women. So when a man takes her and gives her everything she could want as long as she loves him, she tells him no. And continues to tell him no.

But Roza's disappearance haunts Finn, and since he's the only one who believes she's been taken, it's up to him to find her.

BONE GAP was one of those books where I stayed up late reading it, because I couldn't put it down. Finally though, finally, I had to go to bed (you know, because stupid adulthood means responsibilities and junk. That's one thing they never tell you as a kid, that as an adult, you feel like you get even less sleep and you want it even more).

So I went to bed, and I couldn't stop thinking about it. So I woke up early, sat in my living room with my dogs, and finished it that morning. I read it in one day, guys. And, I mean, I do that pretty regularly because if you set aside 4-5 hours a day to read, you can read a whole book. But this wasn't even that. This was taking away from precious sleep because I needed to know what was going to happen. I was that invested in the book.

BONE GAP has so many wonderful things. It has corn that's kind of creepy. It has a man that's more than just kind of creepy. It has cats and kittens, giant dogs and black horses, bees and goats and lambs. And some of these animals are magical, and some of them aren't.

It has beautiful girls and boys and ugly girls and boys. It has girls and boys that need rescuing and girls and boys who rescue themselves.

And, finally it has magic and mystery and people broken by love and people saved by love.

I wish it had been 1,000 pages. I was super sad when it was done. I didn't want to even pick up another book (even though I have a full TBR pile which I'm excited to dive into).

I honestly can't wait until I can read it again.


*Full disclosure - Laura Ruby was my second semester advisor for my MFA. She's just as awesome as her books.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month means it's time for IWSG!


Co-hosts this month are: Chemist Ken, Suzanne Sapseed, and Shannon Lawrence

THIS IS WHERE THE BADGE IS SUPPOSED TO GO BUT BLOGGER IS BEING AN ASS AND NOT LETTING ME UPLOAD ANY PICTURES BECAUSE OF STUPID ASS BLOGGER REASONS.

ahem.

My insecurities this month are the same as pretty much any other month (second verse, same as the first!) Time.

I have so much to do not only for March, but also just this semester in general.

I need the revise my critical thesis for the MFA
I need to revise my picture book for the MFA
I need to start my MG fantasy for the MFA
I need to continue writing Book 2 for ASSASSIN'S HEART

That is a lot of work I need to get done. And I've never written a MG novel before, so that brings with it some unease.

But the solution, of course, is the same as it almost always is: just do the work.

The only way out is through, and all of that.


How's your March looking?

In Which I Had My MFA Residency

January is full of fun things, the most fun of which is my MFA residency. That's when all the students gather on campus for ten filled days of workshopping, lectures, intensives, presentations, readings from faculty and students, banquets and a graduation.

It is so much fun. I love so many of the people in the program, and my class (we call ourselves The Front Row, because that's where we sit) are just the most awesome people. We're really close as a class which makes it even more fun because we all get along so great.

AND, of course, they are awesome, awesome writers. I don't think I convey how great they are, but I seriously have no doubts that they will all be publishing sooner rather than later. And, like, winning awards and stuff.

The Front Row Peeps (missing one who was traveling)

Residency is when we part ways with our semester advisor, too, and get a new advisor. It's always a bit bittersweet, because you don't really want to leave your current advisor (for me it was Laura Ruby I'd be saying goodbye to. She was so awesome and I loved working with her (also, she has a new book coming out next month--BONE GAP. Buy it, guys. It's going to so amazing. SO AMAZING) but you're also excited to see who you get for your new advisor (you get to submit a list of faculty you're interested in working with and then the powers that be pair you up with one of them).

This semester I'll be working with the wonderful Phyllis Root! I had her as one of my workshop faculty this residency and she was great and I'm so excited to work with her. She's already making me write a Picture Book, which I'm excited for (and maybe already wrote the draft for).

I'm officially half way done with my MFA, which is exciting, yes, but also pretty sad. It's so much fun and I love it so much that I don't want it to ever end.

Insecure Writer's Support Group

First Wednesday of the month means it's time for IWSG!

co-hosts for IWSG this month are Gwen Gardner, Dolorah, Sarah Foster, and M. Pax!

So yeah, as usual I'm feeling pretty good. I think the beginning of the month must generally be a pretty good time for me because I feel like a lot of these posts are me shrugging my shoulders saying "yeah. Things are good right now."

Which is not to say I don't have insecurities. I totally do. But things get resolved, or I address what's making me feel anxious and then let it go.

