2/22—Reclaiming my time While I was busy working on the Plot Draft for Book 2, various administrative needs for Book 1 were piling up. As the requests came into my inbox, I wrote them on a to-do list in my notebook so I could stay focused on the draft. I turned the draft in on a Friday, the next Monday, I planned to get started on my to-do list. Two weeks of editors reading my draft meant two weeks for me to work on my administrative tasks, right? Well, my body did not co-sign onto this plan. On Monday, I looked at the list, but my body—wrecked from so many competing priorities—refused to focus and cooperate, so I called it a day. Rest day!
2/23—You’re not the boss of me! Since I rested on Monday, I expected more of myself on Tuesday, but my day job was excessively aggressive in its needs on Tuesday. By the time it was time to focus on me, I had little energy left. I nibbled at the list by reviewing the animation of my book cover and sending notes back to the animator. I guess I still need a little time. Rest day #2!
2/24—Time to turn the tides Wednesday, I had the day off, so there was no way I was accepting lack of progress. It was time to deliver! First task, picking headshots from a photo shoot. It was a harder, more involved task than I expected. I put all my picks in a doc, pairing the similar ones, then had my daughter help me make the final picks. Then I switched to working on my new kids lit site, but it was emotionally uncomfortable. For some reason, I was squirming away from the task, so instead of forcing myself when I wasn’t ready, I “under-did” it. I made a light outline that roughly captured my ideas. After those two tasks, I was out of sorts. Staring at pictures of myself and making an outline for a site about me felt like completely too much attention on me, lol. Luckily, I had reviewing the copy edits for Book 1 on my list. Focusing on text felt like an instant relief. I ended the night by coordinating payments for photographers, web designers, animators. Wow. Picked headshots, outlined website and tackled copy edits.
2/25—Turning avoidance into focus On Thursday, I had to get back to the hard work. I dug into my bio updates and my back cover copy. Then I updated my bio on Goodreads and Amazon (which I already need to do again). I came up with a new handle and URL for my site website. This required me to update my handle on IG and FB. Who’s an administrative boss? I was happy with my productivity, but terrified to, because I still had a beast of a task waiting for me. Wrote my new bio and my back cover copy, updated my IG and FB handles.
2/26—I’m not a marketing genius After a week of administrating, I had one more big task waiting for me: the author questionnaire. This document is a gazillion pages long and it tells the marketing team everything they need to know to market your book. Reading through it is like filling out the longest, driest, worst dating profile ever—and I left a lot of things blank. I just didn’t have the answers. I realized I was only shortchanging myself, so I sent emails out to people in my hometown, my college town, and my current city where I lived and asked them for ideas. Then I sent everything over to my agent to review, phew, what a week. Completed my author questionnaire.
WRITING REFLECTION
One of the things it’s easy to forget when you’re trying to build a creative or freelance career is that you are not a machine. You can’t just assume you will maintain the same levels of effort without breaks. It’s a thing I have to remind myself of often: schedule breaks between tasks, schedule time off, have a buffer in your schedule. You are human, you will require rest. I was also surprised to find myself confronted by the administrative tasks. Because I was so deep into the challenges of writing, I actually thought the writer administration would be fun. I found out that I didn’t enjoy the in-depth focus on me—and the marketing machinations felt like drudgery. While I excel at administration, having a long list of a ton of tiny tasks felt like a lot more work than I expected. I discovered there is a joy in having one task to do at a time Even if writing a novel is challenging, you know what you will do day-in and day-out. There is so much simplicity in having one task to do for long-periods of time. The joy of mono-tasking. I moved through the administrative challenges much like I move through my writing. I did my best in the moment and allowed myself to be imperfect, assuring myself I could build on my first drafts and make them better.
Self-Talk Script: I understand that not all the tasks involved in the writing life will be pleasurable. When I am challenged, I will move through the process with baby steps. I will lean into my community for support when I don’t have the answers and I will trust my pace.