Catching Up
March 27, 2018
You’re here because you want to know what’s been going on with me. Nothing exciting.
What I’ve been doing is writing. And writing is hard. How’s that saying go? “Nothing worthwhile comes easy.”
True story: A few months ago I started waking up between 4 and 4:30 am to get writing in and be productive before heading off to the day job. There are some mornings I surprise myself by waking up at 3 am. Weird, I know. Mid-2017, if you would have told me that waking up long before the sun rises would be my new way of life, I would have cursed you and called you a dirty liar. I’ve always been a morning person, but of course, that was when morning was defined as me waking up a little before 9 am. It’s true what they say, “Change your mindset, change your life.” Oh, trust me it’s not like I pop up out of bed bright-eyed with a smile on my face, ready to conquer the world. There are days where I feel like I’ve been drugged. But once I shove the covers back and slog off to put on the kettle or get the French press ready, the brain fog has subsided and I’m willing to crank out some words.
When there’s too much of a break between projects, I lose momentum, and that tends to happen if I don’t write consistently. Two weeks ago I couldn’t write because of extenuating circumstances— surgery, followed by a shit storm in the Romance community, and rounded out by a nasty bout of the flu (The flu seems to be a recurring thing for me every year between early February and mid-March. I get the stupid shot every year BUT IT NEVER MATTERS.) —and lost track of who my characters were and the journey I was supposed to be taking them on. I’m somewhat back on track, but I’m hella nervous. This WIP is way outside of my comfort zone, but I like that I’m pushing myself. I just need to get the damn manuscript finished and polished so I can begin querying.
Aside from that, what else have I been up to?
I’ve been trying new things and failing spectacularly.
No shame here. You have to see what works and what doesn’t. I’d rather fail epically while trying something a little outside my norm than wondering what could’ve happened. I’ve been reading a lot of marketing books and watching webinars in an effort to revamp my business plan and setting myself up to be a better entrepreneur for the remainder of the year and into 2019. I have grand visions for my career, but to get there means I have to take baby steps.
If I’ve learned anything from the tortoise and the hare it’s that slow and steady wins the race. A friend of mine recently said to me, “I’m surprised you don’t publish more.” I prefer to take my time. I’m also not a fast writer. And after burning myself out trying to keep up with everyone else and falling into the imposter syndrome vortex, I decided it was best to take a step back. And that’s what I did for 2017. I plotted and I planned, and now I’m writing my ass off.
So back to me failing spectacularly. In February I attempted my first Instagram challenge. Granted, if I had planned the posts in advance I might have had more success, but I wonder how much it would have mattered. My goal was to incorporate Black History Month with Romance by showcasing unsung couples. Society has advanced in so many ways, but we’re still behind in a lot of areas like showcasing black love in mainstream media. Surprising? No, Disappointing? Al-fucking-ways. Toss in the queer aspect, and it becomes a tragic hot ass mess.
I was on a tight deadline when I decided an Instagram challenge would be a super fun idea, and posting pics on IG takes no time, right? WRONG. Do you all have any idea how difficult it is to find queer black couples in history? Google was not much help, and what I did end up posting took up a significant amount of time. I made it about twelve days before I ran out of steam. I was a tad disappointed the challenge didn’t go as I intended but, again, I tried. Trying is better than nothing. And I’ll try again next year.
We’re entering the second quarter of 2018, and I’m starting to feel the pressure. There are a lot of projects that I’ve got on tap to complete in the next three months. If I’m scarce posting here or on social media, it’s because I’ve got writing to do, and as you know, writing is hard…
