Welcome to the really really REALLY really late autumn recap post, covering September and October.

I know, I know, that was FOUR MONTHS AGO. We’re in January now, Emma! New year, new goals, who cares about the past!  I care about the past, friends. The past had lots of cool things happen.

I think this is my most overdue blog post ever. But in my defense I had really good reasons to be distracted.

Previously in Adventures

In September, I went on a bat-watching walk! How cool is that? THE COOLEST. We walked along the river Nairn and the local wildlife ranger explained absolutely everything you could want to know about the local bats: the super common pipistrelle bats, the brown long-eared bat, water-loving Daubenton’s bats swooping across the river to hunt. There’s loads more though, and here’s an awesome illustrated PDF about the variety in Scotland.

My birthday happened! I turned 26, and much cake was eaten. You might remember from my ‘Things That Rocked in 2017‘ post that I got a graphics tablet monitor to make 2018 THE YEAR OF PICTURES, and yess, four months on in this glorious future I’m still super-hyped to use it.

This blog post is very timey-wimey, I’m enjoying myself.

Previously in Reading

After frantically cramming for the Hugos before Worldcon, it was time to move on to the beta reading backlog, the library book backlog, and the NetGalley backlog.

The beta reading backlog is in progress, slowly (grah), the library book backlog has been vanquished, and the NetGalley backlog is down to one book. My focus for September is on the overdue beta reads — I have so many wonderful stories to read, and I can’t wait to get to them!

Previously in Writing

August (and the first five days of September, because I totally blew my goal) were a chaotic mess of revising queries and synopses and generally doubting…. but… I did it! I’m back in the query trenches with the giant robots book!

[Hah, okay, reading this post from the future where I’m agented and on sub to publishers is REALLY weird. Spoilers: the query trench return went well! Don’t ever give up!]

It’s had a year of change since my last time querying, and I can’t believe both how long it’s been and how much the story has changed. I’m super excited about what lies ahead for this story.

Previously in Life

I went to watch my first derby match in Aberdeen with the Helgin ladies in the crowd! It was a fab day, though next time I’ll be bringing a thermos flask because the sports hall is freeeezing.

Next Time in Goals

• Read at least two beta reading novels.
• More blogging! Aye, that’s right, you’ll be seeing more of me very soon with some Helsinki photo adventures!
• Revise a manuscript.
• Continue towards my weight loss goals. This month, I hope to reach my lowest weight since I was 16! [And I did!]

A Word of Advice

I saw this photo of Octavia Butler’s journal on Twitter, showing a lot of positive self-talk, and I found it so inspiring. This year I’ve been doing a bit of research into things like mirror affirmations and written affirmations, as well as trying them out, and I’ve found them really powerful. Mirror affirmations in particular seem so ridiculous an idea, but it feels so good to take a moment to make eye contact with yourself and encourage yourself like you would a friend.

So my advice today is: give yourself some encouragement. 

Let me know what you’re feeling proud of in the comments! I can’t wait to hear.