Summary:

I am apparently finding some kind of equilibrium between personal writing projects, paid editing, and continuing with my day job. Now that I’ve completed current obligations on novels two and three, and also submitted the only short story I was working on, I was planning to focus on my business plan for a couple of months – but of course, I almost immediately started trying to decide which story to pick for novel number four…!

 

Monday:

I had a full day of project-work planned for today.

I started with my next Upwork editing project and alternated that with Safeguarding scenes over the first part of the morning. I completed the editing project and the next two scenes of the novel.

I proofed some more of Spectrum before lunch and then completed another Upwork editing job in the afternoon.

After that, I thought I was done for the day – but, of course, an opportunity popped up that required an editing sample, so I did that and negotiated a possible price for the project with the client.

 

Tuesday:

I started my next Upwork contract, one I had been worried about how long it was going to take. But the writing was generally really good and didn’t require a huge amount of editing, so I was reassured that I would have time to complete it before the deadline.

Later, I proofed the penultimate section of Spectrum – end in sight!

 

Wednesday:

I scored a project on Upwork that I’d been hoping to get, and exchanged messages with the client about deadlines, requirements, check-ins and milestones, etc.

I also did a sample for another publisher who could potentially offer a lot of ongoing work, though at a lower rate of pay than I would have preferred.

Later, I finished proofing Spectrum and sent it to the publisher – woohoo!

 

Thursday:

I had a very full schedule of stuff to do today.

First up was the penultimate scene in the first draft of Safeguarding.

I was planning to switch to something else after that, but the end was so close, I decided to push on and complete the first draft – now called Magic’s Legacy!

It came in short (my first drafts always do), but I was confident my wonderful editor, Amie McCracken, would be able to suggest ways of expanding and deepening the story, so I was very happy with my accomplishment overall.

The Defiant Spark – first draft in five years, conception to publication in ten and a half

A Spectrum of Heroes – first draft in two and a half years, conception to publication in four

Magic’s Legacy – first draft in seven months, conception to publication – who knows???

But I’m definitely getting faster (and hopefully better) at this!

I moved on to paid editing jobs, completing and submitting two.

Then, I built a new spreadsheet to track all my open projects and tasks, and allocate the relevant amount of time to them all across the next ten days. It felt good to organise all this information and start to feel more in control of my to-do list, now that I have multiple clients with overlapping deadlines.

Dave and I had talked earlier in the week about me managing my desire to take all the work that’s available against my ability to actually fit it all in. He advised me to remember Animal Farm – and even printed out a little sign to remind me not to be Boxer the horse! This had a very big impact on my attitude to thinking I need to work harder (I’m still traumatised by that book). So, having completed a reasonable amount of work during the day, and having reassured myself that I have time for everything I need to do this week, I decided to take the evening off.

 

Friday:

Another early start, but it meant I was on-hand when an urgent job came through on Upwork and I managed to snap it up (also adding to the fee for completing it within time constraints!). It backfired somewhat when the job turned out to be more complex and in-depth than I had anticipated and I had to do two more rounds of edits before the client was happy.

I also wrote a review of the audiobook I finished the day before.

Later, I read and edited the next TL;DR submission I was assigned, and sent my feedback to the writer.

 

Saturday:

I woke up stupidly early again (potentially worrying trend) but I deliberately did not use the extra time to work on paid/writing projects, because I didn’t want to train my brain that getting no sleep leads to extra productivity (it doesn’t). Plus, I had firmly decided the night before to take the entire day off.

Instead, I watched TV and started a new knitting project. The rest of my day off involved a trip to the South Bank (why are there so many people?!) for food and music and good company (and a lot of Pimm’s), a walk along the river, and a relaxing evening at home.

See? I can take a day off if I really try!!

 

Sunday:

After successfully taking the whole of Saturday off (and thankfully getting a decent night’s sleep), it was back to work with a long and varied list today.

I started a new paid non-fiction editing job and got a reasonable chunk of the way through, in less time than I had anticipated.

Then I wrote my GYWO discussion post for the month (or rather I found the one I’d written on the same topic five years ago and updated it a bit).

I moved on to using the feedback from my two wonderful beta readers to revise my own story for the TL;DR anthology, as the deadline for submission was fast approaching. It didn’t take all that long and I submitted it for consideration, looking forward to the editor feedback that TL;DR provides for all submissions (with the option to resubmit a revised version before final selection!).

Next was another paid editing job, a memoir I’d been looking forward to getting started on. I did a sample chapter for the author a while ago, and really wanted to read the rest of the story! It did indeed prove to be an enjoyable read. I completed edits on the first section more quickly than anticipated and was able to submit them for review by the author. He confirmed he was very happy with my work, so I planned to continue with that project later in the week.

I spotted a potentially fun and lucrative long-term project on Upwork, so I did the requested sample editing and submitted my proposal.

Later, I wrote the blurb for the back of Spectrum and sent that on to the publisher.

To round off my day, I provided a bio and photo to join the judging team for the Ink & Insights novel competition.

Whew! What a week! Lots of fun and interesting stuff going on, though!