Skip to content

M.J. Fifield

Author. Reader. Insomniac.

Menu
  • About the Author
  • Books
    • Effigy
      • Effigy Playlist
    • Second Nature
      • Second Nature Playlist
    • Full Circle
      • Full Circle Playlist
    • Adventures In Babysitting
    • Threnody
    • Love & Other Lies
      • Love & Other Lies Playlist
    • Terrible Romance Sequel
      • Terrible Romance Sequel Playlist
    • The Third One
    • Retail Rhapsody
    • How Many Angels
      • How Many Angels Playlist
    • Solstice
      • Solstice Playlist
  • Contact
  • Editing Services
Menu

January Recap and February Fun

Posted on February 4, 2026February 3, 2026 by M.J. Fifield

Though it lasted approximately 5,000 years, January finally came to an end. Seriously, I don’t know why January has to be so January about everything every year. It’s like an entire month of Mondays, and this January was particularly awful for just so many damn reasons.

So many damn awful reasons that it feels…damn awful for me to be here saying, “Look at what I did this month!” But I guess…look at what I did this month?

Here’s the more specific breakdown of word counts and other project-related whatevers:

Two notable things in the WIP department. First, I somehow manage to add 421 words to the Terrible Romance Sequel—a manuscript that’s been in the drawer since the end of 2025. And what’s more—I honestly have no idea what I added/changed. Here’s hoping it was good, though. I’ll find out this month…(more on that in a minute.)

The second notable thing is the progress made on Full Circle. This project has been in the doldrums for a while now, as I spent 2025 attempting (and failing) to figure out how to fix some issues with the story. I eventually stopped looking at it altogether last year, but took it out of the drawer in January, I muddled my way through some changes, found a place for my long-desired and totally necessary Dancing Queen reference (IYKYK), and accomplished enough that I felt okay saying that this latest round of edits/revisions was complete…for now. I’m not convinced that one of the storylines is where it needs to be yet, but the manuscript needs to sit in a drawer for a while so I can go back and look at it later (probably not before May) with fresher eyes and see how it feels then.

So that was January. Here’s what’s on the books for February:

Of note here:

The Terrible Romance Sequel: This is meant to be the ‘final’ read-through with an eye toward publication in April. I won’t be able to start reading it until after Valentine’s Day, so I don’t know if I’ll finish the read-through before the end of the month, but we’ll see. I also don’t know how I’ll feel about the story, so that’ll be interesting, too.

The dreaded public speaking engagement: Yep. For some reason, I was asked to give a presentation/workshop-type thing to a local writers group…and for some reason, I said yes? I’ll be talking about Deep POV. In theory, anyway. I suppose there’s an equal (if not greater than…) chance that I’ll just freeze, deer-in-headlights style, or faint, or something instead. But I guess we’ll see what happens there, too.

So, that’s what’s happening in my corner of the universe. Tune in next month to find out how it all went. Or didn’t go, as the case may be.

I am, incurably, still me, after all.

Thanks for stopping by. Be safe and well, all.

4 thoughts on “January Recap and February Fun”

  1. Madeline Mora-Summonte says:
    February 4, 2026 at 10:05 am

    Well done on all you accomplished in January-the-month-that-seemed-endless!

    You’ve done a number of these kinds of events, and you always worry you’re going to run or hide under the table or something, and you always do fine. You’ve got this! 🙂

    Reply
    1. M.J. Fifield says:
      February 4, 2026 at 12:34 pm

      I don’t know, though. This event is different. I’m not just one of a sea of authors. I’ll be the person standing at the front of the room that everyone is looking at and expecting to know something about writing. Gulp.

      Reply
  2. Samantha Bryant says:
    February 4, 2026 at 12:22 pm

    I always appreciate your humor about the pain and pathos of a writing life. Congratulations on a month that had some pretty impressive accomplishments! @samanthabwriter from
    Balancing Act

    Reply
    1. M.J. Fifield says:
      February 4, 2026 at 12:34 pm

      Thank you! 🙂

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Follow M.J. on

Follow M.J. on FacebookFollow M.J. on InstagramFollow M.J. on GoodreadsFollow M.J. on Pinterest

NOW AVAILABLE!

The First Installment of The Coileáin Chronicles

The Coileáin Chronicles Continued

See How The Terrible Romance Series Started

Recent Posts

  • January Recap and February Fun
  • New Year, Same Me
  • The Big Push
  • Halfway Checkpoint
  • Edits, Revisions, and the Dancing Queen Conundrum

Archives

  • February 2026
  • January 2026
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • January 2025
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2018
© 2026 M.J. Fifield | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme