Welcome, 2021

(Image by Aamir Daniyal from Pixabay.)

Happy New Year to everyone! Let’s hope we kick this virus in 2021, so that life can return to normal.

I had a lovely long Christmas holiday, almost three whole weeks in the end. And while we were still very busy, I also did quite a lot of navel-gazing.

I’ve been cogitating over the way I structure my working day.

It is clear that I’m at my most productive and creative in the mornings, and I’ve tried to work on my own writing during my morning sessions. But now that I’m ghostwriting, I feel as though I need to utilise my morning time for that.

I’m adamant that I want to do something of my own work every day, but having two different back-to-back writing sessions wasn’t really working, as my imagination needs a bit of a break from the early 1800s to the late 1900s and beyond.

And so I’ve turned the writing part of my working day at least on its head. And where I don’t have any client work to do, I’ll do my own work first.

Here, then, is how my new working day is shaping up:

  • 8am – 9am: Breakfast/Household chores
  • 9am – 10am: Walk the dog
  • 10am – 11am: Warm-up hour (admin, blog posts, emails, social media, diary work, invoices, etc)
  • 11am – 1pm: Writing work (ghostwriting, if it’s in, mine if it isn’t)
  • 1pm – 2pm: Dinner/Daily competitions
  • 2pm – 4pm: Editing/Proofreading (client work, if it’s in, mine if it isn’t)
  • 4pm – 5pm: Cool-down hour (write at least 500 words of my own work, or faffing if I’ve already spent the day on my own work)
  • 5pm – 6pm: Finish work/Loose ends/Household chores
  • 6pm: Tea

This week’s client work includes:

  • Ghostwriting gig #2: 10,000 words per week/2,000 words per day
  • Proofreading gig: 127 pages per week/26 x 2 & 25 x 3 pages per day

I’m also half-expecting editing work in from Hong Kong and India. As those are both little jobs at a time, I’ll fit them in with the main afternoon job.

And my own work for this week:

  • The Beast Within: 500 words per day/2,500 words per week

As my blog post comes under my Warm-up hour, today I’ve already walked the dog. We went up to the duck pond and back, and just as I put the key in the door, it started to sleet.

I’m now going to make a cup of tea, and then start work. I’ll close down all of my social media and my webmail, so that I’m not distracted by notifications.

2 thoughts on “Welcome, 2021

  1. So organised Dianne! I’m afraid I’m not the same, I haven’t done much at all over Christmas and must get out of this now as it gets to be a habit. Hope you have a good new year. Pauline xx

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