February flew by, as it could be expected from the shortest month in the year, and it was filled with planned and unplanned things, and it left me stumbling into March like an exhausted witch who has no idea what she should do next and what to catch up with. At the same time, it did feel like I was slowly gaining my momentum, not only putting routines in place, but also adjusting them to accommodate for my irregular and at times routine-disrupting freelance work.
Writing
I still wrote every day, with my aim being 500-1000 words a day. I hoped for more than less, but being stuck in a rewrite that is partially deep-editing and partially writing from scratch, I can’t realistically expect the same word output like with a bran new shiny novel. I still managed to write over 16,000 words, topping the slightly longer January, and got to a total of 70 hours of editing so far.
This also means that the rewrite of my epic fantasy is going well, and I’m in love with the story. Though with the amount of things I’m adding, I would end up with a mammoth of a novel, so I might end up splitting the first book into two. There is a good point in the story for it, offering some answers and resolution, and since this series was never meant to be composed of standalone novels anyway, it might work quite well.
Art
With the freelance work getting in the way, I didn’t have much time for art, but I’ve been tinkering with things you get to see in March. I still had fun with the Wordwitch drawings, though I only managed two (therefore the blog post will bulk the February ones with March update), and I had some fun with the dragonflies that continue to be well-received. I really appreciate the feedback I’m getting as this motivates me to keep going. A special shout out to Lucy Jayne who actively hunts the dragonflies every Friday, and makes me feel moderately guilty when I skip a week.
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Life
My month was freelance work-heavy, with many unexpected and urgent tasks getting in the way of the things I planned. I learned to work around them, and accept the fact that they’ll inadvertently cause delays and detours in my life.
My reading slopped a bit as well, though not for lack of trying. I simply had a bad luck of mediocre books that I ended marking as “DNF’s” so quickly, it didn’t even seem fair to add them to my Goodreads challenge. I still read two books, one of which I greatly enjoyed, and the other proved a pastime satisfying enough to keep going.
As far as my successes go, I kept at my workouts and have exercised every single day in February.
How was your February? Did it go as planned?
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Given that it’s a shorter month, I think you’ve had an excellent month! I’m particularly impressed with your writing wordcount – I only managed a measly 12,000 words in comparison. And that the fact that you managed to exercise every single day – something that has fallen by my wayside, that’s for sure… Glad you hear that you are busy – working for yourself, I’m sure you’d rather it was that way, but I do recall from when my parents were in business, it’s often a famine or feast, when you’re overloaded and pulling loooong hours! I hope that March is shaping up to be as successful – your fantasy novel sounds as if it’s coming on well and I look forward to seeing more of your wonderful drawings in due course:)).
Thank you, Sarah! Your 12,000 words is very impressive – don’t you think I forgot that you have a family that keeps you busy! In comparison, I don’t get distracted that much.
And yes, freelancing is “feast or famine” kind of setting, and I wouldn’t manage it if I was on my own. I’m very appreciative of Inq who takes care of the bills.
So far March have been very exciting, and I’d definitely call it successful. The novel is indeed coming on well – the structure mostly stays the same (I got it “right” the first time around), but I’m applying all the things I’ve learned in the recent years, so it constantly gives me the “it’s so much better” and “it’s going to be great” feelings. 🙂