Dancing In September and Seasonal Writing Goals
Hello, readers!
It’s September! This is the time of year where I’m constantly playing “September” by Earth, Wind & Fire because - well, it’s literally September, and the month’s name is the song!
September can feel like the time to make a fresh new start, a new beginning, since it is the start of the academic school year. With that in mind, I did make some new writing goals - more on that in the section below!
What Am I Writing Lately?
I just shared my newest writing update on my website at the beginning of this month!
In this post, I discussed having seasonal writing goals. I think this will be a better way for me to share my goal setting and progress with my fellow readers. Plus, considering how fast I usually reach monthly goals, I might as well try to make goals that span entire seasons vs. ones that last a month or less. Granted, I could still complete all those goals in way less time than the season allows. We’ll see what happens.
Since posting the writing update, I finished one round of edits for my magical girl-themed short story collection, “Stay Magical!” The collection is now being read by beta readers. I hope to get their feedback soon so I can start a new round of edits based on their comments. Thanks, beta readers!
I also have:
Drafted new poems and short stories.
My poem “Snowflakes” is featured in Poetic Reveries’ literary magazine!
Poetic Reveries released a literary magazine back on Sept. 7th (this past weekend). My short poem, “Snowflakes,” is one of the featured poems!
Please note: All the authors were listed by their Instagram handles, and mine is @clarislamauthor.
Click here to check it out, and read all the other poets’ works as well! Happy reading!
What Have I Done Other Than Writing Lately?
I reached over 280 followers on Bluesky! Thank you to everyone for your support!
In the past few weeks, I also have:
Made a few changes to my author website! When your cursor above the “Published Works” tab, you’ll see a separate section for my published “Poetry & Short Fiction” now!
Created some more motivational writing reels, like this one!
What Have I Heard Lately?
I want to recommend a podcast this time, and this time it’s “Wish I’d Known Then…For Writers,” hosted by authors Jami Albright and Sara Rosett.
This podcast interviews self-published authors about how they found success and the lessons they learned in their writing journeys. As a self-published author myself, it was fun to listen to their insights.
Some episodes I recommend are:
“Jessie Kwak On Finding Joy In The Writing Process And Cross-Genre Marketing Tips”
“Steffanie Holmes On Skeleton Drafting, Rebranding, and Kickstarter”
What Have I Been Reading Lately?
I was very lucky to receive a copy of TJ Klune’s “Somewhere Beyond The Sea” as an early Christmas gift. No, I don’t mean by an advance reader copy, but I received an actual official, finished copy before its official release date of Sept. 10th! A big THANK YOU to the person who gifted it to me!
Given that the release day is literally today (the day that I’m sending this newsletter to all of you), I won’t share spoilers here. However, it was a amazing follow-up to “The House On The Cerulean Sea” by the same author and does a great job of expanding on the Cerulean Sea literary universe and characters. This book focuses on Arthur Parnassus as the main character. It also introduces a couple of new characters, but I won’t say who they are so I don’t risk spoilers.
Other recent reads include:
“The Killing Circle” by Andrew Pyper
“The Crystal Tree” by Imogen Elvis
“Ghoulfriends Just Want To Have Fun” by Gitty Daneshvari
“The Homecoming” by Andrew Pyper
