Updates on Plans

So it’s been almost two weeks. I haven’t forgotten my list from the first of March. So how far have I gotten?

1 – New author pic: the cold… ugh. But at least, I have an idea of what I want, I just have to figure out the how.

2 – Update author bio: Nope, not even started. That’s what happens when I have to write about myself.

3 – Create a new author interview for Goodreads and Smashwords. Both give premade questions. I redid Smashwords’ interview and added a couple of questions. I just keep staring at the Goodreads ones, not wanting to answer.

4 – Update book page on WordPress. Done. The series were separated into their pages. Some updates were done, such as where to find them, their review status (which was well over a year old) and a cover. Goodreads offers an “author widget” which could do about the same thing, but I’ve been unable to get it to work yet.

5 – Create book pages on GoodReads for Highest Lord and Five Years Dead, if they’ll allow me to without the cover pages. Nope, not yet. 

6 – Finish edits on Highest Lord, maybe cover that sucker and get its hard copy formatted. Edits are done, went through grammatical edits of Five Years Dead, kinda feel like burning the whole project to the ground. Ego, or is it actually bad? I won’t know until I publish it. 

7 – Continue trying to market Trouble. Oh, definitely done. I still take a look about nearly every day. Once I have Highest Lord ready to go it’ll be a lot easier to jump up and down and say “look at me!”

Last night I also posted about hours. Now, I keep obsessive track of things like this. I’m good with metrics, at least, I think I am. Once I discover an area that is a ‘time suck’ I can make changes to behaviour patterns to get more time. Thankfully it’s just me who has to make the changes so there shouldn’t be much fighting.

A couple of weeks ago I booked the first week of April off from the day job. Every winter is a blackout for vacations and depending on the support I get from everyone else, I want to start biting people, or crying, in December. The longest I had ever made it before was January. This year it was the end of February.

The vacation is a staycation. At home, not much money and no friends. Mr. Friend is going out of town for work for two weeks. So it will quite literally be me and my cat, and possibly Mr. Friend’s cat as well.

The plan isn’t to take the full week off of writing. That would be insanity. I can’t even take the full week off actual work. By the third day, I’ll want to go back, by the time I do go back I’ll be excited to get back to work.

I do want to restrict the writing as much as possible. So barring a spike in sales, I won’t really be doing marketing that week unless something really comes up. For the writing side of things, I might work on the third book of the Blank Slate trilogy. Though after seeing Five Years Dead edited, I’m not sure I want to see anything besides the Seat of Magic series come back.

I think that means it’s ego. I’m also pretty certain I cried when I say Trouble come back. Just need to breathe and get through it.

So besides finishing the trilogy, which is only part of a book left to write, I have little in the way of plans.

Actually, what I’d really like is to set up the office properly with what furniture I’ve got. Instead of having chunks of it all over the apartment. To organize my books and journals, update the accounting system.

All work for the writing, though.

I’m also going to look into any festivals or events going on, maybe walk down to the castle and have a picnic on the lawn. Maybe take the long walk on my own this year. Which would be longer this year…

The long walk involves leaving the apartment, walking to downtown, then up the escarpment and to a Value Village. Which is a little odd, because we’ve never bought anything there… Then from there to a park that’s over the escarpment, looking out over the city.

From there the walk goes back to where we came up the escarpment, and down into downtown. Stop for either store bought ice cream, or to the ice cream parlor if it’s open, and then on to home.

When living downtown that walk would take three or four hours. Now I’m half an hour away from downtown (walking) so it’d be four to five hours.

The long walk is a new tradition, but it’s also… a statement, I suppose. Couldn’t do that in my old city. There were some places you could walk, but you couldn’t be bold about it. You’d drive to parks and go in pairs.

I never understood that there was simply a feeling in the air until I stepped out of my downtown apartment in the new city and actually looked around.

So every year I take the long walk. I tempt myself with Value Village trinkets, check out their clothing, then go and have lunch before returning home utterly exhausted. To ice cream, wine, and some video games.

I’ve never actually checked to see how far I walk, maybe this year I should.

Anyhow, those are my starting plans for my week off of the day job. Anything to keep from writing, so that I have an actual break from everything. As much as I love writing, everyone needs a break, lest they crumble one day.