Where Personal and Professional Life Collide...

Although I'm working hard, I'm still falling behind. That's a warning sign to me to get some things off my plate, NOW.

So today I need to:

* finish a client edit and put it back on THEIR desk for a month or so.
* get the page proofs for DOGHOUSE back to m'editor
* answer all pending email (potential clients and current clients, as well as a few very patient friends)
* pay all the bills
* deal with the last 2013/first 2014 taxation stuff (and make my IRA deposit, damn it.)
* finish the short story edits I should have gotten to the respective writers on Monday
* start dealing with the household things I won't have time to this weekend because I'll be at Lunacon
* send out the first part of the Kickstarter bonuses

oh yeah, and get back to the TWO books I'm supposed to be writing now. I'd really, really like to do that.

Although I looked over something I'd done last week and flinched. Not because it's not well-written (it's extremely well-written) but it hit an overused trope I really, really didn't want to hit. So now I have to go back and make it better. Which I can, but I should never have done what I did in the first place.

Still, I guess fixing it before it escaped is almost as good as not doing it in the first place?

Yesterday I went back to sleep for two hours, after feeding the cats at 6am. It was nice, but... mornings are productive for me. Mid-afternoon is for naps. I need to remember that.

I needed this rather badly this week.... http://doodlealley.com/2012/10/10/be-friends-with-failure/


This morning I have:

• written up requested material for an editor, and sent it off via Agent


• done another pass on the #willrite2feedothers story, and sent it off to beta-reader


• talked with my mother on the phone and caught her up on Things/been caught up on Things


• started laundry


• promoted WorldBuilders 2013 and my own part in it.

So of course, I feel like I have accomplished NOTHING because nothing in that list is finished and/or finite (or bringing in an immediate paycheck).  Dear brain: you suck.

On the plus side, a client has promised that their (late) mss will hit my desk this afternoon, so I can get it line edited and back to her by Monday.  So there will be finite, finished, income-producing work to come.  Take that, brain.

EtA: ended up spending much of the afternoon at the local USPS, trying to find out what happened to the certified letter they have allegedly been trying (and failing) to get to me for two weeks now.  Even talking to a supervisor what I'm getting is 'well... we need to talk to the carrier who isn't here right now and see if he knows anything...'  Because their ability to track something that needs to be signed for is...lacking.  *headdesks*  Four 'sorry we missed you' cards, three supervisors, two weeks waiting, and a certified letter gone bye-bye...

And no sign of the promised manuscript by 3pm. Manuscript has landed.  There's my weekend sorted, then.

The revisions to FIXED are off for one last read before going back to Madame Micki. The production matter for MILES TO GO is ready and waiting only for cover art.  All of my editorial client files are up to date (one response still waiting to be sent), and the one last bit of freelance writing I need to do is underway. One might think that everything was totally under control...

Still in queue:

• looking over a possible collaborative project file, to see if it gels.
• revision notes for PROMISES TO KEEP
• revision notes from M. Agent on two different projects
• sample pages to go with a new project
• sample pages to go with another project
• the "outtake" stories for the Kickstarter readers
• oh yeah right start writing G&T #3!
• get the pending short stories off the hard drive an into the marketplace mix
• getting website 3.0 up and running (also: the new dymk site)

Still waiting to hear back on:

• the artwork for MILES TO GO
• a possible new project that could shift my schedule AGAIN
• my travel schedule for the rest of the year

Meanwhile, after years of that side being very quiet, I've been headhunted not once but twice this month.  We Shall See.... 

So yeah, when I said that February was shaping up to be considerably busier than January?  Also, March. Maybe all of 2013.

I'm not fond of the "New Year's Resolutions" thing, but I'm trying to bring 2013 in with some new - or at least improved - habits.

1. Showering in the morning. This seems like such a little thing, but for the first thirty years of my life, I took a shower every morning. It was part of how I woke up - the application of hot water externally, to go with the internal, caffeinated intake. And then, slowly, as I freelanced, and sometimes didn't have to leave the house all day, the shower got shoved down on the list of priorities (especially when I was on a deadline). And there was nothing wrong with if I took my shower in the afternoon rather than the morning...

but I could feel that I wasn't always as sharp as I used to be, in the morning. Plus, hanging around in my sweats gave me a "whatever" mood, even when I was under deadline. And that wasn't good, when you consider that my prime writing hours are 8am-1pm.

Also, it limited me. If I knew I'd have to take my shower before I went out, then I had to factor that time in to my plans, which mean spur of the moment, wasn't. That was... irking me.

2. Read more. I read a lot - but I wasn't reading as many books as I wanted to - and it sure didn't seem like Mount TBR was getting any smaller! So I'm embracing Twitter's "Friday Read" with a passion and determination. And doing it publicly, to keep me honest.

This week's Friday Read is: Julie Czerneda's A TURN OF LIGHT (continuing) and Fred Vargas' AN UNCERTAIN PLACE. One fantasy, one mystery. Also: both by non-USAn authors, just as a datapoint.


3. File. Every damn week. This decision brought to you by the end-of-month filing I was doing last year and...no. Small bites = less of a stomachache. Or that's the plan, anyway.

4-5. TBD.

Anyone else out there taking advantage of the new year to Do Something Better?

