What a strange two months it’s been! I was just settling into my new apartment and new routine when, you guessed it, the coronavirus hit. I am sure you all know what I mean when I say it sort of uprooted my life. I am one of the lucky ones through – while being one of the more vulnerable groups, I work from home normally, and I was able to pack up my dog, my cat and whatever else I could fit into my car to come home to my parents’ house when things started to get a little scary.

But that didn’t mean life rolled to a stop – I made plenty of time to take care of myself, refill my creative well that had been drained by COVID-19 anxiety, and write which helped me take my mind off things. Here’s what I did in quarantine:

What I Read

GRAND TOTAL: 5

House of Earth and Blood (Crescent City) by Sarah J Maas 

The Bad Boy’s Girl by Blair Holden 

Break the Fall by Jennifer Iacopelli 

Get A Life, Chloe Brown by Talia Hibbert 

The Happy Ever After Playlist by Abby Jimenez 

What I Wrote

March started off with a bang but ended with a fizzle – right around the time that the coronavirus panic set in. I ended with month with about 15,000 words written which isn’t bad but was lower than planned. But after getting back to my parents house and setting up my computer, I was determined to pick things back up and write like the wind.

I participated in Camp NaNo in April with a few writing friends. It was hugely successful for me when I participated two Julys ago, so I figured why not? I set a pretty high goal – 40,000 words in one month, which I thought would get me to the end of this first draft.

And I made it pretty close! I ended the month with 32,391 new words written. However, I still have seven chapters and an epilogue to write before the draft is finished. I am still really happy with my progress, and this book is coming along nicely! It’s still a hot mess, don’t get my wrong. But I can work with that.

Coming Up

Life is slowly getting back to normal here in Texas. Restaurants are opening up, anxiety is going down, and I am even going back to my own house next weekend. I am looking forward to getting my own life back to normal as well too, despite how grateful I am to have had a safe place to shelter these past six weeks.

I have one big goal in May: finish this draft. I am planning to enter Pitch Wars again in the Fall, which means I need to get a few rounds of revisions under my belt between now and September. If I can get this draft done in May and plan out my revisions, I can hopefully get those knocked out in June and in the hands of my beta readers by July 1. That’s the plan anyway.

My to-be-read pile is also getting unmanageably and dangerously high, so I’m hoping to get a little reading done. I also know I’ve been telling you guys for months that I would get back to blogging more regularly. I am hoping to make progress on those goals in May as well, but they both take a backseat to writing.

It sort of feels like May 1 is the new January 1 – for this year at least. So I am excited to get started!

How are you all holding up? Has the coronavirus impacted your creativity at all? What are your summer goals? Let me know in the comments!