progress report

Despite All That 2020 has Thrown at Us

Lynette M Burrows

The pumpkins and witches and goblins are out. That means it’s the end of October 2020. What progress can I report? Well, a lot and not a lot. But it’s 2020, so that has to be okay. And when I looked back at it, October was a productive month in despite all that 2020 has thrown at us and the world. Life Goes On This month my back-up computer died a permanent death. The toilet started running. And my yard improvement project increased my water bill zoomed to the ceiling. Oh, right, and we have cars that need fixed or service and a dog that got injured. (No worries—he’s healing.) Just usual life stuff that normally would be a mild-to-moderate irritant. In 2020—well, I took a deep breath and am addressing each issue as I can.  Making Last month after I finished the rough draft of If I Should Die, the second book of the Fellowship Dystopia series, I let the story “rest.” That means I didn’t look at it and tried not to think about it for four weeks. I studied front and back matter for books. Planned how I’d revise that material in my own books. And I […]

Put One Foot in Front of the Other

Lynette M Burrows

It’s time for my progress report. Happily, September was a much better month than August. But it was also a month where I didn’t reach many of my goals. This year has been like that for many of us. It’s a year when many of us are struggling. Where we are all on a journey of change–a slow, difficult and messy journey. All many of us can do is… put one foot in front of the other.  Making I finished the rough draft of If I Should Die. As far as rough drafts go, I’m happy with it. The past three weeks, I have been identifying weaknesses and strengths of the story. It will probably be another week, maybe two, before I begin edits. That’s when the real fun starts! I’m working on bringing some old stories to life. Still have a couple more hurdles before I can release them. Managing I’ve made a few improvements on this site. Expanded some resources listed for readers and for writers. Figured out a couple of problems with the new mail service. Hopefully that’s the last major hurdle. Now I just need some time to dedicate to finish up the last touches. I […]

My Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Month

Lynette M Burrows

It’s the last Friday of the month and I owe you a progress report. Perhaps the title of this post gives you a hint? My horrible, no good, very bad month says a lot, and yet not enough. And while I’m an optimist at heart, it got a beating this month. It Started Bad The storm of problems that has become 2020 definitely added to the negative side. But those things aren’t responsible for my horrible month. In July, my oldest and tiniest dog, Astro, had brain damage from a seizure or stroke. You can read more about that in my July Progress Report.  As a result, I carried him down the backyard ramp (we have a raised ranch) many times a day during July and into August. I also just sat and held him a lot. Just as August began, I learned that one of my books was on a pirate site. Investigating further, I learned that the only thing you could do on the site was to enter your credit card information. No other links worked. And there was no information available at any of the Whois type of sites. So, I let it go. Thieves will be […]