End of the Quarter
"March's update: managed two trips, explored writing challenges, shared some excellent reads, and revealed a story in an upcoming anthology!"
March 2026
Hey Friend!
It’s been a busy month this March, I had two trips and so I wanted to say a little but about that. I don’t travel often for work but somehow I managed two trips with a week in between. For many writers, it can be difficult to be out of your routine and still manage to get your words done. That was the case for me this month!
On a normal month though I do a few things to make it easier:
First, start before you’re traveling, which is to be flexible about writing. You’ve heard about writers who have to have a specific routine to be able to write e.g. the perfect move, a cup of coffee or their favorite pen. Make sure that as you build your own routines, you don’t put yourself in a place where you’re unlikely to write unless you have the perfect situation. That almost never happens anyway
Pick a time and stick to it. Look at your travel plans. Where are you going, and when are you likely to be busy? Then pick the time you’re going to write. If you’re like me and have work travel, you might not always know what time your evenings will wrap up, but you can guarantee that you can get at least a little writing done first thing in the morning.
Set smaller goals. You may have guessed from that last bullet that I don’t think you should be planning marathon sessions unless your travel is to write. Set yourself a bite-size goal, making it all the easier to meet.
Give yourself a break. No matter how much you try to get yourself in the right space and mind frame etc., you may not be feeling writing. That is ok. Give yourself permission to just take a break and not spend your time overthinking how you’re not getting writing done.
You may have guessed, but I didn’t finish strong this month. UD is done, but it’s held together with gum and string. Sometimes its just like that. I finished with 60, 226 words and the knowledge that I have so much more to write if I ever come back to this project.
I’m taking an intentional break in April and I’m hoping to come back in May ready to write a novella. I’m trying to honor the fact that writing isn’t feeling easy right now and that beating myself up about not writing isn’t serving me either. Sometimes that happens. Take the time when you need it.
I did some more querying, and I’m down to 30 left to hit my goal, so we’ll see what happens in Q2!
2026 Goals
1/3 Long form projects
UD: Complete at 60,226
70/100 queries
0/1 non-fiction essay submitted
A repeat from previous months but still true:
I haven’t been anywhere friends but can I introduce you to A Seat At The Table Books? You’ve heard me talk about this place before and I share a lot of their posts on socials. This is one of my local indie bookshops that is so so much more than that. It’s queer-owned, family-friendly, and so much more than a bookstore. They run a multitude of book clubs, writing events and offer their space as an event space (Check out the trivia!). It’s super community focus, its home to a community pantry, is a drop off point for NorCal Resists! donations and do a lot of educational work with their nonprofit arm. Thats to say nothing of their robust collection of diverse books and the amazing local authors they bring in all the time. Even if you’re not in the Sacramento/Elk Grove area, you can order from them online and keep an awesome indie bookstore and community third space alive. I love this place and I hope you will too!
I’m so excited to share the cover to the anthology Forged in FIYAH: Celebrating Ten Years of Black Speculative Fiction Edited by DaVaun Sanders which I have a story in! You can pre-order at the link above or anywhere else you like to get your books. So grateful to have been asked! The book will be out this September.
I’ll also remind you that Shatter the Sun will be out this may and you can pre-order that anthology (where I also have short story) here.
Reading
 | I’ve been following the Wayward Children Series from the beginning and continue to enjoy the series as we go on. I like the interconnectedness and the back and forth that McGuire does between characters we don’t know from the world and those we have prior knowledge of. This one followed an unknown girl who just wants to be herself and not be forced to become someone else to be loved. |
 | Adrift in Currents Clean and Clear got me in the mood for more novellas so I returned to one of my favorite worlds, The World of the Five Gods. Penric’s Fox is the third book in the Penric and Desdemona series and I enjoy being back in world of Chalion. Penric and his demon are always getting involved in unique adventures making them fun and fast. |
 | Reading an anthology in on my reading goals for the year and I was excited when this one came up in my holds. I don’t know about you but reading about other people resisting brings such good energy to me. It makes me think about whats possible and you know the best things happen in the possibility. |
Are you on StoryGraph? That’s where I’m doing all my tracking. Come find me.
Looking for a new audiobook platform that’s not going to support B*zos? Check out Libro.fm (this is a referral link).
Watching
 | I’ve been feeling sort of quiet vlogs and I loved coming across Plus-size content creator Emma Arletta. She’s got a cool vibe, is confident in herself and has some interesting fashion looks that I might not have considered. If that sounds interesting, definitely check her out! |
 | Another youtuber who I happened to come across is Miss Jemima. She has a fashion, beauty etc. page but I found her through her fit channel. Miss Jemima has similar fitness goals to me though she’s going about them in her own way. I’ve appreciated getting food ideas from her and just getting into her brand of fitness vlogs. |
 | We loved Jury Duty so much, it was funny and charming so when we heard it was back with a different premise we were super excited. So far we’ve watched one episode but I know we’re in for a good time. If you didn’t watch Jury Duty, it follows one person through a pretty routine task except instead of being with just a bunch of other folks doing this basic task they are actually surrounded by actors. Its very funny. |
Listening
This is the Utter Destruction Playlist and its mostly songs about revenge which for some reason are majority about bad breakups. That’s the not the vibe of the book but the energy of kickassness and you’re going to get yours certainly is.
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