The Writing Life, June 9

This last week has been pretty eventful, let me tell you.  So eventful, in fact, that I’d like to spend some quite time with some red wine and Insurgent, which I am still not done with.  But I don’t think that’s actually going to happen.  Here’s why.

First of all, I got a super great promotion at the day job.  I feel very blessed, and am super thrilled, but it does mean I’ve got less time to spend writing, and I’ll be missing those summer concerts.  On the other hand, I can now afford to take the family on vacation, and get that new Erin Condrin planner that comes out today. (Not an affiliate).  That means my writing time has to become focused, like a laser.  I’ve had to really prioritize my projects, to make sure that if something goes by the wayside, it’s something that can afford to go there.

I’ve also had to redo my entire schedule.  I used to work about six hours a day, then come home and write for three.  Then I’d write for about five hours on my days off.  Now I’m actually working eight hours a day, like a grown up.  I am now going to be getting up an hour earlier to write for an hour before work, then try to fit an hour in after dinner.  My days off will probably lose some writing time too, to make up for the family time I’ll be losing during my work week. (Family’s always got to come first, after all.)

I also just signed up to be part of the 2015 I C Summer Blog Tour.  I know that sounds nuts when I just added all the time to the day job, but it’s not a huge time commitment.  Although, I do need three other bloggers to link to for the tour.  If anyone wants to participate with me, let me know in the comment section, and I will contact you about it!  My post is going up next week, so I need to know sort of soon, please!

Of course, the kids are out of school, so my free time will be full of activities like pool trips, day plans to Kennywood and the zoo, grilling and all the other awesome things that make summer so fantastic.  I think I might sleep like five hours a night this summer, but that’s okay.

I do want to say a little more about prioritizing, before I move on, though.  I’ve always got a lot of chainsaws in the air, as you all know.  Right now, it’s a financial necessity for me to take this better position at my day job, so the first thing I did was sit down and list all of my projects from most to least important to me.  Here’s what I came up with.

1. Woven.
2. Paper Beats World. (I love you guys)
3. My short story e-books.
4. Entering my short stories in anthologies and contests.

So here’s how this works.  If I’ve got an hour a day, it goes to Woven.  If I can get another hour, I can write a few posts (Writing Prompts, Markets and Check This Out take maybe twenty minutes.  I usually write all three for a week in a sitting.  The Writing Life and my Sunday posts take a little longer.)  I’m still really hoping to write a short story a week, but if that doesn’t happen I’m not going to beat myself up about it.  An hour a day to Woven, and see what else I’ve got time for.  That’s my plan.

What Rocked This Week-

• Well, I got promoted, so that’s sort of like the best thing ever in my life right now.
• Sunday was my birthday.  I turned 29!
• I read this really great article over on Pulling Curls about taking care of ourselves first as parents, because it does our family no good if we are burned out and have no more to give.  Here’s a link.
• It’s the first week of Gay Pride Month, and as you can see, I am a proud Ally.  I am super proud to live in Pennsylvania, where Gay Marriage is legal.
• I am trying to figure out how to put up a map of all the cool countries people read Paper Beats World from.  We’ve got readers in Russia, the UK, Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Greece, Austria, Canada, Finland and Indonesia.  What the what?  You guys are awesome, really.

What I’m Looking Forward To This Week.

• Pretty psyched about the blog tour.  You know I am a creepy internet dweller, so I’ll be following closely along.
• I have found out about so many terrific contests recently.  If you don’t follow me on twitter, you are only hearing about one a week, but I tweet them all.  I don’t know how many I’ll get a chance to enter, but I am pumped to have so many opportunities.
• Still have four short stories out, still waiting to hear about them.  Hoping to make it five this week, we’ll have to see.

By the way, have you signed up for the Road to Full Time Writing newsletter yet?  You should, there’s a link right there.  It’s got even more writing markets, money saving writing tips, time management ideas, and a peek into my own personal road to being a full time writer.  And, it only comes out once a month, so you’re not going to get snowballed by e-mail (because I hate that).

So what are you proud of from the past week?  What are you excited about for the summer months ahead?