A missed Summer, IVF, and Edits
I don’t know what happened, well yes I do. This whole summer, I’ve accomplished nothing creative. I didn’t even remember to update my blog to state that I did nothing. I do have an excuse. I was exhausted. The type of absolute energy exhaustion that only comes from a person who is in their first trimester of pregnancy.
I am currently 15 weeks and officially in my second trimester. I was pregnant last year, but that pregnancy ended in tragedy at 35 weeks. I am not a spring chicken, and as soon as my fertility doctor gave us the green light, my husband and I began our second round of IVF.
Cleaning out and organizing the second bedroom, which we recently used for storage, consumed an enormous chunk of my energy. When so many projects have self-imposed deadlines, when life events pop up, and now a real deadline comes up, one or two things become the priority.
Ok, so let’s review the last to-do list posted back at the beginning of July for July.
#ProjectForgotten. July 15th the manuscript needs to be submitted, and the front and back matter needs to be finished. My editor received the manuscript and returned it to me on August 22nd. The front and back matter is mostly complete. I am having trouble with the newsletter sign-up in the back of the book. I will figure it out. Since I received the manuscript back, I read the editor’s letter and opened two need documents. As I review and make changes chapter by chapter, then copy and paste the new text to the new document. But why two? I back Mandi Lynn Bell’s Kickstarter for Sparks in Iceland. In the Kickstarter, she had a gorgeous deluxe version with colored pictures, sprayed edges, and one hardcover version with annotations. I loved the annotations, the story behind the story as you read it. As someone who loves to read the trivia for movies and television shows on IMDb, this was fantastic. So when I went through the self-edits prior to sending the manuscript to the editor, I jotted down where aspects of the story came from, real-life stories and other thoughts and ideas as I read the story. One version will be just the story, and the other will include the annotations for a deluxe version.
For September, with a deadline such as the birth of our child, several priorities have raced up the list, one such item is LLC my publishing company, so that I can buy ISBN under the publishing house and set up accounts with the vendors with the tax information for the company. It’s not a necessity, but I want to publish with Barns and Noble and heard that when you change your tax information, it changes your entire account so any reviews obtained prior would disappear. I want to change my manuscript and get it published once and for all before I give birth.
#ProjectCamp. Finish writing the short story with 3 scheduled writing sprints a week. That lasted maybe two weeks. I got a little further in the story, but I definitely didn’t start that as a writing habit or finish the story.
Project Epic Read. Project Epic Read stems from wanting to study the story structure of One Piece, the Manga. The story is serialize story telling, with amazing world-building, and characters. As my husband and I have watched the Anime, the concept of the serialization of novels, which is not anything new. But with Ream, Substack, Wattpad, Royal Road, and many others. It’s a fresh stream of income that I have a project that would be perfect for it. My husband owns the first few box sets; I just need to sit down and start reading.
For September, let’s keep it simple: the first volume of One Piece.
#ProjectLost. When I finished the self-edits for #ProjectForgotten, I worked on the self-edits for #ProjectLost, and completed 12 out of 25 chapters. This project will be my second novel to be published and is a companion story to #ProjectForgotten.
For September, finish the self-edits. Only thirteen chapters left. I have a full week off work and four weekends. This needs to be done. I want to have at least reached out to my cover artist to get the ball rolling for the cover.
HB90. September is the last month in quarter three which means planning for quarter four is in two weeks. I love watching the videos and planning in her class each quarter helps me to pick my projects and understand what time I have available in a realistic way. I may not always complete everything that I want to but the days of planning and replanning are also gone. I have a focus and a plan. I don’t replan until the next quarter.
We are entering the spooky season and the holidays, -ber months are my favorite. What plans do you have this Fall?
