My weekly, Friday update....
Ok... I'm stuck, but not in the way one might think.
NaNoWriMo did wonders for jumpstarting my next book. When it ended, however, I was left facing the holidays and working with my brand new horse.
(Side Note: Horses are A LOT of work!)
I definitely don't regret him... at least not yet. Working with him everyday is tiring, but it brings a deep sense of relaxation that leaves me feeling dopey and ready for bed.
Seriously, it'll be 7 p.m. and I'm falling asleep on the sofa! But it's not from exhaustion... it's from being so chilled out.
So, all in all, he's been a great thing. But it has created a major shift in how I manage my day-to-day life. And that shift has left me stuck at a red light that hasn't shifted over to green yet.
Since Wrimo, I haven't written a single word! Not 1!
And then, book 1 is ready for a final readthrough, but I've only managed to read 2 chapters so far.
It has been sloooow, leaving me feeling like this meme:
So, I think I need to go back to creating weekly updates that help me stay focused and keep me accountable. That has worked wonders for me in the past, so why re-invent the wheel?
Then, we're also coming to the end of Q4, meaning that it's time to start creating new writing goals and reflect on what worked and what didn't work this past year.
And of course, we have the holidays around the corner too! It's just a lot for anyone to manage.
So, I'm going to slow things down further (if that were even possible!), and go back to some of the basics: get organized, prioritize, and then get it done!
So, here's where I'm at:
Book 1 needs to be read and edited
Book 2 needs to get written
Wrimo had me on a roll with book 2, so a part of me wanted to just focus on getting it done. But in the end, book 1 needs to be finished so it can get into the hands of an editor. Once it's in the hands of a professional editor, there will be a natural break from editing which will allow me to switch gears to writing (and hopefully completing) book 2.
So let's set some goals and see if it helps light a fire under my ass and get me going!
The Plan: Ideally, I'd like to have book 1 readthrough by the end of December. That gives me 2 weeks. Of those 2 weeks, we have several holidays that will take up lots of time to prepare for. So that leaves me with 11 days to tackle 53 chapters. That means that each day, I need to read approximately 4-5 chapters to get it done.
Thankfully, most of my chapters are fairly short, so I think this should be fairly doable if I can keep from falling asleep on the sofa before 7 p.m.
Now, this week, I have 6 days of allotted for work, which means a total of 24 chapters need to be reviewed. That's the goal for this week.
That's all for today! Have a great week and don't forget to keep turning the page!