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Writing Journey: Journal Entry 57

February 9, 2022

Week 70

Emotional State: No Adulting Today

Life & Books

I am not feeling it. Not at all. Adulting that is, but also the book editing. I want to curl up under the covers and read a good book. Or nap. Or watch trashy TV. But that is not the plan, so I’m clawing my way through the day as best as I can. It’s not my best; in fact, it may be close to my worst, but I’m getting things done.

Well, sort of.

My world builder is currently painting the walls of my stepkid’s room in the final countdown to their arrival for a six week visit. We’ve been meaning to do the room for a year, so obviously he’s moved by deadlines. I, however, am not. Yes, deadlines drive some of my behavior, but I am more of a tackle-things-in-pieces person, so that I don’t have to cram it in at the end.

Except for right now. Right now, I’m going to run screaming up to the deadline in full panic and do all the things I’ve not yet done. Sunday. It’ll all get done on Sunday (the day before they arrive). It doesn’t matter, though, right?

As for the book, I’ve hit that moment in time where I don’t care what pain my characters are going through. I can’t face it and I don’t want to. I got up to chapter 10 for round two of the revisions and hit a wall this morning. I need a break from it. I have no idea how I did this before, revised four times in three months, but then I had a deadline to hit and no wiggle room to be found. And so I got it done.

I have more room in my schedule this time than I had before, but I can’t put it off too long. I know me. If I push it off completely, I’ll be in a panic as my deadline approaches and I won’t have an editor, or a cover, or beta readers, or a launch plan. So while I will take a pause, it’ll be brief because I need to keep moving forward or face not moving at all.

Marketing & Website Momentum

In other news not related to my whining, I’ve been making progress on redesigning my site. I know, I know. I just did that in August, but it doesn’t feel professional or clean. Since I want to add the reader’s magnet to the site as well, it felt like the right time to do it.

I’ve found a great free starter template and am slowly making it my own. I want to try and keep it as clean as possible, while also making it look fresh. The template also has great placeholders for future books and as my book empire grows, it’ll be easier to add them to the site without yet another freakin’ refresh.

I’ve also added links to my reader magnet to the back of my already published book. That was a giant pain in the ass, but at least it works and looks alright. Moving forward, I won’t have to cobble it together for each book, it’ll just be an easy add to the initial version of the finished manuscript. Free tools for the win!

That’s something that no one talks about – the balance between spending money to be professional and doing things on the cheap to save money. I do plan on purchasing formatting software because there is no way I’m doing it word and then Calibre again from scratch. A 30 page prelude – sure – but 74,000 word manuscript? Hell, no.

I’ve also spent a little bit for a logo and a not bad cover for the reader magnet. It fits with the series, but is lacking some of the illustrative touches I’d like to have on it. Some day I’ll revisit it, but not right now.

Add to that completely redesigning my newsletter, crafting an onboarding sequence, plotting out themes by month for the rest of the year and even writing some of them in advance… and I can see why I’m tired. Sometimes we forget to step back and see all that we’ve accomplished in our gigantic list of to dos and writing this post just reminded me. Not only am I allowed to take a break, but I’ve deserved it!

Isn’t adulting fun?