(Image by Ulrike Leone from Pixabay)
I had such a rubbish day on Monday that I had to try much harder on Tuesday, not only for my own personal mental wellbeing, but also for my clients’ benefits.
I need to stop getting so behind with my work.
I worked until about 6pm, so there was no slacking there.
My work
So, what did I manage in the end? This was my list:
- write today’s blog post ✅
import today’s blog post to Medium¹- outline The Girl on the Bench (still a working title) ✅
- brainstorm The Most Scariest Night of the Year ✅
- draft welcome letter for Words Worth Reading Issue 1 ♻️
- read through Mardi Gras ♻️
- write draft 1 The Girl on the Bench ♻️
- outline The Most Scariest Night of the Year ♻️
- draft coming next time page for Words Worth Reading Issue1 ♻️
¹ I’m not doing this anymore. Instead, I’m going to write fresh material for Medium, and submit the occasional reprint. Plus book chapters when they’re ready, as I get some good feedback on the book chapters.
♻️ = moved to another day
So I did three things and I’ve moved five things. I should have done more.
Here’s today’s list:
- write today’s blog post
- draft welcome letter for Words Worth Reading Issue 1
- read through Mardi Gras
- write draft 1 The Girl on the Bench
- outline The Most Scariest Night of the Year
- redesign cover for Words Worth Reading Issue 1
- draft coming next time page for Words Worth Reading Issue 1
Now, the reason I’m reading through Mardi Gras is (a) to see if it’s any good, and (b) to see if I can split it in two and serialised in Words Worth Reading. However, I’m already serialising Night Crawler for the first four issues, and I’m not sure I want to proper serials in there.
I do think that Mardi Gras will make a two-parter, but equally, it might make two complete standalone 25,000-words stories too.
The proofreading job I turned in yesterday gave me an idea for a short story. But the more I think about it, I think it might actually make another Toni and Bart story (Mardi Gras). And if it does, then that means I should have three complete Toni and Bart stories without having to thing too much.
Today’s faff, then, has been playing with covers… (again!) And, here are the two new Toni & Bart covers I’m currently working towards:
I’m also thinking of skipping a step with the short story-writing. Instead of going from outline to draft 1, I might actually go straight to the first type-written draft. This is what I’ve been doing for the past six ghostwritten books and if it works for them…
Client work
This is what yesterday’s client work looked like:
- markup proofreading pdf ✅
- return history book to client ✅
- start writing ghostwriting (2) book chapter 1 ♻️
- break down outline for ghostwriting (1) book 7 ✅
- transfer outline for ghostwriting (1) book 7 to Scrivener ✅
- write ghostwriting (1) book 7 chapter 1 ♻️
- write ghostwriting (1) book 7 chapter 2 ♻️
- sign NDA for potential new client ✅
♻️ = moved to another day
So I did five things and I moved three things. This is much better and one of the moved items wasn’t down to me. The ghostwriting (2) won’t be continuing now until at least tomorrow, when the client will have come back to me with some of my queries.
Because of this, I’m going to try and get ahead on ghostwriting (1) book 7. OR… I might try and clear more of Words Worth Reading as Issue 1 needs to be out by next Friday at the latest.
Ooh, decisions, decisions.
I still didn’t hear from the NDA client…
Here’s today’s list:
- write ghostwriting (1) book 7 chapter 1
- write ghostwriting (1) book 7 chapter 2
- write ghostwriting (1) book 7 chapter 3 (?)
But, as I say, that 3rd chapter might wait until tomorrow.
Now, I’m itching to try some writing of my own before I have to give over to client work. I’d best get on with it.
