I’d like to beat my chest and say I got screwed by the calendar, this week. Only, it’s my problem, because I didn’t look up and pay attention.
I had a good week, word count wise. Not brilliant, but a good solid week:
MONDAY 5,392
TUESDAY 7,721
WEDNESDAY 4,502
THURSDAY 7,946
FRIDAY 6,899
SATURDAY 4,936
SUNDAY 0
I had visions of putting in one of my legendary weeks, piling up the word count, repeating it this week and in that way, catch up and take the pressure off myself.
What happened?
Easter weekened.
I got a nasty shock on Friday when my husband didn’t go to work as he normally did, but settled behind his computer.
It’s not that I didn’t know Easter was coming. I’d just tucked it away in my subconscious, thinking I had a couple of weeks yet. And here it was.
I did my best on Friday and Saturday, but between preparing for family events, and covering the blog posts, and other critical things that had to be in place over the weekend, I didn’t get a stellar amount written on those two days.
I got nothing at all done Sunday or Monday. I’m writing this post shortly before I post it on Tuesday and I’m several hours late, and already know I won’t write a word today, either, as the last of the visiting family members only left a short while ago.
This is a peculiar malady that can strike those who write full time at home and don’t have other family members with rigid weekly schedules to remind them of the day of the week and the date. As more and more people switch to working from home, this could easily be you. A robust calender and frequent revisions of, and planning around, public holidays and your production schedule will help avoid holiday shock syndrome.
A Sleight of Hand Resolution
Unfortunately, the Easter weekend was the last crack in my production schedule. I’ve had to resort to a last ditch recovery tactic that is only possible if you have a big backlist.
I’m going to move my release dates forward by 4 weeks, and fill in the gap with the release of a boxed series set.
That puts me only just in front of my production schedule –that’s how badly I had fallen behind.
I don’t like missing a release date this way, but I must suck it up. I know that trying to catch up and then get ahead of my schedule from this far behind would be a Herculian tasks that would simply be too much to deal with when I’ve spent weeks trying to put in remedial hours already.
So.
Back to work — all of us.
t.