Book Delays...

Oh man! It's starting to get b u s y.

I have a job outside of my writing, which in turn provides minimal windows of time in order for me to get any writing or editing done. There has been a rise in workload the past month so my focus has been all over the place.

I also have a 16 month old toddler, who was sick this past week.

Don't get me started on the impending holiday season.

With all of that being said, I have been exhausted!

I mainly work evening hours on site and work from home during the day. With my baby being sick and having to stay home from daycare, it threw me through a loop. I managed to somehow get a little ahead on my work but with the extra time I was able to spare for my writing, I ended up scrolling social media mindlessly instead.

I am so close to finishing my 4th draft of my book, I have 2 chapters left to go through! The light is at the end of the tunnel.

But suddenly, I realized that my blurb doesn't focus on a big PART of my story - so I need to rewrite. When I find myself piled with stuff, my anxiety takes over and I end up procrastinating or "taking a break". The problem with this is, the last time "I took a break" it lasted quite a few months. I can almost feel the published book at my fingertips, I don't want to put things off any further if I can help it!

I'm going to work on setting small goals for myself. Rather than scrolling through several chapters, I'll just aim to get through 1 whenever I have the opportunity to sit and read. I will also focus a separate day on re-writing my blurb.

Once my draft is completed, then I'll split up my next tasks:

1) Find willing beta readers for the first few chapters

2) Design Book Cover/Hire Someone to!

3) Format Manuscript

Those are my short-term goals, but I have to be realistic and realize that my initial plan to publish by January 2022 may be rather ambitious. I don't want my first novel to be sub-par. I want to work hard and be confident with the final product!

Thank you for listening, let's get through this writing stump together!

If you're still here, thank you for listening to my fluff!

J.J. Monique