Writer Overwhelm and Breaking Things Down

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My plate is full.

I have a lot of projects that will keep me extremely busy until the end of October. Things I’ve gotten myself involved in?

Not one, not two, but THREE conferences. One of which I am on the board for creating.
2-4 publications including comic chapters and nonfiction print editions.
An award nomination I need to campaign for.
An benefit anthology I co-created for Sirens Conference.
A huge dose of personal life stuff.
Oh, and my full-time job with overtime events.

I’m getting dangerously close to the mindset where I am absolutely paralyzed by anxiety, to the point I am completely inactive. It’s simply writer overwhelm.

So I am pivoting and trying to move forward in a different direction. I am taking each task and breaking it down. Each task is getting it’s own bullet and I am making it into several small pieces. Each piece, I’m taking that down further so that if I do something–anything–toward making that goal a reality, I have some to-do list box to check off.

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Every little box, breaking it down, makes it into something innumerable, yes. But it also makes it into something where I can see my progress moving forward. No bit of work is going unregistered.

One thing I use is Habitica and it helps me to see the lists get smaller and smaller. We fight boss battles and it is a huge accomplishment to take something large off the list and deal a solid blow to a party boss. While I wish that the app worked a little better, I am using this to keep moving forward. My current goal is to get all the pets/mounts

And, you know, the side benefit of accomplishing my goals. From book formatting (my idea of drudgery) and conference prep, to page edits and chapters written, it helps me keep moving.

How much do you break down goals to keep you moving toward them?

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