Have I had a brilliant idea? Or just a dead end?

So right now, as y’all know, I have multiple projects. The golem article due at the end of the month. Alien Visitors due at the end of October. The Veterans Network and Leaf articles. Finishing Undead Sexist Cliches and Questionable Minds. Trying to keep them all on track is tricky; it’s great to have a good week turning out Leaf articles (they pay promptly) but not if I don’t get around to working on Alien Visitors, say. And if I put in extra work on one project in a given week, I don’t always figure out how to make it up on the others.

For this month I’m trying something new. Counting my afternoon and morning writing times as one unit each, I listed how many units I have, then sat down and matched them up with the work I want to get done. So many units spent on Veterans Network, so many on Alien Visitors, so many on Undead Sexist Cliches, etc. Then every time I use up a unit, cross one off. If this works, I should be able to pace myself and make progress in everything. I left several units open so that if something takes extra time, and I’m sure something will, I can adapt.

Of course things immediately got more complicated. Veterans Network wants about double the articles they requested last month, which is cool, but not what I was expecting. I’ve tentatively budgeted time for one paying gig that may not happen (details when and if it does). And this week I had a couple of units that wound up mixed between two or three different projects. Still it does give me a sense of progress that I don’t always have. I’m knocking the armored killers down — hopefully there’s nobody sneaking up with an axe (I do find this Billy Graham cover reminiscent of life).

What did I get done? Another Veterans Network article, on military kids. The first half of Chapter Five in Undead Sexist Clichés, dealing with clichés about consent (too confusing to worry about! Unimportant! All that matters is whether you’re married!) — and as I thought, it’s a much easier chapter to proof than three and four were. I got a lot of work done on the Golem article, though I also discovered a bunch more books and graphic novels that need covering.  And some more viewing for Alien Visitors. Not much different from previous weeks, but I feel more satisfied.

I feel a little less satisfied that I’m not doing more fiction. Questionable Minds is off the schedule until the golem piece is done, and I’m not even thinking about new fiction. That’s frustrating as hell because fiction’s still my favorite. But Undead Sexist Clichés is a personal project at least, which is better than if Leafs or Screen Rant articles were sucking up all my time.

I’d been wondering if Wisp would become mostly an outdoor cat again now that the weather’s heating up. Monday, when things were at their hottest, she came in and slept in my lap for a couple of hours. That’s cool; the more she stays inside, the safer she is and the fewer birds and other creatures wind up dead. Speaking of which, I’ve now heard the ululation she makes when she wants us to see her kill (or bring it in to us — which I made sure didn’t happen). It sounds like a weeping lost soul. Less of that would be good.

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