My January review against plan is as follows:

  • Finish off chapters 2, 3 of my book and draft chapter 4. Yup, very pleased with myself for having done first four chapter drafts, and have squeezed a first edit of chapter 1 too. Lots more editing needed.
  • At least 1000 words of new nature writing, over and above my book chapters.  Spent quite a bit of time this month writing a 2300-word investigative journalism piece about an aspect of plant conservation for an assignment for my MA in nature writing. This is a new thing for me and it’s fair to say I had to learn how I went along but I’ve has some interest for a journalistic-style pitch so fingers crossed. I also wrote a 1200-word article for a commission and posted four Suburban Wild Diary blogs.
  • 4 pitches (or competition entries) For two outlets I pitched to I’m in negotiation and hopefully will be able to convince the editors to convert them to commissions, fingers crossed. I pitched to three further outlets and heard back from one of them with a ‘no thanks but here’s some detailed advice for future pitches’, the second with ‘interesting and well-written pitch, let me try it on my editorial team’ and no response from the third despite chasing twice.
  • 700 Twitter followers Hurray, current number of followers is 711.
  • 50 followers for this blog Current number is 51.
  • Botany learning plan to support creative writing: I’ve nearly finished creating about 600 photo flashcards and have got in a nice rhythm of testing myself on a subset every morning .
  • Anything else? I published my January nature-writing newsletter as planned. I also submitted a grant application and should hear the outcome at the end of Feb.
  • This month’s online inspirations Alex Morss brave, brilliant and balanced article on trophy hunting and conservation, El Rhodes endless positivity and Sian Meades-Williams energy.

My February plan is as follows:

  • Finish chapter 5 first draft and a first edit of chapter 2. (Talk to my mentor about when I should pitch the book proposal to literary agents)
  • At least 1000 words of new nature writing, over and above my book chapters.  Include pieces for my Suburban Wild Diary posts and commissioned articles.
  • An increase to 6 pitches (or competition entries) with at least two of them to outlets I haven’t been published by previously.
  • 800 Twitter followers (up from 711)
  • 55 followers for this blog (up from 45)
  • Botany learning plan to support creative writing: Find online workshops and learning for habitats which I won’t get to see near London, eg. dunes, mire/bog etc
  • Anything else? Publish my February nature-writing newsletter. Look for new grant funding opportunities