I am, at my heart, a planner.
Every Monday morning, I sit down with a physical planner and take an overview of the week. Every day I make to do lists, and methodically cross things off as the hours go by. It helps me bring some order to everyday chaos everyone deals with.
It is hardly a surprise then that, when it comes to writing a new book, one of the first things I’ll do is plan out my time. Faced with a fresh calendar, I will try my best to figure out what the book might require. How much time will I need for research and plotting? What is a realistic amount of words I can write per day to get a draft done, and how many grace period days do I need for when life or random colds knock me off my pace? How much time do I need to self-edit a first draft before I can feel passably good about sending it to my editor?
Does any of this book planning ever go perfectly? Absolutely not.
Am I still trying to find a sweet spot where I’m realistic about how much I can write and missing word count targets doesn’t stress me out? 100% yes.
Can I entirely throw word counts and planning out the window? Tried it and it made me even more stressed because my ex-journalist brain loves and hates the pressure of a deadline in equal measure.
But what happens when it all goes off the rails because something completely unprecedented (like putting your life on pause to move out of your flat and into a temporary home while you sort out a house purchase as I am currently doing) drops like an anvil through your plans?
Well, I can tell you right now that I’m figuring that out.
When your bookshelves look like this, you know it’s serious.
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