MAJOR THINGS
-FIXED due to Madame Editrix Micki on the eighth!
-MILES TO GO revisions due on the 30th!
- Client Work!
- blog entry to MRK

Smaller But Still Major Things
- get DRAGON VIRUS ready for digital launch
- get FROM WHENCE YOU CAME up on B&N and Amazon already(!)
- get drafty on PROMISES TO KEEP
- get drafty on SOUL OF FIRE
- write up new G&T proposals and send to Madame Agent

Minor But Important Things
- start short story I promised to write
- get story collection proposal to small press editor who said "get that to me, Gilman!
- start working on cover for MILES TO GO
- update the much-delayed GQ newsletter

Other Things
- work on launch of FIXED, and prep all travel details
- stress over status of various things-out-on-submission
- World Fantasy!


...yeah, gonna be one of Those Months. I <3 my life. I just wish there were more days in it.

This is just me, trying to maintain (destroy) the work-enthusiasm I woke up with....

Carried over from last week ago

- return one last pending phone call
- make Kickstarter cookies (assuming the weather behaves)
- format-prep of "Dusted" for Kickstarter patron

New/Ongoing Stuff

- various Really Important Admin Tasks, woo.
- daily wordcount on M2G (4/4)
- revisions for HEART OF BRIAR
- put together the Official Option Material Proposal Package[tm]
- get to post awful
- sign things and send them back to the relevant peoples
- follow up with AS on various admin things

Spent some time trying to explain watching tides go in/out to someone who has never seen the ocean. Also, undertow. My head hurts now (so does his). You can tell them about the physics of it all, show them video and explain what you see and feel... but it's hard. There's a sensation, standing at low tide: silty-silky sand underfoot, the pull of the tide around your ankles, the tang of seawater & salt air... also, the scurry of tiny crabs, and schools of fingerling fish, the pop-bubble of a clam, a constant corner-of-the-eye parade of movement, waiting for your notice.

Rising tide exults, headbutts, makes you laugh. Ebb tide seduces, and makes you sigh. And you can't ever really trust either.

Yeah, I'm missing the ocean already. Never mind that I live like 8 miles from the Atlantic, it's not the same when filtered through harbor and tidal river, much as I love both.
--------------------------------

Some days I look back and think "did I do anything other than sit on the sofa and veg/console felines all day?" And the only way to answer that is actually put together not a to-do list, but a been-done list....

-Cleared out the pile of mail I didn't get to yesterday.
-Went to Costco to restock on dry goods and sundry perishables (met the folks there, and drove them home so they didn't have to take a cab - ah, the joys of city living).
- Printed out revisions letter for Heart of Briar and marked it up to give myself a base to launch from tomorrow.
- Scheduled bills to be paid & updated finances
- Snuggled with ElderCat, who is still feeling somewhat clingy and bitchy.
- Contemplated where to hang the piece of art I bought on vacation (a multimedia piece by Vicky Grace Hoff).
- Cleared and rearranged my desk so I have no excuse tomorrow.
- Cleaned portions of the apartment (ok, I dusted and brought the recyclables down, that counts, right?)
- Started packing up books to go to the Kickstarter patrons (100/300 bonuses).

Not too bad, I guess.... I still feel like I slacked horribly. More caffeine, tomorrow.

Still feeling vaguely hammered, aches-wise (and oh hi sore throat) but it's Monday, so I'm back on the clock, and - more to the point - back on the Schedule of Averting Doom....


Carried over from two weeks ago

- return phone calls
- finish reading draft of FIXED for 2nd pass notes
- make Kickstarter cookies [this has to wait until I'm feeling better. Nobody wants me coughing in their cookie dough]
- create a Lands Vin FAQ


New Stuff

- page proofs of COLLARED (due back 6/19)
- polish draft of Kickstarter story #1
- polish new proposals for sending-out
- start prepping DRAGON VIRUS and FROM WHENCE YOU CAME for their ebook release
- QETs
- get to bank/post awful
- take Cat-of-Size to the vet

oh yeah there it is, the "hazy hot and humid" forecast nobody was waiting for.... ices the coffee, cranks the ac without apology

Today (this week) is kind of crazy. I'm working on a novel draft and a short story. I'm trying to get organized for BEA next week (wheeee). I'm trying to get the apartment in shape for the BEA-related houseguests. There's some client work that needs to be finished up, and oh yeah, prepping FROM WHENCE YOU CAME and DRAGON VIRUS for their ebook releases.

And somewhere in there I need to think about what promo I'm going to do for DRAGON JUSTICE (PSI#4) which is out 1 August.... anyone have any ideas?


Carried over from last week

- return phone calls/emails
- buy ISBNs
- follow-up on pending story submission (on buy-hold since NOVEMBER, oy)

New Stuff

- read draft of FIXED for 2nd pass notes
- finish draft of Kickstarter story #1
- make Kickstarter cookies
- get to post awful
- put up a Kickstarter update
- settle BEA plans
- create a Lands Vin FAQ
- talk to Madame Agent about New Proposals
- start contemplating new book promos

Carried over from last week

- return phone calls (no, seriously this time)

New Stuff

- update freelance contract (wow, things have changed since 2004. "Printing costs?" What're those?)
- daily wordcount on FIXED (3/3)
- daily word count on M2G (2/3)
- send revised proposals to Madame Agent (postponed until I get back)
- send section to Alpha Readers
- print out Operation Oy for taking-with
- prep cat-sitters (and cats)
- clean apartment
- all the last minute things
- pack
- go

Plan to Do On Vacation

- polish up "A Town Called Flood"
- poke at "Untitled Kickstarter Bonus Story #1"
- mark up and revise the first five chapters of Operation Oy
- read All The Books on my Nook (ok, as many as I get to)
- sleep
- eat
- see