It’s only the second week of this new year and I’ve noticed changes, whether I’m looking directly at the change or not. Practicing my habit of setting an alarm so I don’t stay too long on one project never stuck. I forget to set the alarm. Or I set it, but then keep working after I turn it off. I think it’s best that I give up a habit I can’t seem to practice enough to make stick.
Since I started behind schedule two weeks ago, I haven’t done much to catch up. I’ve worked each day on two admin tasks. After reviewing my Amazon sales pages, I know which titles need some editing on the book description. And it seems I’ll need to send a third request to customer support about my book categories. I created a chart, printed it out, and made notes. Now I need to go into each page and make the corrections. The second admin task is creating a list of character names I’ve used. I laugh at myself for using Jones repeatedly. As I scroll through my manuscripts, I occasionally see a typo or a missing word. I just keep scrolling.
I’ve saved the Roanoak series for last in listing character names because this is the series I’ve decided to finish this year. Looking for character names and refreshing my memory on stories already published hasn’t done anything to get my pen to paper on my fiction titles. But I do work each day on the math workbook. I thought I would have it published by the end of March. It might be done before then.
Every day, I look at my calendar and my fiction writing projects… and then do something else. I have my new why. I’ve done some free writing about procrastination and false/negative beliefs. I know my process. And looking at it or not, it doesn’t change. Looking at my list of projects, having spirals set up, stories written out per month and where they’ll be published hasn’t moved the needle of creativity one degree. For all my attempts at creating in isolation, I decided to join a writer’s group. They meet every other month in person, and the other months on Zoom. Even though I know two participants don’t publish and most of the others are traditionally published and don’t do/know a lot about marketing, I thought maybe this group would offer the support I dearly miss.
Are your plans for 2023 working out, whether you’re looking at them or not?
0 Comments