Author Journey (February 11, 2025)
Last week took my comment about taking one step forward and then two steps back to heart. I can’t seem to build any sort of momentum like this and that’s getting to be quite frustrating. Something needs to change!
Author Journey (February 11, 2025)
What happened?
It’s been more of the same – interruptions and distractions. It’s great that I am here for the family and can take time off work to meet everyone’s needs. The only problem is that I’m having a difficult time prioritising myself at all. There’s a never-ending list of things to get done and I feel like if I stop for even a minute to do something for myself then I’m not being as productive as I could be. That then adds more pressure and makes it even harder the next time I try to relax. It’s a vicious cycle that I am trying desperately to break free from. To prove that point, this post is going out a day later than I had planned because I simply did not have the time. I was hoping for a calmer and more relaxed week but I think I need to be more proactive than that.
How is it going?
1. Health
My goal is to try to take care of one big thing on my to-do list every day, which doesn’t always work out, but I am getting through things. The list is constantly growing, however, the same thing shouldn’t reappear for a while since I’m trying to reorganise things and make the processes more efficient. Eventually, things will become more manageable and require less maintenance. At least, that’s the plan. Anyhow, even with that, I have been able to increase my distance covered daily. Last week, I managed to average 8 km a day. Sadly, it hasn’t increased my daily average for the year, but it’s a step in the right direction…
Goal: 10 km daily average, Current status: 7.8 km daily average.
2. Writing
I’ve had no time for writing. However, I have been able to listen to Story by Robert McKee which has been very interesting. I’ve particularly enjoyed the movie references and examples, but the one thing that really stood out to me was the method he advocates for writing a screenplay (which I’m going to apply to novel writing). He says that you should write from the inside out. The first draft is merely what happened and how the characters are feeling. There is no dialogue at all. Then, you go through the draft and make sure it works and that there are rises and falls. Finally, once you are happy with the story you add the dialogue which will be stronger since you have a much better understanding of the story and characters, reducing the need for endless revisions and drafts. I’m going to give that a go.
Goal: Publish a book, Current status: Trying to pick a project to finish!
3. Art
Time has not been my friend, so I didn’t do any drawing last week. Not even a rough sketch.
Goal: Complete artwork for my book, Current status: preparing to sketch!
4. Watching
And I’m back to the anime drought. Last week, I managed to watch zero episodes. Something really needs to change.
Goal: Watch more than 629 episodes of anime, Current status: 2 episodes watched
5. Reading
Reading manga has been my only real source of relaxation lately and thankfully, I managed to read five volumes last week. Unfortunately, that was one less than the number I needed to. I’m going to have to change things up a little until my life has calmed down.
Goal: Read more than 159 manga volumes, Current status: 18 volumes read
6. Blogging
I had published one post a day for more than three years, but sadly that run came to an end on Sunday. There was just no way to fit it in and I have to be prepared for that to happen a little more in the immediate future. Hopefully, I’ll be able to catch up to my goal by the end of the year, but for now, I need to be a little more flexible with my schedule.
Goal: Publish 365 posts, Current status: 41 posts
What are you planning?
At the moment, I think my main goal is to avoid burnout. I definitely don’t want to take a break from blogging because I’ve seen too many bloggers take breaks only to never return or come back briefly and then go again. Instead, I’m going to take a more flexible approach to things. I have a daily plan that I’m going to continue to work through, although posting daily is probably not going to be possible, so they will come as I finish them. The tentative goal for the next few weeks will be to publish three or four posts a week. I had toyed with the idea of making these Author Journey posts bi-weekly during the winter break and that’s a possibility too.
If I reduce my posts for the next couple of weeks, I may even be able to build a little buffer. There’s no guarantee, but it’s something I want to try. The other driving factor behind this change is that I really need to get writing my books again. The more I struggle to publish blog posts, the less time I have to commit to writing. I want to do both, but the writing has to be a priority. Anyhow, I’m still here and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Thanks for reading!
“He says that you should write from the inside out.”
I’m looking forward to hearing how that works out for you! I’m fascinated by the number of different ways writers write. It’s very cool that different things work for different writers.
“although posting daily is probably not going to be possible, so they will come as I finish them.”
The fact you managed to publish 7×365 for so long was nothing short of amazing. I think throttling back a little will help! I know that as I got more and more into novel writing, something had to give, so I went from 7 posts a week to three new and a republish of older posts. I also cheated — only one of the four represent the current season. That gave me flexibility, which I needed to keep publishing.
I hope it works out like that for you!
It sounds like an intriguing way of doing things and if it works I should end up with a story with a better rhythm that pulls the reader through… I hope!
It’s hard though. I have so many shows and books that I want to talk about and I’m struggling to see how I’ll fit them in on a reduced schedule but I definitely need to prioritize my writing again. Maybe once things calm down I’ll do more but taking away some of the pressure right now is also the right choice.
Thanks!
*gives you a hearty slap to the back* I have faith in you. You can do it, man. Take it easy on yourself and I’ll be here to read whatcha got whether it’s seven days a week or one!
That’s actually very reassuring. Thank you!