Trying to get back in the swing of things

It's been a long stretch of promotions for me. It officially started with the release of The Experimental Notebook of C. S. Boyack II, but it really started long before that. There was a bunch of prep work to make sure the small tour I took it on went well. I custom wrote every piece, I had to think ahead to have the Lisa Burton posters ready on time, etc.

I followed it up with an extended tour for Will O' the Wisp with my Story Empire friends. Our scavenger hunts are about to end, so if you haven't gotten in on the contest you'd better get with it. At stake are ten Amazon Gift cards, and five ebooks. I believe we're drawing the names on Monday. Here's the link just in case: Link.

I also did a bunch of stuff on my own, including playing with all Amazon's toys. Where I'm going with this is… I don't know what to do with myself now.

I read a bunch of The Yak Guy Project to get back in the groove with it. I still have more to read. Then I'll get writing again.

I finished reading an Advanced Reading Copy of a friend's new novel, and I'm so impressed with it. Hopefully we can get her over here to talk about it in some format once her release date gets closer.

I did manage to edit a few short stories. I wrote another anthem piece about baseball, and started another short story. It's about 1300 words total, nothing to brag about. I also wrote a Lisa Burton post that will show up on Thanksgiving Day.

Speaking of Lisa, I assembled and scheduled two of her radio shows today. I have two more to do, but I'm getting into December now, so there's time. If you have a Christmas themed story you'd like to promote, now would be a good time to think about a character interview with Lisa. She's constantly looking for new guests.

I managed to print out the submissions for critique group, but haven't read them yet. I suppose that will be tomorrow's project since we meet on Monday night. Note: Poses a problem with getting my scavenger hunt drawings finished.

I haven't managed to deal with any of my Autumn chores yet either. It's like two different Craigs are fighting with each other. One who wants to get back to writing, and another who needs to coil up hoses and trim trees and roses. I have a theory that if I addressed the chores, the writing would come easier.

I have a decent idea for my next Story Empire post too, and should probably get started on it. I have roughly a month to get it done, but writing it out will make room in my head.

I don't know why I'm struggling with all this. I can't let go of promotion like I should, but ordering my Lisa Burton mugs helped a bit. I have a novel to write, and some short stories to play with. There is no deadline for any of it, so I don't know what the big deal is.

Time has always been an issue around here. When I'm not working, I need peace and quiet to write. This is harder with Otto around, because he needs (and deserves) attention. Writing time and reading time are the exact-same time, so I can do one or the other. I know I'll have to cut back reading before I can get super productive again. I need to dedicate some of the not-so-quiet time to my chores. Once those are off my plate things might look better. Maybe after my critiques are finished I can tackle part of them tomorrow.

I'm going to have a houseful over Thanksgiving, so I doubt that will be very productive. I also have the next weekend dedicated to company. Maybe they will all go black friday shopping and I can get something done then.

It seems like a long time away, but I took the whole week off between Christmas and New Years. If I can get myself organized I could really make the words fly then. The challenge is to get my other stuff sorted out and get everything lined up in advance.

This is about the time when I make a task list. It's a system that works for me, and I need to do it again.

Things don't always go perfect for everyone else either. Just to prove the point, I'll share this with you. My wife decided to wash the windows inside and out. She just finished the outside, and moved to the inside of our dining room. Apparently, Otto decided window washing was really interesting.

There are tongue and nose smears all over the outside of her window now.

I feel like I'm floundering around right now, and I need to get over it. I'm usually more productive than this. I hope all of you are having a great weekend.