So we’re hitting the halfway point of the Q1 2016, and I’m honestly feeling a little frustrated. As a full-time mom to an extremely clingy and dependent (but oh so adorable) toddler, I really do try my best to be both a great mom and work on my books and businesses as much as possible. But I’m feeling stagnated, due to the natural rhythms of single motherhood and life. This week, I dealt with a storm of crazy: hospital visit, severe insomnia, bad weather that prevented me from getting important errands done, and a subsequent terrible head cold (for both me and the baby).
Not only that, but I also found myself getting dragged into others’ drama and personal issues. SIGH. So, yeah, super frustrating. As though single moms trying to make it don’t have enough to deal with. ::woosah:: But as the next half of Q1 stands before me, I’m determined to push all of my current projects to their finishing lines. That means taking a step back, taking a deep, calming breath, reprioritizing my shit, blocking out foolishness, and keeping my nose to the grindstone. So, without further ado, here’s…
What I’m writing: Still working on the scene list for The Iron Maiden, BUT I am officially starting the 3K a day rewrite this week! I’m excited to get these new scenes and new words down on paper! Also, though I didn’t get to do this last week, THIS WEEK, I’m definitely setting my pre-orders for The Iron Maiden, and I’m re-releasing / redistributing my current backlist to global channels!
What I’m editing: No editing this week, if I can help it. I may make a few edits here and there to my websites, but nothing too major or time consuming. The only major thing I’m “editing” is that I’m editing my Mobile App Development course OUT of my life. I’d LOVE to take it this semester, but I’m really just way too swamped. :-/ It really sucks, but these are the sacrifices one must make to keep from going off the deep end.
What I’m reading / watching / listening: I’m still reading Catching Fire and am about halfway through it. I’d love to reach my goal of reading 50 books this year, but I decided to treat my reading more leisurely. Not everything needs to be some sort of Type-A goal, lol. I’m also halfway through Alinka Rutkowska’s Goodreads Cracked course, and it’s giving me some interesting insight on how to up-level my GoodReads social media presence. Thus far, I recommend it for beginners and low-level intermediate users, but I’ll have a full assessment on the quality of the course by the end of this week. I also continue to listen in on podcasts for authors, including The Creative Penn Podcast, The Rocking Self-Publishing Podcast, The On the Page Podcast, and The Science Fiction & Fantasy Marketing Podcast. So although, I was busy with more admin stuff and felt bogged down this week, I still got my education on.
What I’m researching / developing: This week, I’m focusing on developing the world’s character, arc, and milestones for THE ASYLUM TRILOGY. There’s an interesting plot hook in the story that emerges in the second novel of the trilogy, and this hook needs to be developed really well in order for it to work in a cool and convincing way. So it’s time to flesh that out and brainstorm on it. The good news is, though, that I feel like my production schedule for ASYLUM is right on schedule. As for THE FORGOTTEN TRILOGY, I feel like I just don’t have enough material for it yet, and I don’t really know why ideas for it aren’t really blossoming. Still, I’m going to try to do some brainstorming around my basic concept and keep plugging away at it. Maybe it’s too close in development to The Asylum Trilogy, and I just don’t have the bandwidth for it at the moment. We’ll see!