Which has me reflecting on my writing goals and how well I’ve done meeting them.
Nowhere near as well as I hoped, which isn’t unusual — my reach typically exceeds my grasp. I didn’t finish the second draft of Let No Man Put Asunder. Haven’t finished any short stories. Haven’t sold any. Only attended one con. While I should be able to bring out Southern Discomfort this year I know I won’t finish Savage Adventures, my Doc Savage history. My exercise regimen has also fallen way, way off. And plans to spend time on marketing don’t come to pass.
Part of the problem was our pets’ various health problems — the added time for Plushie’s eye drops, unplanned vet appointments, etc. Having three pets has made it a lot harder to find time by myself to exercise or stretch out, especially as TYG’s schedule requires me to handle the dogs for more of the day (which is fine — her work pays 90 percent of our bills, after all). That adds up to a loss of time and also of mental energy.
Another factor is that everything takes more time than anticipated. I thought I’d factored that into my goals for the year, but I didn’t. My Local Reporter work in particular keeping sucking up bigger chunks of my week than I think it will. I try to minimize that by concentrating all the work in one day each week, but interviewees aren’t always able to do that.
Ceaseless Way turned out to be a much bigger time drain than I expected. Working on a collaborative anthology sounds fun but it’s a lot more work than submitting a story to an editor and letting them handle the rest. Though my collaborators really appreciate the extra work I put in.
Then there’s my decision to starts writing Jekyll and Hyde; I’d considered waiting until Southern Discomfort and Savage Adventures were done, but the itch proved too strong. That also sucks up more time than expected, as I’m determined not to lag behind and end up massively rushed as I approached the deadline.
On the plus side I’m starting to get the hang of budgeting my exercise time around our pets. And I am getting a lot of work done, even if it’s not on the projects I thought I’d be handling. And switching to four seven-hour days a week has done wonders for improving my productivity.
While a little disappointed, I see no reason to beat myself up.
#SFWApro. Cover art by James Steranko, painting by Salvador Dali, all rights to images remain with current holders.
