Working a different direction

I took an actual vacation day today. I've done this for writing purposes before, but not this time. This time, I wanted to fulfil some reading commitments. I've been reading one book for far to long, and wanted to finish. I also promised a friend a beta read by March. I always try to meet my deadlines, and needed to clear my slate so I could start on the new book.

I got that much done today. I have a clear deck now, but did not start the new reading. I also have 2.5 Lisa Burton Radio spots to get started on, and will probably address those tomorrow. This is the life of a modern day author.

I also worked on some blog art for my next Story Empire post. With the new group members, I'm not up again until late February, but it's still something I needed to accomplish. My Apple Pencil needed charging, so I goofed on social media while I waited.

I need to think up something for my February banner, but nothing is clicking there. I have time, and something will probably come to me. February is just a boring month. Maybe I'll make something that has nothing to do with February.

Writing takes a back seat, but reading is good exercise for a writer. In that spirit, it wasn't unproductive at all. Promotion must be done, and I'm tricking myself into thinking the radio spots are branding for me, even though the posts are about the guest authors.

I'll probably pick up my critiques and work on those to fill in the corners. Maybe I'll change my pinned tweet again. It's been a couple weeks since I changed it, and it's time.

Tonight we're going for pizza and beer. A guy can only do so much of this stuff in one stretch. Maybe the elixir of creativity will give me an idea for my next banner art.

Efforts for today

I wasn't overly productive today. I went through my critiques and made a few adjustments to The Yak Guy Project. I caught up with my “must read” blog list, and made a quick Otto post.

We played multiple games of pumpkin ball. Shoved some treats into his kong tire and watched him gnaw them out.

Whenever he was distracted, I worked on a short story. This one has multiple viewpoint characters, and I used a lot of page breaks. It really needs to be gone over a few more times, but it uses a bunch of characters from previous short stories, and they've all been well introduced by the time this story appears. I need to sleep on it, but it came in at 2650 words. New words, yay!

I also sent out a shtick for a Lisa Burton Radio post. Lisa is always looking for more guests, so keep this spot in mind.

I watched the Indians beat the Blue Jays again, and now my son and I are going to watch Captain America Civil War. If it ends in time, I'll catch the last innings of Cubs vs Dodgers.

Over the next two days, I'll probably work on some short fiction, and do some reading. Between games of pumpkin ball, of course.

It's all pretty boring, but I needed some boring for a day or two.