July has been a crazy month.

There's been a few minor wins, and a lot of major setbacks to talk about in this monthly update. Most of it down to unfortunate timing and there isn't much that can be helped in that department.

In short, I had four major things happen in July. The first was Camp NaNoWriMo, the second was getting a promotion at work that came with three events that need planning, the third was participating in NYC Midnight's Flash Fiction Challenge, and the last was moving house. It was a perfect storm of so much to do, so little time.

Why so busy?

While I enjoy event planning and have a strong background in it, it is a tremendous amount of work, on top of some things I already had going on. Working full time left very little time for writing, which also had to compete with packing and routine housework for my free time in the mornings and evenings and weekends. One of those weekends I dedicated to the Flash Fiction Challenge (though I did that quite gladly, it's a wonderful contest and I had a blast writing my entry!), and now our intended new home has fallen through and is probably going to end up being a major pain at this point. We're scrambling to sort out living arrangements for next month, with some very promising leads. So without further ado, here's what was accomplished:

Photography:

I had a lovely shoot at Lincoln Castle and Lincoln Cathedral, bolstered by a few shots around Lincoln in general and some by London Waterloo. I've already started posting these on my Instagram, and started a travel-only Instagram featuring a tiny pink bunny. Follow my personal 'Gram for bees, cats, and highlights from my photo shoots. Follow the bunny for his travel blogging.

I've also signed up for several stock photography sites. You'll soon find my work for sale on several websites, such as: Dreamstime, Alamy, Crestock, and Photo Dune. Watch this space for links.

Writing:

I didn't reach my word count goal for Camp NaNoWriMo, but I wrote 16k words for my first draft of Nushada. I'm still proud of that, because it's 16k words I didn't have written previously, and it's still an impressive amount in a short time span. I'm finding it particularly cathartic, and I still want to, and plan to, have it ready to query by 2018 (Agents...).

I did complete the first round of the NYC Midnight Flash Fiction Challenge. You can read that here, if you're interested, and I'll be finding out how I did before the next round in September, which is fine by me as it gives me a month to recover from July.

That pretty much covers all major developments this month, and I have high hopes for August. I want to continue working on Nushada, take more photos, and continue to brush up on my flash fiction skills. Until next time, kiddos!