Jonathan Pongratz

Bookish Conquests & Other Things – May 2021

Hello World!

How have you been this merry month of May? Can you believe it’s already over? Man, this year just keeps speeding by!

Like most months, I had an extremely busy one, so I’ve got a ton of updates for you across the board. Hope you’re ready!

 

Personal Conquests

There have been a LOT of personal developments this past month, so I’ll try to keep it short and sweet.

I had a birthday! I spent lots of time with family and friends thanks to … getting my second COVID shot!

Since then I’ve been enjoying going out a bit more, though it’s a strange adjustment. I’m still social distancing but not using my mask quite as much since Kansas City pretty much dropped all their restrictions everywhere.

Grad school is on the horizon (August/September), and I submitted a request at my local library to volunteer in hopes that I’ll be able to adjust to the new environment my life will be centered around after graduation as well as learn some things in the process. Since I work full time, an internship is impossible. Fingers crossed I get in!

On to the writing front!

 

Writing Conquests

The past few months have been something of a juggling act with writing, but I think things are finally settling down a bit.

This month I exclusively worked on my LGBT Horror novel The Ruins. I wrote the first act’s first draft in about two weeks or so, which ended up being around 15k words. After that I started working on developing the plot in more detail for the second act.

So far I’m on the third chapter of plotting that act and I’m glad I decided to pore over things some more. There’s a ton of details I hadn’t thought of, and it’s really helping to work through some of the issues that have been coming up. I will say, things have slowed a bit when I struggle to work through certain things, but I’m happy with the progress I’m making.

I’m hoping to finish out plotting the second act in depth next month and maybe even get started writing it. If so, that daily word goal will be around 1k like before in hopes of blazing through like I did with the first one.

I’m not really feeling any writer’s block with this story, so until that moment comes I won’t be switching over to any other projects in hopes of finishing this one at an accelerated rate.

Wish me luck!

 

 

Bookish Conquests

This month was a great one for books! I read 6 books and 3 short stories.

 

Something to note is that I will mainly be focusing on the horror genre for my reads going forward, with the occasional scifi or fantasy read. Most of the ones below were considered horror, and I had a lot of fun! To check out the individual reviews, click on the corresponding links below. Hope you’re ready for more horror in June!

Book Review: The Untangled Cassie Black

Book Review: Later

Book Review: Things Unknown

Short Story Review: Beast

Book Review: My Best Friend’s Exorcism

Short Story Review: Fallow Pines

Short Story Review: Something in the Woods

Book Review: Cradle

Book Review: Within the Woods

 

Book Deals

If you love book deals, don’t forget to check out the book deals below before they expire! More to come next month!

Video Highlights

Video time! Had fun with this one. If you’d like to check it out, just click on the video below or go to https://youtu.be/h_U3iN8_mZk.

 

That’s a Wrap!

All right, there goes the merry month of May. How was your month? Did you read something in my conquests? Do you have any recommendations for books? As always, feel free to comment!

Happy Reading, everyone!

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