Wasting Time

As most of you probably know already, I am working for myself these days. I used to work for other folks, and I was a darned good remote employee for almost 14 years.   When I worked for other people, I had clearly defined tasks and deadlines. While grading papers was not fun, it was a clearly defined task with deadlines. Now, those deadlines and tasks are all loose and I don't have the cheerleading squad to validate me on a daily basis.

In the beginning, I felt proud because I didn't hook the Wii up and lose myself in the world of Zelda and the Ocarina of Time. I also didn't binge-watch everything.  Even though I avoided those temptations, I still found myself in a slump as 2018 started. So, this week, using the "Shit I Did List" idea, I'm tracking what I've done since November 1, 2017:

• I revised the Doris Schittlebaum piece and submitted to a second spot (the first submission was to The Rumpus for their disguises and masks issue back in October. They rejected the submission within an hour of my sending). The second spot rejected the piece, but they did so with far more time between submission and a nice rejection. So, I revised again and because it seemed a lot like a "New Year" post, I decided to share on my blog.
• I wrote, revised, and edited a short story that is semi-biographical about the son of a tenant farmer based on my dad's early life.  That's still "in-progress" on Submittable, but I fully expect a rejection any day. And that's ok; the key is to keep writing.
• The Self-Publishing and Small Press Book Fair: I surprised myself by registering the first time I saw the registration page. I surprised myself even more by actually ordering stuff for my table and by actually going to the show, even though Dr. D was on call and couldn't go with me. I met a lot of amazing people, and I also got to hang out with some people I know and enjoy very much. I now have several copies of the first three books in the Olivia Chronicles series in my office, and I am considering how I can use those in giveaways when I get closer to Book 4 coming out.
• I spent weeks really thinking about Elegant Freefall. The agent who wanted to see the first 20 pages after the KC workshop this past spring said my writing was "lovely" but that infidelity plots were not sellable. After months of being ticked off by that statement, I realized the book doesn't have to have the affair angle to work.  And, once I simplified the relationship between Sylvia and Allie, I realized a lot of the other plot twists and surprises I had in the original draft need to be simplified. In essence, I had at least three novel plots competing for attention, which is why the book was stalling out. I'm hoping to stay on track with the rewrites and to have a new full draft of the MS sooner rather than later.
• I got a lot better with using Scrivener.
• I also am leveraging Autocrit (thanks to their holiday sale) as I rewrite/add new chapters to Elegant Freefall. If you're interested, check out their sponsor offer from Nanowrimo, too. One of the good things about the service is users can go month-to-month which allows writers to focus their use of the software during rewriting/revision/editing months without  paying during heavy production/writing months.
• I stuck with Nanowrimo until the book festival which netted me 12K words toward another novel that focuses on one of the secondary characters from Elegant Freefall. This project actually follows her in the time period before the events in EFF take place.  In the weeks since the festival, I've realized that project (like EFF)  should be in first person from that character's perspective, so once EFF is rewritten I can go back to that project and start rewriting those 12K and adding more chapters.
• I met my deadlines for Physician Family and I have a book review and an article in the forthcoming issue on medical marriage.
• I've also been better at keeping the blog updated, and I've posted a couple of new recipes over at The Dish on Veganish, as well.
• I've taken many walks with Sophie while listening to The Story Grid podcast, as well as gems like #245 of The Self-Publishing Podcast, which is all about time audits and making time to write.

Not bad.  Now, to go offline and do more rewriting. 

​What is everyone else working on right now? How are you balancing your creative time with things like day jobs and laundry?