#ROW80 - Taking it Easier

Another week, another busy schedule. I wrote Monday about how I was feeling a bit down. I've regained some of myself since then. The bottom is always the worst, and then it's simply a matter of trudging back uphill.  And trudging I am.

In light of the circumstance, I decided to ease up on my editing goal.  I was originally not even giving myself a day off, working 7 days a week and shooting for 2 chapters per day.  There are times when pushing hard is good, but other times when it doesn't make sense.  Suffering for the sake of suffering has always seemed silly to me.  I'm not going to get any feedback from my editors for a few weeks still (if then, what with the holidays... which I anticipated going into this), so why rush my own read through?  I can back off and still easily get it done.  So that goal has been modified.  I'll give myself two days off, so 10 chapters per week instead of 14.  Spreading out the "off" time is allowable, too.

Let's look at the goals, then:

• Lesson Learned - Sometimes you need to go easy on yourself.  It's tempting as an indie author to push, push, push.  Especially, right now, in this season. In this publishing environment.  There's sort of a "to the victor go the spoils" mentality, and you have to work hard to win.  When you're in charge of your own business, I think its easier to fall into the trap of long hours and a steady diet of stress.  Stepping back, chilling out a bit, can be a smart business decision.
• WIP Editing - I took the weekend off, and still ended up one short of the modified goal at 9/10 chapters.  Still, I'm easily on target to finish my read through before I'm slated to begin getting editor feedback.  So I'm not too worried here.
• Blogging - Considering this is my sole writing outlet right now, it's good that I'm keeping up.  4/3 on the gaming blog. 4/3 here.  Plus I got a personal post up and have another one read to go, so I'm covered through the rest of the year there.

I've not written a whole lot of fiction while editing.  You may have noticed that the weekly story here has sort of stopped.  My muse is taking a bit of a rest, so I'm not going to force it.  Plus, it's not like I'm not busy with editing or anything.  For whatever reason, I just think it's really hard to write new stuff while in editing mode. I'm not sure why that is.  It's not that I can't focus on more than one project, because even when I'm knee deep in a WIP, I have a million other ideas rattling around.  Put on my editor hat, though, and they all evaporate.  It becomes more about tweaking existing creations than dreaming new ones.  It's a different sort of creativity, though no less important.

I'm still writing, however, and that's the important thing.  The topics may end up being more reflective and less imaginative, but it makes sense when you consider I'm stuck in a brain mode of "using what I have" instead of "making it all up."  Also, maybe it's just me, but I feel like the holidays sap a lot of creative energy. They can inspire extra, but they require some for the simple tasks like "how am I going to make this crazy schedule work" and "what am I going to get Mom."  Sure, I could always go with the default "gift card to somewhere," but I always feel like that's a cop-out.  Though, I do love me some gift cards.  Post Christmas shopping sprees are all right.

Let's check out the words:

• Project Fiction: 0 (Editing Mode)
• Since last check in: 5,138
• Grand Total for Round 4: 52,440