I'm mildly worried about writing my critical thesis for my MFA. My first draft is due to my advisor by the end of February. Which is plenty of time. But I'm in the middle of another round of edits, so that has to take priority. But those will be done in another week or so, so then it's back to the paper. And I know what I'm writing about and I have my primary sources. It's just getting it all together into something that makes sense which is just bluuurgh.

But, I know once I do it, the biggest hurdle is crossed. Get that draft out and then I can spend next month fixing it.

But then of course there are other hurdles. Writing book 2. Writing my MG fantasy. So, pretty much, a lot of writing. But, of course, that's the good kind of work.

How are things for you?

In Which I Have My MFA Residency

Hey, blog pals.

I'm at my MFA Residency this week, so no blog posts for me. Have a great week!

 

IWSG

January is just filled with firsts.

And here were are, at the first Wednesday of the month, which means it's the first Insecure Writer's Support Group of 2015.

And things are going pretty good for me. Yes I have a lot of work to do on a lot of different things (book, sequel, edits, school and my Critical Thesis this semester) but the Holidays seem to have mostly rejuvenated me, like I hoped they would.

Later this week my MFA residency starts and I'm super excited for that, especially to see all my friends again.

So I guess this is kind of a throw-away post. I'm not feeling insecure, really, about anything at the moment. Though I'm sure that'll change at some point.

How are things going for you?

 

In Which The End Of The Year Is Near

I always like when the year comes to the end in regards to blogging, because it sets me up for some easy posts in the new year (best books I read, goals I met, new goals, etc). But the end of the year is kind of a pain because I'm not sure what to talk about.

Mostly I'm just gearing up for my January Residency for my MFA. I'm really excited for it, and so pretty much I just feel like I'm biding my time until residency. I'm really hoping this week we get our workshop assignments so I can see which students I'm workshopping with (really hoping I get some of my classmates this residency) and which faculty. And then diving into everyone's workshop submissions.

And I'm working on my sequel. It's slow going, which is frustrating, and I think it's because I'm just waiting for residency. But I really need to nip that in the bud and buckle down and get to work. Especially now when I don't have any homework for my MFA or other demands on my time.

I just need to NaNo that book, I think. And it was my plan to write a lot of it during NaNo but edits interfered so that plan didn't get off the ground. But, what can you do? Just keep going forward.

How about you? Gearing up for the end of the year? Or the Holidays? Working on a new project?

This has nothing to do with anything. Just thought it was cool

 

In Which 2014 Was Awesome And Is Almost Gone

I can't believe we're already into December, and that Christmas is only a few weeks away.

Where did 2014 go? Wasn't it just summer?

Sigh.

But 2014 was a killer year for me. I landed and agent. I got a book deal. I started my MFA (which, honestly, was one of the best decisions I've ever made)

I'm officially done with my second semester. My next residency is in January and that will launch my third semester, which is when I have to write my critical thesis, a 30 page paper examining an element of craft.

I'm both looking forward to it, and dreading it. Looking forward to it because I want to write about monstrous characters.

Dreading it because I'm not actually looking forward to writing the paper. Or presenting it in the summer.

 

But, once it's done, that means no more paper writing for me! So that's another bonus.

But, also, my MFA is going sooo fast. Too fast, actually. I feel like the end is in sight, and that makes me sad because I love it so much.

So, what's up with you? Are you ready for the holidays? Utterly shocked that there's only a few weeks left in 2014?

Insecure Writer's Support Group

So, I totally missed last month's IWSG. I just completely didn't realize it was the first of the month or something.

My bad.

But here we are! The first IWSG for fall 2014. I cannot believe how fast the year is going.

As I mentioned on Monday, and a few weeks ago, I have been crazy busy. I knew going in that September was going to be my hell month, and it more or less was.

I had edits for All That Remains to finish up. I also had a bunch of pages on my still untitled WIP to turn in for my next MFA packet (that's due on Friday) as well as a ten page paper to write.

I probably should have been super stressed and junk. But surprisingly I wasn't. I mean, I could kind of feel that it was there, just hovering behind me, waiting. All "hey, are you suuuure you don't want to have some sort of stress freakout?"

But I was like, eh, no thanks. Instead I think I'll put my head down and get back to work.

I had definitely reached the point, though, where I had so much work that the only way out was through it. Which is in general I guess a good attitude to have. And honestly, if I had that attitude all the time things probably wouldn't stack up as much (though, to be fair, September Hell Month was just a timing thing and not brought about by slacking or anything.)

On the plus side about getting through September is now I have a bit of breathing room.

Until November that is, when NaNo starts. And yes I'm participating this year. I have a sequel to write. Which means my goal for October is to try and finish my WIP.

Will I be able to? Guess it's time to find out.