June 8, 2022
Week 87
Emotional State: Bootstraps & Whines
Books
Book 2 is in my editor’s and beta readers hands. There’s nothing I can do to it right now that I won’t have to redo later, so I’m leaving it be. It’s odd not to be focused on it, but that’s the rhythm of my current publishing schedule.
I’ve started editing the cozy mystery, with the plan to release it on Kindle Vella in July. Two installments a week. The thought was to edit it all this month and then work on the reader magnet and Book 3 next month. That would give me three months for editing Book 3 while also writing the second cozy book in the series.
But I’ve forgotten. I still need to finalize edits on Book 2, format it, and design the cover and the launch plan. And you can bet I’ll be doing two more rounds on Book 2 before I’m done.
So the question becomes: How do I fit it all in?
I have no idea. I have all these ambitious plans and I’m pretty sure it’ll all get done in the time I have available to do it, but I also have life. And life lately has been kicking my ass. I’ve taken on more freelance work, which lowers the amount of time I can spend on the books or the marketing or anything else, really. And I’m looking to take on even more.
I do my best not to waste the weekends, but a girl needs downtime. If I spend three hours on Saturday morning reading a book, that’s three hours I’m not working on book marketing, cleaning my house, or doing any other hobby than books. And if I spend my evenings doing any of my other hobbies, I don’t have time left for my husband.
I could get up earlier in the day, start at 5 am, write for an hour, edit for an hour, exercise, work, and then use evenings for hobbies and hubby. Maybe. I’d have to shoehorn in other writing as well for Medium, somewhere. But that’s a 5 am start, which puts me in bed earlier or makes me a zombie when I hang out with him in the evenings. As yesterday can attest.
There’s a voice in my head that is telling me I don’t have it nearly as hard as other people, who managed to get it all done. Who slept very little, crammed their books into the tiny corners of their lives they could find between work, partners, and kids. I currently don’t work full time and while I have a (step)kid, they’re 19 and living 3,000 miles away.
I should be able to get it all done. Use their success as a means to bolster my own. And I could do that. But the problem is, that’s not a healthy way to think. I’m allowed to be stressed. I’m allowed to look at my life and think this is hard. Be gentle with myself. Maybe I will.
Or maybe my Gen X brain and training will kick in.
“Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, Cass.”
“Get her done.”
“Stop you’re whining, throw on some good tunes, and get on with it already.”
That mentality is what got me to where I am now. It pushed me forward, kept me taking step after step, even when it felt too much to bear (sometimes it was). I love writing and the books I’ve got coming out. I love putting words down on the page. And just getting on with it is a way to keep doing that, while juggling everything else. And maybe I will.
After I stop whining for a little bit first.