I also got to thinking about priorities -- which will certainly continue to evolve. (Below the fold in the ROW80 update area.)
Coming Next Week on the Blog:
Monday - Test of Freedom Ep 7 - "Captain Trent"
Where the ladies add one more, plus crew, to their entourage.
Wednesday - Clearing Up My Mess of Covers
All of my covers are very different from one another. Time to start setting them in order.
Thursday - Test of Freedom Ep 8 - "Singing the Wind"
Mary bids farewell to Acton as they finally set out.
Friday Favorites - Daniel Craig and Judi Dench
Some commentary about Skyfall and the two previous Bond movies.
ROW80 Progress
A Round of Words in 80 Days Update This Segment's Progress:
Wednesday Day 38 - 120 minutes
Thursday Day 39 - 52 minutes
Friday Day 40 - 150 minutes
Saturday Day 41 - 150 minutes
(See others who update today here.)
Full-Time Transition Diary: Priorities and Blogging
I am finding that it is hard to concentrate for more than two hours a day on one thing, except when I have momentum. I've also been going through my trunk full of stories, and finding more to work with. I'm really eager to get on to some fresh writing, though.
Which brings me to new thoughts on what I should be doing.
The popcorn kittens are finally settling down, and I find that I am now dealing with the Alternative Reality Version of Puss form Shrek Forever After. "Eh, I'll get it later."
Well, maybe not that bad. But the excitement about So! Many! Opportunities! is less exciting. It's time to get bored. I've written before about the Value of Boredom. (Note: the farm mentioned here was actually a different farm from the one where we boarded horses and raised tennis courts -- definitely a slower way of life.)
So now, instead of running around crashing into walls, shouting "I gotta do this! I gatta do that!" I'm saying "I gotta not do this, or that."
What I actually have to do is write fiction. Not build up a cover art business (that can come later if necessary). And maybe I need to back off a little on the blog.
I've been writing this blog almost daily for three years. I like where it's going, I enjoy working on it. But I've noticed that somehow as I got more time from being laid off, I have spent more time working on it. And not to good effect. I'm still somehow managing to post a lot of stuff that was thrown together at the last minute.
I want my blog to be better than that. And I need a less "instant" frame of mind. I need to concentrate on real goals. On writing my "real" books, not just the serials. On having a blog that's like a magazine, in that it's worth reading, but not a distraction from my real work.
To that end, I am adjusting the blog schedule to skip Tuesdays and Fridays a lot more. I might do some off the cuff commentary once in a while. (Those always prove to be popular and I never have a slot to post them any more.)
So basically you're going to get the blog story on Mondays and Thursdays, Miss Leech cartoons once a month, and one actual thoughtful post a week on Wednesdays, and this Sunday review/update. And Friday Favorites and commentaries will only pop up when I have something to say.
November and December Goals
What I really want to do most right now is get Test of Freedom off my plate (which I hope to finish on Monday) and then Devil in a Blue Bustle by the end of the month.... and then go full blast on The Man Who Stepped Up for December. Two thousand words a day wouldn't quite finish a Man Who book, but it should give me the major skeleton of the book.
There is no reason not to get a Mick and Casey novel and a Starling and Marquette novel done every year, along with the serials. (Especially since the Alwyn saga is already drafted.)
See you in the funny papers.
2 comments:
Maybe it's time to stop and take a deep breath. :) It sounds like you had some good writing time in this past week, but I think you're a little overwhelmed, especially with the blogging. I don't usually blog every day. Cutting back your blogging schedule will probably help. Good luck this week!
Oh, the deep breath was earlier. This is the post-deep breath thinking.
I've been blogging for over ten years. (That's before blogging had its own platform, and you just did it manually on a regular webpage.) It's kind of like cutting back on the sweets.
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