This year’s A to Z doesn’t really have a concrete theme… just things running through my head. I’m not trying to impress anyone, although if you like my style you can certainly keep reading my stuff. I’m also not specifically writing about Women’s Legacy this month, although that is what I have been doing for for the most part for eight or nine years.
So, perhaps, I just need to perfunctorily plan short blasts of productivity.
This year I just wanted to write six days a week for the month of April. I needed to re-establish my routine. I think I have almost made it a habit. The new habit may not always be a blog post, but I will write. Maybe it will be part of a workbook, part of a webinar presentation, part of one of my memoirs (about family munchausen syndrome, about my time with the activist group – CodePink, about the long strange trip it has been which is really about all the things I have done which I realize most people have never even thought about doing), or one of the techy ebooks I have started… plus, I have at least one dark fantasy novel in me.
I think this means I am committing to working on something real at least 6 days a week.
During Covid I figured out marketing, funnels, programs that help with all that, and then I worked on learning about how to self-publish. I am ready to start applying all that knowledge.
Of course it has taken longer than I wanted it to to get to this point. But I have very good excuses. I have been busy on lots of things.
- My hubster is a chemistry professor and has been trying to start a company for one of his many discoveries. The current company may be a go, and I have been trying to help him out with it when there is something I can do that will not totally derail my progress in my writing business. It is mainly doing the website for Teleport Pharmaceuticals. Like the name? I came up with it. It is all about neurochemistry and helping neurons heal. Cool, no.
- I have also been working on adjusting to being in my 60s. I have a few underlying health conditions that require some special care. Nothing too drastic, just things that every person in my family develop if they live long enough. I have changed medical plans so I can have easy access to the different types of doctors I might need to see. That took a while as I also signed up for Medicare.
- And I am in the middle of a partition action (just think legal kicking in the butt to get relatives to sell some jointly owned land, or buy me out). Dealing with attorneys is never fun.
- Once I have my part of the inheritance in cash there is desperately needed renovation my house needs. So I have been researching the proper order to assess what the house needs, evaluate different contractors and subcontractors, and get going on some prep work.
- I also still have tons of things from my mother’s estate that I need to sell, or find a loving home for, which my daughter does not want.
- I am also working on being chill. I have dad migraines for 25 years (the 3 day, not the 3 hour, kind) and although I do not get them as often or as severely as I once did, I have found some behavioral changes help me out tremendously. Un-stressing as soon I notice that I am stressed helps tremendously. That can mean lying down, napping, loving on one of my pets, getting my body in a different position (walking, standing, or just varying positions and stretching while doing do) and if needed since I live in a state where cannabis is legal, I eat half a gummy primarily made of CBD but that also has a bit of THC in it. I previously had nothing against marijuana, itself, but I did not want to participate in illegal activities that probably ran through some nasty people, nasty actions, and even killing on its path to my area. So until medical marijuana was legalized in Arizona (it is now legal for recreational purposes here too) I didn’t try it out until for migraine relief. Thank heavens I could and did. Losing up to half the month to migraine is no fun. And mine have decreased significantly.
- I also spend a few hours a week connecting/talking with my daughter who lives 13 hours away, by car, and zooming, or chatting with friends.
Anyway, I am expecting to have more uninterrupted writing time as life calms down. But I also realized that I can accomplish a bunch of writing but by consistently scheduling time for it, and other time for social media (marketing), inspiration and learning (webinars), and other simple scheduling of short times for other publishing related tasks, during daily “work periods.”
I have no idea why it took me so long to figure things out, actually I do, but realizing I have control over my time has helped tremendously. I know you are probably thinking, “Well yes, like duh!” I’m still learning how to do stuff.
For all you writers out there, how do you wrangle your time?