Test results, self editing, and one finished project
So how was my April? April comprised a lot of wait-and-sees, and what I mean by that is that February and March held a lot of medical tests. April had a lot of doctor’s appointments to go over the tests. Mostly, everything came back good and healthy. So no complaints there.
I have been slowly organizing and unpacking my apartment. We had moved on December 31, New Year’s Eve. We have moved into a new apartment, and that included emptying a storage unit. The second bedroom was, for many weeks, a vast holding room packed with boxes. So unfortunately, there’s just not enough time in a day, in a week, in a weekend, and I would keep telling myself that this weekend, I want to get X, Y and Z done, and then none of It got done.
So a lot of the stuff that I am getting to now was stuff that I wanted to get done back in January. One thing was the second bedroom unpacking that, and I use that term loosely, because the room as a second bedroom is to be used as an office and baby’s room. Everything is still in packages.
Then the desk stuff, my desk stuff, I have a problem. I’m a bit too fond of stationery. That has always been my nature. My preference for notebooks and pens is a mystery to me, though I do like jotting things down. I prefer to make notes on paper, not on an app. I like the physical feeling of checking something off or crossing it out. Even my planner is a paper planner. I’ve tried to use a digital planner, and I feel that with a digital planner, even though it is always in my pocket, because you can access it from your phone. It’s to me, still out of sight, out of mind, a paper planner sits on my desk. So I don’t know if there’s any other type of logical explanation, but I just cannot do a digital planner.
It’s not something I’m good at. It’s impossible for me to keep up. I have a tendency not to look at it. I mean, I enjoy the reminders that would pop up. But once again, it’s kind of set it and forget it. Having a process in mind for that is something I enjoy. My planner requires an update. I have to look at what’s going on, and I have to physically update my planner. I mean, you physically have to update a digital planner too, but I don’t know, I just can’t do it.
So I have several empty notebooks and several, several, several pens. We moved frequently. Each time, I’d pack my notebooks, knowing there were no writing supplies inside. I wouldn’t open them, but I’d keep buying more. We packed a lot of it and then put it aside, and then we got a storage unit. So if I accumulated notebooks, I placed them into another box and put them into storage. It’s been a whole thing. I now have them down to four small boxes that include accessories, notebooks, and then I’ve got different notebooks. I threw away many of the planners that were dated, including anything that was partially used. If it were something worth saving, I would pull the sheets out and staple them.
Many times I have tried to start a writing notebook, and could never get it off the ground. I don’t know if anyone else has this issue like me. Perhaps it’s an idealized version of how I perceive writing, but the idea of having a notebook filled with one’s thoughts, be they concepts, intriguing names, locations, topics, a narrative, or even prompts, is appealing. I have some weird and interesting story ideas written, so I pulled them all aside. I mean, I would love to put them into what could eventually feed their own notebook. But I also have, I mean, I know I just said that I like the paper. I’ve tried to do digital notebooks on Notion, and I love Notion, and Notion is very fun, and there’s a lot that you can do with Notion. I have also attempted to place ideas and my projects onto Notion. And that also doesn’t work. It an out of out of sight, out of mind.
So now I am very much considering looking at what I have. Now, a lot of my notebooks are Erin Condren notebooks, so I would have to go through my notebooks and the ones that aren’t personalized, I might sell. Even though I have a lifetime’s worth of notebooks, my heart truly knows that I’ll end up purchasing another one if I go to a store. I think some of my more favorite notebooks I might just put aside. I’ve got, accessories, portfolios, notebook covers, planner covers.
Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the planner covers, I think because I can’t fold like the nice thing of having a planner that is spiral bound, being able to flip it so you have one side on your desk, you don’t have to have it open. I use a planner cover, and I just didn’t like it. The ability to see the covers is something I enjoy. I enjoy being able to flip it. So I think I might sell some of my extra notebooks and my covers and all that goes with all my pencil pouches, too. If I don’t have a use for a pencil pouch, I think that’s another thing I’m just gonna get rid of. I know I personalized at least one of them. So the personalized ones, I will definitely keep. I’ve got too much stuff. I’m going to sell some of my notebooks and accessories. I’m thrilled with dictation and have found that nonfiction works best for it, especially for this project.
In big news, I finished my ProjectSG series. This was a series that I’ve been working on for about two and a half years. I have been working on a blog for about 10 years now, a nursing blog, and about three years ago, I decided I wanted to do a novella-sized series. I went through all of my blog articles, and I wrote the titles, and the subject. My blogs were mostly in a listicle. So I wrote out an outline. I grouped them by common themes and career timelines, resulting in nine distinct guides. Each guide falls within the novella or short novel length, ranging from 20,000 to 50,000.
These were all created using dictation on Wednesday or Thursday and Friday mornings. I leave work at 3am I don’t have anyone to talk to, being so early in the morning and driving, I dictated my nonfiction. I’ve heard many people enjoy dictation, and I’ve tried it for fiction. However, I find dictating nonfiction easier, as it feels more conversational and was a great experience. It was two nights a week I would dictate, and then in the morning I would run through it, I would format it into paragraphs and copy and paste it into the document, and now I have nine guides. I still have a lot of editing to do.
My to-be-edited pile is growing, which I guess is a good thing. I’m still working on ProjectForgotten. I am determined to get that published this year. As I go through and proofread, it’s not quite ready. Some files may have been mixed up. A friend read the book from a file copy and noted discrepancies. So I suspect that the file got mixed up. So I went through my computer and I honestly put any of the files that I was not using into a folder. I didn’t delete them. I just took them off the desktop. So I’m running through this, trying to figure out whether this even got edited, like it’s bad. Larger elements like swapped sections remain moved, but I’ve noticed the writing itself needs more work. So I’m running through it myself with a self-edit, and then I’m going to hire another, another proofreader. This book is going to be published this year. I’m hoping that because so I’ve definitely noticed that every time I hit a new milestone in writing, editing, and publishing. It’s a milestone. It’s hard to break through the first time I wrote a book.
So a lot of my energy has been on editing this book, and then on occasions, writing other books. I’ve got plenty to edit, and I just can’t wait until I have more of a process with my editing to get through this quicker, so that I’m able to get books out. I’m envious of writers who finish their books quickly. They can pre-order on Amazon within three months of completion, allowing time for self-editing and professional editing. Now this is my first book written as an adult, so there’s definitely some growing pains. But I’m hoping that I can streamline the process so that the other books I have, I’m able to get through this process of self-editing and sending them to editors.
But only time will tell.
#ProjectForgotten - I proofread chapter 1-9. I started to also annotate the chapters as well. This will be for a special edition of the book. I know, I know I should just get through but my brain is always thinking.
Finish proofreading the remaining chapters 10-31
Schedule a professional proofreading
Back matter
Mailbox for an LLc and Newsletter
Setup newsletter from back of book and website
Plan 12-week pre-order plan
Publish and Thrive - I finished the course.
Website StellarWolfPublishing.com - I wrote up the disclosure page.
Publish the website
#ProjectCamp - I didn’t work on this at all. I want to put this on hold and concentrate on the other items this month.
#ProjectSG9 - First draft done with the addition of 14,698 words I did not format and have it printed.
Format
Print and purchase
