Summer is over.

Record heat. Earthquakes. Hurricanes.  It’s been an eventful few months in New York City.  Despite the excitement, here’s what I managed to accomplish in August, by the numbers:

1 trip (to visit family in Seattle and do research for my next novel)

2 critiques (a short story for one writing group and a novel for another)

3 attempts to overcome an unusual bout with writer’s block (3rd time’s the charm!)

4 new lectures prepared for the class I’m teaching this fall (ANTH 241: Aztec, Maya, and Olmec).  Since the semester consists of close to 30 lectures, I’ve got a loooong way to go on this one 😦

5 chapters written to bring the first rough draft of ABSENT to it’s conclusion

and

6 books devoured (Deathless by Kat Valente, Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry, Taking the Fifth by J.A. Jance, Fool Moon by Jim Butcher, Hammered by Kevin Hearne, and Grave Peril by Jim Butcher).

Looking ahead to September, I’ve got some fun travel lined up and lots of teaching to dive back into.  I hope to get a few new short stories going, and after a wee break to let my brain percolate, I intend to dive back into ABSENT and do some major revisions and rewriting.  BLOOD RED SUN is still out to agents (querying is turning up an encouraging number of partial requests and plenty of waiting) and I’d love to get a little outlining done on my next novel.

What big check boxes did you hit in August?  What got left undone?  And what does September hold for you?