March was always going to be a big month, even with a hospital visit and a 2-week convalescence. Then I lost 2 whole days to the tax/NI fiasco as well. I’m still convalescing, but that’s due to end tomorrow. I’d planned some light duties for this week too. But then, those days…I did manage a bit of doodling, and this morning I revisited the plan for March.
I still have a brand-new novella to write by the 31st (15,000+ words). I still have a brand-new short story to write by the 26th (2,500 words exactly). I also have a previous novella to revise and a short story to finish writing, both for the next issue of Words Worth Reading at the end of April. Fortunately it’s easier to edit/revise than it is to write from scratch.
And I still have a client edit to finish.
We also have a Monkey Dust gig and an unexpected trip to the theatre.
So this morning, I revisited the schedule to see what could move along to next month, bearing in mind we have a short road trip in April (business) and a 2-week+ road trip (pleasure). I won’t go into details about those road trips because, well, home insurance.
I’ve moved Project Management for Writers: Gate 3 along (again!) because I only want to work on 2 big projects per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. When I don’t have a client edit in, I’ll work on 2 of my own projects, chosen from the following:
- the monthly novella
- the quarterly bookazine
- a writer’s guide
- a full-length novel
- an ‘other’ non-fiction
Plus, I also have at least 1 brand-new short story to write each month but that, and any others, including the newsletter or workshop assignments, can be squeezed in between the morning and the afternoon projects. And every so often I’ll be attending an online writing workshop. I have a publishing schedule too that needs cover design/creation building in, and all the daily/weekly/monthly/quarterly tasks that go with running a business.
The great novella challenge and the 12 stories in 12 months challenge are both excellent ways of getting me to write and finish something every month. They provide fodder for the bookazine and if I can tie one of the short stories (or workshop assignments) into a call for submissions too, all the better. If not, they’ll go straight to the bookazine and into the production machine. But those will be prioritised over everything else.
I’m not happy that I had to move the project management book along again, because it’s one of my best sellers, especially the boxed set. But I don’t want to rush that, it needs to be right. They all do, really, but that in particular needs to be right.
So today’s jobs, then:
- finish and post this blog
- brainstorm this month’s 12 stories in 12 months
- pre-write this month’s novella
- Monkey Dust admin.
