Welcome back, friends and followers
With the festive fourth behind us, it is now time to plan the summer grind. For those with kids, you know what I mean. These are the weeks we spend figuring out the balance between working and playing. When it comes to choosing work and play, I’ll choose play! Taking time with the family and enjoying the sun and summer activities always wins. It should be second to getting work done at the office. Unfortunately, life moves too fast for the office all the time. Unfortunately, many of us can’t choose the more enjoyable path of relaxation all of the time, and tend to weave those moments in when we can. This is where I currently sit.
In addition to my normal work duties… I’m trying to be a published author. This endeavor is a full-time job in and of itself. Multiple jobs, actually. Between editing, writing, social media plugs, web edits, blog posts, and newsletter information, it’s a lot to manage. On top of the already precarious schedule of getting to the beach, going for a walk with the dog, hitting the pool, taking a camping trip, enjoying family evenings… oh, and ‘real’ work too. So, with this post, I am setting myself up on a calendar that I hope I will be able to adhere to.
The goal of the plan
Here’s the skinny… if my idea is sound, hopefully, I can manage and balance everything I want to do, provided I stay committed to a schedule. If I plan accordingly and keep focused on the small wins, I can make it through 1 week at a time. I know I have a lot to do with actually finishing the book, but a side goal is to continue to build the fan base and following so as to have a captive audience when the book finally does come out in 2026. I figure I have 3 main components here: Writing/Editing, Social media, and ‘other’. And yeah, that ‘other’ is a big bucket, I know.
Primary goal:
For writing and editing, because of the busy house and my style, I have to do this in the evenings. It’s just how it goes. As a night owl, I find it easier to write then, rather than in the day when I feel guilty for not doing things with the family. So, if I target 3-5 nights a week and devote 4-6 hours to the editing and refinement of the books(s), then that is a solid 18-20 hours or so I can put in.
Secondary goal:
As for Social, this is a fairly big bucket as well, but right now it is mostly these blog posts and TikTok. I made the realization yesterday that I should do more Live TikTok videos. And maybe, YouTube live as well… if I can get the numbers up there. However, that feels more like video series or something… maybe I keep that on the back burner for now. But, it just makes sense. I have the gear, the set up and the knowledge to make them seem fairly well produced. I don’t want to do a rabbit hole and spend all my time in prep and pre-prod there, but there is something to be said about making a live that is more refined than others. Maybe it draws attention? As for the Blog posts, well making sure I do at least 1 per week, and then send those out as a recap every Monday, that might be a good start. My mailing list is like 6 people, so it’s not a huge audience. Right now it’s more about the rhythm.
Filler stuff:
Lastly… the ‘other’ … yeah, everything else. As long as I am working on something that applies to the books and it isn’t the actual writing or social stuff, then it qualifies as other. Map design, drawing characters or items, development of the compendium. Perhaps its web edits, expanding the lore or creatures fro fans to see, developing more for the full picture… it’s all of value as long as it is on target.
Execution
Here is where I need to stay committed. Making a plan is one thing… executing it is another. But today is Monday, the start of the week, and I’m wring a post, so that’s good. I don’t have a set schedule (I should probably make one) but i have a general idea of what I want to do. One newsletter post each week, with a simple note and the latest blog posts. Each week I want to do 1-2 blog posts, or maybe a web site update and a post. This is what I will include in the newsletter. And then for social, I’ll try for 1-2 new TikTok posts per day, and make one of substance (2-3 minutes with meaningful author commentary), and one for fun (silly 6-45 second nonsense silly posts). If i can maintain that rhythm, that should be enough to establish a pattern of work that keeps me going. However, I can’t stress enough how much I would rather be at the beach… so yeah, this is going to be hard 🙂 Wish me luck with the plan!
-C
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