My September review against plan is as follows:

  • Finalise non-fiction book proposal and write a chapter: I have finalised about three quarters of my book proposal and written and edited the first chapter. I still have the competitive title analysis to complete but I’ve settled on the related books I’m going to write about.
  • Put in place my botany study plan. I’ve made a good start on this, mapping out the topic areas I need to cover but there’s more planning to do in October when I’m also going to focus on rushes, sedges and grasses
  • 1000 words of new nature writing. This was easily achieved with my 3500 word book chapter as well as 671 words of Sunday Nature Worship.
  • 4 pitches (or competition entries) two achievable, two aspirational: I pitched or submitted entries for the following:
    • Feature for a major magazine – no response yet
    • Moth nature writing competition
    • Mslexia short story competition
    • Nature book review for a membership magazine – accepted
    • Article for Mslexia blogability – no response yet
    • Guest blog for Mark Avery website – accepted and published
  • 500 Twitter followers: I now have 465 up from 312
  • 40 followers for this blog: I now have 37 up from 32 last month

The big focus for October is finishing my book proposal, writing chapter two and getting my botanical learning seriously underway which will underpin the book. So my October plan is as follows:

  • Finish book proposal and write a chapter 2: I’m going to tie in my competitive book analysis with a Uni assignment due in November
  • Botany plan to support book writing: I’m going to create 100 flashcards of unfamiliar species, consolidate my grasses/rushes/sedges knowledge and start working on botanical vocab.
  • 1000 words of new nature writing, over and above my book chapter. In October I’m going to aim to write each of my Sunday Nature Worship blogs in the style of a Guardian Country Diary entry, so around 270 to 300 words.
  • 4 pitches (or competition entries) two achievable, two aspirational
  • 600 Twitter followers (up from 465)
  • 42 followers for this blog (up from 37)