Where is Sam-I-Am when you need him? Someone with a gentle, yet persistent force to push you into doing something which challenges you. As September hit, I’ve faced the crush of work responsibilities. The majority of my clients are on annual contracts. Between September and November I need to meet with each one to recap the year and plan for 2020. Preparing for these meetings, traveling to them and the ensuing follow-up is time consuming, eating into not only my work day, but spilling over into nights and weekends.

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Which means I’m struggling with relationship guilt. I’ve neglected Eliza and the re-work needed of her story for draft #2. Since receiving my preview readers’ feedback at the end of August, I’ve gotten through six chapters of edits. I have 24 more to go, plus the final wrap up chapters to write. There’s no way I’ll finish by my original goal of November. Time to pivot and re-assess how I can squeeze in writing and editing during this busy work season. I started last week with a couple of tactics.

1. Bring one printed chapter with me when I travel, along with the red pen. The task feels less daunting if there’s only a few pages in front me. I can edit sitting on a bed in a hotel room.
2. Bring my tablet with me to transfer the edited pages’ notes to my Word document of Eliza’s story. The tablet is small enough to fit on an airplane seat tray table.
3. Queue up my microphone for speak-to-text on my phone. Listen to a research book on Audible through my car. Hit pause when an interesting fact or insightful phrase catches my ear. Jot down the information into my phone’s notes document.
4. Don’t forget all the chargers.

November is #NaNoWriMo – National Novel Writing Month. If I can get through a good chunk of editing over the next four weeks adhering to my new tactics, I hope November will be devoted to writing the final chapters. 24 chapters / 4 weeks = 6 chapters a week / 1 per day. A self-imposed challenge, but I want to write!

Say!

I want to write!

I do! I want to write, my friends!

And I will write in a boat.

And I will write with a goat…

And I will write in the rain.

And in the dark. And on a train.

And in a car. And in a tree.

I have so much to do, so much, you see.

So, I will write in a box.

And I will write with a fox.

And I will write in a house.

And I will write with a mouse.

And I will write my words here and there.

Say! I will write ANYWHERE!

Social Media Update

The other task I took on in September was launching my social media pages. In one month I’ve moved the needle. If you’re not following me yet, please do!

• On Facebook @ Janis Robinson Daly – Author, now at 76 followers
• On Instagram @janisrdaly_writer, now at 61 followers
• On Twitter @janisrdaly_writer, now at 205 followers

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