Accountability. It’s something I struggle with. Since I left my job in June of last year, my life has been rather freeform. Freeform is a great arrangement for creativity, but it’s also a great arrangement for procrastination, loneliness, and when you’re dealing with heavy health stuff, depression.
I’ve been trying to find ways to combat all three of those things. Goal-setting with the help of Leonie Dawson’s Create Your Shining Year, Slack, and Asana have helped with the first. I’ve also created kind of a less-structured day planner page that helps me keep track of daily habits I want to cultivate, as well as letting me jot down appointments and set my 3 most important tasks for the day. It’s tough to procrastinate when you have a list of things that you don’t necessarily HAVE to get done, but you WANT to get done. I WANT to finish editing my book. I WANT to design a cover. I WANT to publish it. I WANT to publish several short stories as well. I WANT to be a writer- an actual writing writer that writes.
I’m trying to battle loneliness by getting out of the house more, by building tribe, and by generally filling up my time. I don’t want to make this a post about mental health issues, but I’m battling depression by getting help. We’ll just leave that there.
What my life lacks, however, is accountability. Health-wise, I’m accountable to myself and my husbear. He’s been there for me through a lot, and he deserves a happier, healthier wife. As far as my writing goes, I’m cheerleading a friend, and she’s cheerleading me. Our hope is to chat weekly to discuss our progress, and we just had our first weekly check-in. It was lovely. She has a lot of the same problems I have as far as having too many projects and sometimes not having enough energy to actually work on them. To keep that accountability vibe, I’ve decided that Friday is my acountability day. Whether I get a chance to chat with my friend or not (our schedules can be somewhat problematic), I’m going to post a progress report every Friday on what I’ve done for the week.
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My Writing Life 3/6/15
This week, I:
– Spent 3 days cleaning my office. I know this isn’t actual WRITING, but it’s a way that I’m trying to support my writing process. And man, it was rough going. I have some serious packrat tendencies, especially when it comes to books and papers, and I threw away several hundreds of pounds of shit. I have a vision of a clean, useful, dedicated writing space, and I’m going to make that happen. Now that I’m taking a med that’s helping me reclaim some lost energy, I’m going to prioritize this.
– Began re-reading Revision and Self Editing for Publication: Techniques for Transforming Your First Draft into a Novel that Sells
– Started researching cover design. If I’m going to have this book done and published by Dragon*Con, I need to spend some time on that. I realized that my original cover idea was way too fussy and busy, so I simplified my idea, and I’m really excited to start working on it. I just need to work on getting the photography done and then go from there.
– Began thinking about finding interesting places to write short stories. For example, the kind of short story I would write at the Ocmulgee Complex (which I want to visit) would be very different from a story I would write sitting in the food court of a busy mall. I have tons of sources of inspiration, and it would be nice to venture out of the house to absorb that.
– Attended the ‘Find Readers Now’ webinar available through SheWrites.com, began thinking about creating a marketing plan for the book.
– Outlined a 9 part short story project I’m excited about. KATKE- more details later. I may release it as a serial on WritersCafe.org. I explained the concept behind the stories to a few people, and the reception has been very positive.
– Finished the third story in the Southern Covens: Savannah series. Once I edit it, I will put it up for a few weeks at all the usual places.
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My goals for next week are:
– Spend at least one solid day editing Altar of Change. Seriously, I have until Dragon*Con to make that book happen.
– Finish cleaning my office.
– Write the first story in the KATKE series.
– Finish one of the half-written short stories that are languishing in my Scrivener ’52 Stories’ project.
– Keep my accountability Friday of chatting with my friend and posting here going strong!
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I can understand having many projects and not enough time to do them but I have come see in my life if something is truly important to you , you will make it a priority in your life. As for your health I can understand it sucks to have health problems but, as Pagans we know energy is a big part of what happens in our life. If you give your health issues energy to be powerful over your life guess what will control your life? Take the energy that is put into procrastination into healing and take the energy that has been put into your bad health into your writing love you sister. LondonWolf
Susan, I wish it was that simple. The truth is that I don’t give the illness energy, but I DO spend all my energy trying to fight it or work around it. Things like getting enough sleep, the things I eat, my emotional state, taking my handful of pills morning and night, all feed into whether I have a day where I can go out into the world or a day where I stay in bed, curled into a ball. So I’ll say the same thing to you that I say to anyone who suggests that you can defeat chronic illness with mind-over-matter or the power of positive thinking. I love you, and I hope you always stay healthy enough to maintain that belief. *hugs*
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I write my to dos on a blank 2×3.5 card. Find an outside place to write. Carry a small notebook. If you write in your notebook in a coffeeshop, people will inevitably ask you what you are writing. That is one way of building a village.
Roxanne, it’s funny you should mention writing outside. Now that it’s getting warmer, I have a list of local parks to visit. I have trouble writing in notebooks, though. I keep one for ideas, but with fiction, I do much better typing. :0)
I have learned to do both. For my own on going therapy I like the note books. For my memoir I have large copies of Dante’s Divine Comedy I am mapping out my chapters in the cantos. I am writing at the coffee bar at Whole Foods. I think as a writer one should be able to write anywhere. Or try to. I think if you try your hand at handwriting you may be more introspective. Think Virginia Woolf.
I actually focus on the act of writing more when I use pen and paper, and when I type, it’s all subconscious so the story kind of flows through me. My ‘laptop’ is a tablet hybrid, though, and it’s small and portable and has a good battery life. So I’m not limited in where I can write using it. I love that thing. :0)
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You’re actually more consistent and succinct with your blog than I can ever hope to be. Wishing you the best of luck moving forward.