30 Days of Fika Books: Thirteen
Bit late today as I decided to crack on with the day's dictating first thing.
I've just stopped for lunch almost 7000 words in (bear in mind I'm pretty much reading aloud from the previous draft and just making wee tweaks, I don't write new words at anything like this rate!) I reckon I've got one more walking session in me, then I'll spend the rest of the afternoon editing. This evening I'm going to my first ballet class in about 30 years, so I'd better leave myself a bit of energy!
At a couple of weeks in, I feel as though I'm getting into the swing of things. My routine seems to be working. I feel clear and focussed about what I need to get done and why.
I spent quite a lot of time this summer working through all my plans, particularly focussing on the big picture, which was definitely time well spent. I've never been good with things like five year plans, I get too excited about the next thing I want to do, then the next thing, and so on. This often leaves me feeling a bit like a pinball in one of those arcade games: wildly zinging in one direction then the next, but only hitting the mark now and then through sheer luck!
Having worked out some longer term goals for Fika Books (and my career in general), has helped a lot. I'm always going to let my gut lead me to some extent (it's served me well so far!), but even just being aware of when I'm working towards what I planned versus stopping to explore something different seems to be helpful. Not least in keeping perspective on a day to day basis. Somehow I'm more able to accept that I can only make as much progress in a day as eight (or so) hours allow, without getting overwhelmed by everything I didn't get to.
For the last couple of weeks, I've had more of a weekly to-do list. I get as far as I get each day, then I pick it up the next morning. Some days I shoot through loads of it and other days I get stuck on two or three tasks, but so far, I've always got to the end by Friday!
Speaking of which, I am DETERMINED to get Before Again back to the editor by early next week, so back to the grindstone I go...