ellenmillion

In June:

I wrote about 6k on All Manner of Hats, 1000 words on Wolf's Instinct edits, 5k on The Dragon Prince's Secret, 2k on Green Valley Christmoose Diasaster, and 1k on the flamingo book I'm not writing. 15k is actually a lot more than I expected to get, or thought I had written. They're all over the place, but they are words!

I did finish an edit pass of Wolf's Instinct and All Manner of Hats and they are out to editors.

I published Her Finister and Breakup.

Smut Report reviewed Prompted 2.

I had a BookBub featured deal for The Royal Dragons of Alaska box set 1 and hit 157 in the Amazon store!

I drew 30 tiny unicorn artcards for Junicorn.

Goals for July:

Publish The Neighbors Might Talk, All Manner of Hats, Hare Today (in Furever Tails). 20k on Firebird of Glass. Fulfilment of Junicorn orders. Serial of Abruptly a Bear at Patreon and Vella.

30k words written, most of it on The Dragon Prince's Bride. (It. Will. Not. End.)

Published "Something in the Water" in New Year, New Boo: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08P3X7BW8/

Wrote and published "Safe," a bonus story for Fae Shifter Knights. Redesigned the covers for the series.

Wrote a Shifting Sands short story (no eta on when this one will be available...).

Daughter is back in (home) school so teacher-mom is back on duty.

Made a lot of very hard decisions and went for some loooong, cooooold walks.

February goals:

Finish The Dragon Prince's Bride (52k now and no end in sight...). I'd like to finish it this week and get it into revisions, but I am trying to be reasonable with myself. (I am, however, not good at being reasonable with myself.)

Finish Fire Control revisions.

Get laptop repaired.

Coordinate Sketch Fest final blowout for March. I've ordered some fun prizes, including sets of my favorite pens and million dollar chocolate bars, because why even have this name if I'm not going to have fun with it?

Shifting Sands: Figure out how to launch an audiobook. Start moving on the t-shirts/postcards.

July was a mixed bag, as most of them are.

I wrote just a little over 25,000 words, spread out over seven short stories (mostly Shifting Sands and one for Green Valley) and four novels. Most of that was on Gryphon of Glass, but I also finished adding scenes to The Dragon Prince's Librarian, started The Dragon Prince's Bride, and Shifting Sands Academy (possibly to be The Bear in the Library...and then the Dragon in the Science Lab and the Gryphon in the Gym, etc).

It wasn't my 30k goal, but it was a lot of words, and a lot of things FINISHED. I finished my personal round of revisions on DPL. I also revised the entire Tropical Tails collection, and the Christmas collection for Shifting Sands. I also did edits on a short lesfic for an anthology and outlined another.

I also got all of the #Junicorn artwork orders filled and paid the Food Bank $621, which delights me.

I started working on #magicalpets art cards mid-month, and have completed five (I expect the two on my desk will be finished today, bringing my total to 7)! I'm not making this a specific challenge like #junicorn - if I do 30, that's awesome, but I probably won't. I'll close off commissions at the end of the month, or sooner if I get swamped. You are welcome to send me photos of a pet you'd like to see with wings or magical trappings, no obligation to buy the finished product, but you get first dibs. Requests and prompts welcome.

This is, obviously, one of my August goals, to do more Magical Pets.

Also: 20k in various words. I have the first two readers' notes for DPL, and I suspect a chunk of this will be two or three new scenes in this book. The rest will be in Gryphon of Glass, which I hope to finish/revise in September and release in October. If I have spare energy or need a break, I want to finish the first chapter of The Dragon Prince's Bride, and write a short Royal Dragons prequel story as a reader magnet.

And...that's it? I may release a book this month, or they may go out in September. It depends on how smoothly edits on DPL and Tropical Tails go, and what the rest of the Zoe schedule is, and what airplanes fall out of the sky on the house...oh, and how the start of school goes, too.

We're signed up for distance learning, and I have no real idea what that's going to look like, like 90% of the parenting world right now. I am doing my best to be zen about this!

I guess that's it! Do you have big plans for August? Any accomplishments from July you'd like to share?

MARCH REVIEW

I swear this month went faster than Februrary.

My biggest release was the Alaska Animals Translations (eeeee!), which was the accumulation of three years of work. There was much squeeing. I am contracted for a second book!

I also wrote 31k, mostly on Tropical Lion's Legacy (and associated untitled short story I hope to finish today), but also on Run and on Bearly Tolerable, which has a good start and is outlined to the end.

I survived Spring Break (barely).

I noodled some artwork for Sketch Fest and mocked up one cover and am 80% done with the pencil work for a portrait of Mal that is full of spoilers.

I released a 10-page hunky shifters coloring book download on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/listing/676772560/hunky-male-shifter-coloring-pages-for

I did not get anything done for Fatemakers, which was the only other thing on my to-do list for the month, but it was a rollercoaster month in a lot of ways, so I'm really happy with what I did do.

PLANS FOR APRIL

* 3 pages for the 2nd Alaska Animals book
* Publish Lion's Legacy
* Revise Tropical Tiger Spy and launch changes
* 30k (1k a day) in writing total, spread out over whatever projects, with 20k earmarked for Bearly Tolerable so it's finished in May.
* Some other art progress of any kind.

Sketch Fest is scheduled for Friday!

