I’m moving into the second half of my second year away from
the day job while I continue to focus on writing and the business of being of
an author. Another six months has passed and now I’m critically reviewing my
calendar to determine what I’ve accomplished and what I can do to continue to
move forward toward my goals.
First of all, the most important thing is that I did publish
another novel the first half of this year. Priceof Betrayal, the fifth in the series, was published in May. Yay! On top of
that, I republished the remainder of the series with new covers so that they
all have the same vibe. It was a huge undertaking and took me away from writing
for a bit, but in the end it had to be done and I’m happy with the results.
As for the remainder of the first half of this year…
I’ve continued to work on my young adult and my new series idea in between completing the fifth in the series while revamping the whole
series look. While I had hoped the young adult would have been completed by
now, I will have a final first draft ready soon. The new series is still a WIP
and I’ll continue to work on it when inspiration peaks, while I work on the
sixth book in the Jorja Matthews mystery series. I also have some other book
ideas and, believe it or not, they aren’t mysteries.
I’ve continued to review and revise my business plan in order
to try to stay on task. I’ll continue to use this plan, along with monthly and quarterly check-ins because I like to revisit what works or doesn’t work and I
need some form of accountability. I especially need these tools to stay focused
considering the number of writing projects I want to complete and the new book
ideas I’d like to get started on. I’ll agree that there’s something to be said
about focusing on one project at a time. Do it and get the job done. But I’d
rather not put big ideas away for that long, so I’m working on time blocking. I
can block out three two-hour sessions and work on a different project each
session, with breaks in between, unless I want to work on one project all day.
However I manage it, at least when I do work on a project, it’s the only one I
work on at that time.
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| Getting ready to greet hospital staff |
I mentioned before how Jozee and I were taking classes so
that she and I could become a therapy dog team. Since then, Jozee and I
completed our training and took the required exam. We are now a therapy dog
team for our local hospital where Jozee can say hello to visitors as we wander
the halls and where she specifically visits with the hospital staff as part of
a care-for-the-caregivers program. It really has been a wonderful experience
and we visit every other week. For those who wonder…Jozee is bathed and groomed
before each visit and we follow strict healthcare guidelines whenever we’re at
the hospital.
Speaking of Jozee, I started a new blog: Jaunts with Jozee.
I need to add more posts when I have some time, as I’m only six in, but it’s a
simple blog about Pacific Northwest parks we visit with Jozee and what we enjoy
about each of them, along with photos to share.
In order to help me form better daily habits to stay on
task, I also started morning pages and I'm making an attempt to form a better morning routine. I’m not 100% at either but then I’m not perfect. Changing your habits
or forming new ones really is a difficult process and I’m learning quite a bit
about why we do things the way we do (or don’t do them). We humans really are
funny beings when it comes to what we feel comfortable with or what we do to
avoid making changes, whether it’s for mind, body, business or soul, even if
that change is good for us.
In the midst of everyday life and my jaunts with Jozee, my
plan is to continue to form better habits when it comes to writing, the
business side of being an author, health & exercise and a morning routine. Each
week might be a mixture of enthusiasm and uncertainty laced with satisfaction and
a tad of frustration, but in the end I’m doing what I love and I love what I
do.
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