Pulling Rabbits: Reflections on A Story Every Day So Far (September Edition)

I loved writing in September even more than the month before. I feel like I was getting up some momentum, and then bam - hello life, hello day job, hello spanner in the works.

I managed to keep up with the writing, but less with the engagement side of things on here. I aim to catch up in the next week or two.

Sometimes the day wears thin, and I have no ideas and I think... how on earth am I going to keep this streak going? But I sit down with intention and somehow I manage to pull a rabbit out of the hat. A hat that I could swear was perfectly empty moments before (just a normal hat, ladies and gennelmen...)

The Nuts & Bolts

• As of 30th September, it's 274 days in to the yearlong Story Every Day challenge, which started on 1st January. Ninety-two days to go! We are down to double digits and I am freaking out!
• My word count for September: 20,790! That's even more than last month. It includes all my micros, (sans authors notes), my look back at August, my dollar challenge post, several challenge entries, a recipe, some thoughts on writers' block, reflections on recently closed challenges, and musings on the feedback I received on my contest submission. (I have not counted the A Siren's Call because I consolidated three micros for it. I also didn't include White Hole, because I actually wrote that a while ago, and republished it for the challenge. I didn't include my recently created Top Story Index, either, because that just seemed silly.)
• Stats: My monthly peak at my stats showed that my reads are still up.
• Reads: 14,600 all-time reads! Thank you everyone for your support.
• My most-read, most-liked piece in August was my dollar challenge piece. My most-read, most-liked micro was #245 The Hunt.
• Achievements: I got three Top Stories, #245 The Hunt, #256 His Raven, #264 The Wretched Womb.

This Month I 'Ave Mostly Bin Writin'...

Challenge entries!

about witches: Haggard, The Magic of Cookery,

about death: I Wore My Grief, Working Stiff, No Rest For The Wicked,

about dragons: It Takes A Village, The Hunt,

I wrote a lot about toxic relationships. Like A Raven's Wing, His Raven, Raven's Flight, Reset, Capuccino, Two Sugars, Reset, and The Lament of Tristan & Gretchen (AKA, "I'm Gonna Tell Him").

AI/robots: Artificial Emotion,

about psychos: The Last Time

about detective fiction (Suspected Artisan Attack and Thirteen)

Also...

Series: I continued my fantasy series (The Hunt) and my shaggy dog series (Alpha, Romeo, and Hello Doggie)

Wanky poems: I think I wrote ten!

Weird sort-of historical fiction: A Wise Woman Keeps Her Head

Reflection

It's very hard to pick a favourite story this month. I think, if you only read one piece of mine from the last month, please make it A Wise Woman Keeps Her Head. I was so pleased with that one!

What I've Learned

There's always a rabbit.

Goals

Let's have a look at how I did with my goals for September:

• A movie review, book review, a recipe and a round up - well, shit! I managed the recipe!

• Keep up with the daily reading - every day!
• Seize challenge opportunities: I've entered a buttload of entries here, and I've entered elsewhere as well.
• At least one longer piece of fiction (1-3k words, ish) - I managed several in response to the Unreliable challenge
• Reflections on the challenges I entered - done!
• The big one: post before 11PM as often as possible - I think I've managed this almost every day.

Next Month:

• Reciprocate reads (thank you to everyone for your patience and support!)
• Movie review
• Book review
• Recipe
• Dollar challenge piece
• Reflections on challenges I entered
• Continue posting before 11PM
• At least one longer piece of fiction
• Lean into the Halloween skid and try more horror

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Thank you for reading!