We were away last week for a few days, down south in Faversham, which is only a few miles away from the south coast. We drove down on Tuesday, the poet went to work for 2 days, and we drove back on Thursday.
While we were down there, we went to see Whitstable. We’ve been watching Whitstable Pearl on telly, although we’re a series behind Acorn TV, and we thought we’d go and have a look at it. And we quite liked it.
It’s a sleepy little seaside town, although the ‘sleepy’ could have a lot to do with the time of year. There’s a vibrant High Street, even at this time of year, filled with independent and artisan shops. So it had a bit of a bohemian feel. Plus the Christmas lights were up too, which helped set the ambiance.
We’ve added the area to our list of destinations in the camper van, as there are lots of pretty little villages in that part of the country. But it will, of course, be much busier in the summer.
Friday we were both still feeling a bit rough. I did some work, but I can’t remember what. The poet had several Teams meetings. Saturday was shopping day, and we visited the poet’s mum. Sunday we didn’t do a thing.
I spent all of yesterday planning for planning. It’s that time of year when I start to finalise the following year’s plans, but I already have so much in.
I have a novella to write every month, plus a short story to write every month if I stay with 12 Stories in 12 Months, which I probably will as it’s an excellent discipline. I have the bookazine to release 4 times (said she hopefully), and that needs new short stories and, from the July issue, a new novel to serialise.
Then, once the stories and novellas have appeared in the bookazine, they need publishing, first as standalones and then as parts of collections. All those books need covers designing.
I need to start doing marketing work now too. I’m already in receipt of 2 small private pensions (saved and scrimped for in the past) and those plus the interest I earn on the capital of funds locked away comes in at just under what I’d like as a monthly income. Only one client editing job will take me just over that for the whole year, and I already have the first one in for 2025. But everything I’m producing needs to also earn revenue.
I get 2 more small private pensions in 4 years, but I don’t get my state pension for another 2 years after that. The poet starts to get his private and work-based pensions in a year, then his state pension comes in almost 3 years. We’ve calculated that by the time all of the pensions are coming in, we’ll actually be slightly better off than we are now.
(Remember, we’ve both scrimped and scraped and contributed over the years to ALL pensions, not just the private ones and the work-based ones, PLUS we paid tax on our earnings before we made any contributions. The number of people who seem to think a pension is a benefit absolutely astounds me.) (And most of us planned for retirement at 65 too, before the government started to move the goal posts. Older women thought they were retiring at 60!) (Sorry – soap box.)
Ahem! So anyway… Yesterday was all about planning for planning, because I need everything to work harder than ever for the next few years, to save me having to go pitching for work that pays badly just to make ends meet. But I’m feeling a bit whelmed over the number of projects I actually end up juggling for some reason, and I need the planning materials all in one place for everything.
So that planning work will spill over to today while I try and sort out a method that works. I’m keeping TickTick, and I’m keeping my diary. But I need some kind of project planning/management-come-content calendar that’s more efficient than what I have now. The office is very small and shelf space is at a premium, but I’m happy to mix it up.
I know I want a hard copy planner that I can doodle in and brainstorm in and list the projects in, etc. But I think I’ll probably end up getting printables for it or make some of my own while I work out what works. So many planners have too many pages that are of no use to me, but I’ve been watching some videos on how to break these up and maybe make one for myself that works for me throughout.
I can use a 6-hole punch, or a 4-hole punch, or a 2-hole punch, or a spiral punch. I just have to get the first and the last of those. And I can get a spiral puncher that also strips and loads the spiral binder too. I don’t want to be fannying around cutting my own paper, though. Either A4 or A5, and that means either an A4 4-ring organiser, or an A5 6-ring organiser. The printer already prints duplex.
So that’s what I’ve been up to when I still have a novella to write for December and a short story to write for the next bookazine. And we break up on Friday… 😱
Totally with you on the soap box. Since the incoming administration intends to eliminate the Social Security into which I’ve paid my entire life (without giving us what we put in), I will never get to retire.
Hope you’re all feeling better. I fell behind on the marketing the last few days and have to ramp it up again. When I market regularly, I actually sell things. Who’d have thought? 😉
Marketing is something I need to spend a lot of time on in the coming year. It’s been completely ignored, other than the odd blog post being shared.
Your social security looks a lot like our state pension. They look like they both need an overhaul to some extent as they’re both running dry. It’s hard, I know, but I try not to worry about anything until it’s actually happened. It’s better for my mental health and wellbeing and I’d like to think I’d be worrying unnecessarily. Fingers crossed, eh?