I was fairly lax with my August goals, because I've been face-down in burnout and barely smart enough to recognize that I needed a little time off. I also traveled for a week to see my folks (GREAT visit), and school started for Guppy.

And I did okay with those goals! Girl Nest Door only didn't come out this month because of technical difficulties out of my control, and anyway, it's scheduled for this weekend so I'm counting it as a checkmark for August.

X Release Girl Nest Door - queued for Sept 2 release
X Release Shifting Sands Box Set 2
X 1 Torn World short story
X 1 shifter coloring page (finished and scanned, but not yet released)
o Finish NDA art stuff (caribou and 2 translation pages) - caribou is about 3/4 done
o 15000 words on Dandelion Spring - 12k
o 1 print volume of something
X Get Scarlet and the Christmas Kittens in for revisions
X Get #junicorn out

I'm wibbling about the print volume. I'm thinking maybe Rails, but it would be pretty much for vanity only - I wouldn't expect to make a lot on them. Maybe that's a good enough reason? I don't think I'll do anything fancy or include illustrations.

Goals for September to follow. It will include finishing Dandelion Spring. And the NDA art stuff. And some legwork for the 25th anniversary of EMG in October. Look for more on that topic soon!

A roundup of monthly accomplishments!

Artwork

5 pieces for Sketch Fest: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestartist.php?id=9&page=2&date=92

I won #inktober!


Several big, complicated pieces, and a few easier or rougher ones. The last one was really phoned in, but I was so not going to give up when I was that close.

I officially released only a few of these - more would be released in November with the coloring book, and some of them are still on hold pending publication.

Writing

I finished a book! This was the fastest (to date) that I'd completed a book, wrapping up in 6 weeks. I wrote 11k of those words in October.

Other

So. Many. Playdates.
There were many small personal upheavals and minor dumpster fires.
And no snow to speak of, which is very weird for us.

Artwork

3 ACEOs for Sketch Fest: http://www.ellenmilliongraphics.com/sketchfest/sketchfestartist.php?id=9&date=90

It was skycat month at Torn World, and I did four ACEOs (plus a sketch) for the Muse Fusion:


Plus http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=562
http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=565
AND http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=563

And a new portrait: http://portraitadoption.com/portrait.php?id=2999


Writing

I edited my forth Not-a-Book, having finished it the month before. I also released it this month, which meant a certain amount of promotional and administrative work.

I also edited a short story for an anthology, which involved adding quite a lot of words.

I started a short story during the Muse Fusion, to the tune of 1200 words, but it isn't finished yet.


Other


August... was hard. Really hard. I started the month entirely crippled from overdoing it, which comes with a pile of baggage. Kindergarten was an exciting new addition to the schedule. And I was laid low when I lost my beloved dog just a few days after that. It wasn't a surprise - his health had been failing for some time, but that didn't make it less of a blow.

Have you missed some of my creative updates over the last month? I'm doing monthly roundups to try to keep some sense in the chaos!

Artwork

I only did two sketches for the May Sketch Fest, but both of them spanned into full coloring pages that I released at Torn World for Sea Monster Month. Arguing Over Dinner also became my Patreon perk:



I also did this one: http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=554

At Muse Fusion, I did this painting:



I also did two sketches that didn't go anywhere, and two sketches I finished into coloring pages! http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=553 and http://www.tornworld.net/artpageview.php?id=552

And, miraculously, finished this painting that I started last year:



I also did this for a client:



In total, 4 complex coloring pages from sketch to finish, another inked piece, a teeny painting, and I finished a giant painting. Go, me!


Writing

A poem up at Torn World for subscribers from our previous Muse Fusion, "Tokens, Time, and Fire": http://www.tornworld.net/storypageview.php?id=614

I set a goal of 500 words/day, which I didn't quite meet, but I did get a little over 10,000 words written, which is a LOT for me!


Other

Guppy graduated preschool!

Whittled one and one half spoons! So fun! http://hotlink.ellenmilliongraphics.com/ellen/IMG_8901-spoon.JPG

Have you missed some of my creative updates over the last month? I'm doing monthly roundups to try to keep some sense in the chaos! -

Artwork

At Portrait Adoption:

At Sketch Fest, I did 6 (!) pieces, 3 coloring page sketches, 2 little paintings (for Torn World, below), and a toned paper portrait sketch (finished as a portrait, above).

For Torn World:

(several more were posted at the site, but they're part of April's update because that's when I released them in my blog.)


I did sketches at the Morris Thompson complex, including this one:


(Patreon patrons got more sketches.)



Writing

STILL NONE. (Okay, I did a little outlining.)


Other

A bear photo of Guppy on her birthday:

I re-coded Torn World to use the database of the rest of EMG. It was a MASSIVE upgrade, and I also added Muse Fusion functionality at the site itself.

I also worked on several projects that wouldn't be released until much later!

Have you missed some of my creative updates over the last month? I'm doing monthly roundups to try to keep some sense in the chaos! - I'm still catching up on these. January was pretty slim - I spent most of the month on vacation!


Artwork

For Portrait Adoption:


One piece for the January Sketch Fest:


Some pieces and photos were also shared with my Patreon Patrons, but a few of them would be shared publicly the following month!


Writing

Nada.

Other

This is my favorite photo:


And I traveled!