In future, the monthly wrap-up will be on the first working day of the next month, and the new month will be on the second day. This is so I can record a more accurate word-count figure.
April plodded along at a workable rate. I managed to find a bit of a rhythm and just worked my way through the to-do list. Not everything got done because I moved a lot of things along so I could clear a big editing job I was in the middle of. A few things were started but not finished, but there were 4 extras this time.
The first thing to get moved along to make room was a batch of WMG workshops. I’d completed one and already started another. But then I saw there was a live workshop coming up in May I wouldn’t mind joining and as there’s a full workshop preview available, I watched that instead, like a kind of advance revision. And the work I moved the others along for wasn’t finished…
I did complete the client edit, but only started one of the proofreading jobs as the edit took longer than I’d anticipated. I need to start calculating how long the edits will take and maybe double it in future. Or at least add an extra week. That proofreading job will be finished today as I’ve already sent the bulk of it back to the client.
The daily writing fell by the wayside as I couldn’t think of anything to write and it was taking most of the 15 minutes allocated to it to start writing. Otherwise, they were mostly a stream of consciousness. I’ll start this again in the future when I’m in a better place and when I know what use I’ll make of it.
I decided to start republishing all of my books, using covers made by me and including new interiors that have the human authored logo, the Baggy Bottom Books logo (instead of the defunct Baggins Bottom Books logo – too many people thought it was something to do with hobbits…), the anti-AI-scraping warning, and an up to date ‘also by…’ section. I managed 5 of those before starting the next batch of 5.
And finally, we had an unexpected trip to Scarborough at the weekend, which was a lovely surprise and a nice break.
In between all of that, I’ve also been chasing our conveyancing solicitor and finally convincing him that I don’t launder money. I made a start on the decluttering ahead of the house move and sent 2 emails to our current letting agent to keep them in the loop.
Here, then, is how April finished:
April wrap-up!
- create graphic for Hello, April ✅
- create graphic for April wrap-up ✅
- WMG Workshop: Writing into the Dark ✅
- 3 Patreon & Medium premium posts ❌ (only 1 done in April)
- long Easter weekend (yay!) ✅
- WMG Workshop: Information Flow ❌ (started)
- 1x client editing job ✅
- 2x client proofreading jobs ❌ (started)
- daily dog walk ✅
- daily dog playtime ✅
- daily household chores ✅
- daily reading half hour ✅
- daily free-writing ❌ (started)
- daily blog post ✅
- dental appointment 😱 ✅
- WMG Workshop: Pacing ❌
- WMG Workshop: Power Words ❌
- invoice editing client ✅
- weekly backup ✅
- weekly finance work ✅
- monthly schedule planning for May ✅
- advance finances for May ✅
- update word-count tracker spreadsheet (week) daily ✅
- packing ❌
- decluttering ❌ (started)
Extras
- WMG Workshop: Make a Living Writing Novels advance preview ✅
- republish 5 short stories ✅
- 1 book review ✅
- weekend break in Scarborough ✅
I also wrote 19,886 words in April against a 20,000-word goal.
How was your April?
This post appears on Words Worth Writing, Medium and Patreon.
That was a lively and energetic month! Good for you!
It certainly felt a bit busy. And productive!