Happy new year, everybody!
As far as months in 2020 go, December wasn’t a bad one, but things really got derailed for me. As of today, I’ve accomplished just one-and-a-half out of the four goals I set for myself last month;
Firstly, I delayed Shadow Herald‘s release in order to make sure that the final product was as good as it possibly could be. Though it hurt to do, it feels like the best course of action in the long run. But there’s still good news here! I’ve been taking stock of what I need to do and how long it may take, and I’ve got a new release date in mind; May 20th, 2021.
Secondly, I’ve made a small amount of headway on Frostbitten Prophet. The first draft is complete up to Chapter Thirteen, which is two more chapters than it was at the beginning of the month but three less than I wanted. It’s progress!
Thirdly, Frostbitten Prophet‘s advertising, cover, and print format are also underway behind the scenes — work on this will be stalled to focus on Shadow Herald, but I did make progress. Getting this set up is a bit of a long-term goal that won’t come to fruition until the manuscript is complete, but this is a good to get a head start on it.
Lastly, my book design portfolio and the book design service were both stalled by my need to replan Shadow Herald‘s release.
Even if I ran into issues this December, I’m pretty pleased with how far I’ve come during 2020. And now that it’s a new year, it’s time to set new goals. Shadow Herald needs to be finalized! Before February, I want to;
• Revise Shadow Herald’s summary to better reflect its LGBTQ+ nature.
• Finish copy-editing my proof copies and find an editor to proof-read Shadow Herald one last time (I’ve already started on this).
• Revise the print and ebook copies to accommodate the changes made to the text (if I can get it proof-read that quickly; if not, I’ll move this back).
• Decide whether or not to purchase ISBNs (and if I decide that I should, buy them).
• Get a head start on writing emails for my list of reviewers.
If you’d like to support me as a creator, then you can do so by buying me a Ko-fi. Thank you, and have a lovely start to your new year!
J.L. Heeren 
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