Real life, apparently feeling like I’d neglected it lately, decided to launch a frontal assault this week. It wasn’t pretty. Did I manage to get any rewriting done? Did I make any progress on my other two goals? Let’s look at the numbers first!
Progress Report 2023 Week 05 By the Numbers
Again, I’m not sure what measurement shows success. Maybe the number of chapters rewritten? Then this was not a great week.
I should be able to rewrite five chapters in a sitting. Since I write six days a week, that should come out to thirty chapters. I only hit sixteen. That’s because I had two Real Life Family Events (RLFEs), a medical procedure for myself, and a medical procedure for my son.
Real life felt neglected, and real life demanded attention.
The family and I are mostly okay. I hope the lingering effects will fade. But I’m struck by idea that as we get older, this sort of thing happens more often. Not only to ourselves, but because many of us are fortunate enough live through our families growing around us. I might wish for more time to write, but I’m glad as hell I was here for the RLFEs. They’re the point of living, after all!
Goals from Last Week
Continue Working on the Final Draft of Primary Target: Done!
I rewrote about sixteen chapters this week. Fewer than I would like; more than I expected, given the week I had. I’ve been reading the chapters out loud, and I have to say — I’m catching more than I ever did before! That’s going to be part of my routine going forward. Thanks for the idea video, Lee Child!
I’m not sure if I’ll need to put Primary Target through another ProWritingAid pass or not. After all, it’s already been through one. Ninety percent of the changes I’m making consist of removing sentences, not adding them. So I’m not sure it would be worth the time investment. I’m itching to get starting on the first draft of Evolution’s Hand Book 5: Split Infinities!
Continue Exploring Proofreaders: Missed
A couple of the RLFEs carried an unexpected price tag. I’m not sure I’ll be able to bid proof reading in February. That kind of sucks; I had hoped to fund the proof edit in February and the cover in March. I’ll have to either figure out how to do both in March or push one into April. But that’s putting downward pressure on my release date, which I had wanted to accelerate.
Collect Bids on the Cover for Primary Target: Missed
See the discussion under Continue Exploring Proofreaders. I’ll have to defer both of these goals until later.
Goals for the Week in Progress Report 2023 Week 05
- Complete the third draft of Evolution’s Hand Book 3: Primary Target: I have twenty-four chapters left to rewrite, so if I can manage to complete four a day, I should make it. If real life will cooperate, of course!
- Investigate categories: I’m not convinced Executive Action and Dying Breath are in the right Amazon categories. I think that affects my ability to market them. So, I’m going to invest some time here. It’s free, since I already purchased the main tools (like Publisher Rocket).
What Do You Think?
Before your writing career made you independently wealthy, how did you juggle all of the costs associated with publishing — along with all of your other budgetary responsibilities? I’d love to hear about your experience in the comments!
Glad you and the family are doing all right. Those real-life family events always catch you when you least expect them.
I can’t comment on the independently wealthy side of things yet, but I do whatever I can myself. It takes longer, but then time is something I can afford to part with.
I know a lot of independent authors have gone back to earlier books and re-edited them, re-covered them, or completely rewritten them once they’ve earned enough.
Outsource stuff when you can afford it. Do it yourself when you can’t. It’s not like we’re electricians.