A New Path Forward IV

*Note: Copied over from Morning Pages journal vol. 14, personal journal vol. 11, dated 9.25.2024*

Looking at the timetable I created for myself in the last entry, to write a middle grade book would take seven months (but let’s be real here, it’s probably eight), meaning I can write roughly a book and a half each year, based on the current living schedule I have now.

I have an hour and a half in the morning. Every morning. And even that is uncertain, if I’m being honest. This morning alone I got started 15 minutes late so as not to wake up the boys who crawl into bed with me in the middle of the night.

What’s the solution? Find more time? Make more time?

Use the time wisely, I suppose. Less doomscrolling and glancing at the second screen if it’s not on the work. This timetable you developed only applies to the active projects, the one currently in front of you. There can always be sections of life when the other work can take over. Drafting up new ideas. Exploring new spaces.

And, thinking on it, there’s no accounting for pitching/querying projects, the work that leads directly to me getting paid. That needs time and attention to, for reading agent profiles and researching their previous work. One query a week per project leads to 52 agents a year. More if I double up the projects and pitch 52 per book. I would need more time than the hour every morning writing to get to it.

You just need to stay on top of it. Manage what you’re working on.,

And to show how stable minded I am, look at this totally stable minded drawing: