Another month, another accountability thread! So here’s what was achieved since my last post and my October goals. Some changes since the last post: I decided to set smaller (lol) monthly goals. And I decided to be more holistic about it rather than compartmentalizing everything since all aspects of my being should work together.
August-September Updates
- I submitted my novella in August.
- I submitted five works of short fiction(well, 4 short and 1 flash) in September, which brings the total of submissions for this year to: 36. I doubt I’ll reach 60 submissions in 2025 but I think 50 may still be doable!
- I got another acceptance! I won’t give too many details even though I’ve already signed the contract but it’s a venue that’s published me before and they’re always so lovely so I’m really happy to be back!
- In August, I got an email that I’d received an award from my Uni and on the 9th of September, I received the award during a very grand ceremony. It’s for Watermyth!
- I worked on the Unicorn novella for the Tower of the Rosewater Goblet collection but too slowly. I hope to do better in October.
- I worked on a couple of new short fiction pieces and did revisions on a fistful of others for submission. Hey, I think that counts as progress! Significant progress! I’m excited to submit new short fiction later this year (or early next year. Who knows?!)
- I made a few mock-ups for the Tower of the Rosewater Goblet collection and am leaning into a stylised abstract design for it right now. As a visual artist I’d like to work to my strengths. Life-drawing is not a strength of mine.
- After a month of no sales, 4 copies of Watermyth were purchased in September so we’re now at 125 sales. It’s not much but given how underpublicized the novel has been I think it’s achieved more than my gloomy predictions! Onwards to Rosemirror!
- I completed my examiner reports for two PhD students and attended their viva voces. That took a huge chunk of my time and energy during the semester break so I’m really glad I’ve done my duty.
- I submitted a revised copy of an academic article and submitted another academic article on the last day of September by the skin of my teeth. Not quite the three articles I wanted to submit but better than none!
- Did planning/admin for both my monograph and the Star Wars book but that was about all I was able to do. 🙁
- Blogged fairly regularly on all main blogs and some got decent traffic!
October Goals
- Survive a grueling teaching semester. Although I’m also really looking forward to getting back into the swing of teaching because I love teaching and pedagogical stuff more than I ever thought I would when I was younger.
- Submit another 3-4 articles. It’s doable! I will do my best!!
- Move my Animal Studies/Environmental Humanities (as PI) research grant project forward. We need to meet certain goals/milestones.
- Supervise my PhD, MA and Final Year Project supervisees. I spent a lot of time today making my supervision plan for them and am looking forward to helping them move forward with their research.
- Work on the Star Wars book proposal.
- 5 more short fiction submissions? (is this even possible?!)
- Finish the Unicorn novella and then start editing/revising a couple more Tower of the Rosewater Goblet stories.
- Do some more visual art. Not just for Tower of the Rosewater Goblet but because it’s good for me.
- I’ve actually been in a dreamy Rosemirror state of mind for the past few days so I’m really dying to get back to working on it. So that’s going to be one of my rewards for October.
- Write poetry and try to at least submit some (any number is a good number).
- Record my classical guitar exam video.
- Blog regularly on all main blogs. If not weekly, at least monthly!
Published in Petaling, Selangor, Malaysia, 1 OCTOBER 2025
Curious to read my debut novel Watermyth? Here’s the information on how to purchase the ebook (and how to borrow it from the library) and the print edition.