Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Day 43 - Under Pressure

In 2015 I released my novella Survivor. I had been planning the release party at the same time I was supposed to be writing the story but the planning was taking priority and I eventually realized I was tremendously behind. It put a huge amount of pressure on me but I have mentioned before that I tend to thrive under that kind of pressure. I wrote off and on for the next two weeks, taking advantage of every day off from work. I managed to continue the planning but for those two weeks everything outside the creation of Survivor took a far back seat.

I had to finish the book because the event I was planning was specifically for that book. When you say "I really want to finish the book by next month" or something along those lines it can be easy to also make an excuse that life got in the way or the story just wasn't flowing. Other projects may have come along to distract and the deadline just needs to be pushed back a bit. It is a slippery slope though and can make you end up with half a dozen projects going simultaneously without ever finishing anything.

I have three projects currently that are fighting for the top priority spot and I am working to find a deadline I would have to abide by in order to keep me on track. The first book I am doing my best to complete is the book the agents at the conference asked for a few months ago. I am having fun writing the stories but also running out of the funny moments to share making the last push more difficult. The second is launching my merchandise line that is waiting on a trademark right now so I can create the t-shirts, bookmarks and coffee mugs along with other items good for writers and those that love them. The last is the editing and rewrites on my book Breathe. I have struggled to make any real progress even though I have figured out several of my concerns and ways to fix them.

I just need an event to release the book and sell my merchandise in order to force me to complete all of the projects I have been working on. Right now I am considering the Indie Addicts in LA show coming up on July 1st of this year. If I sign up for the show and announce my book would be there along with samples of the shirts and other merchandise it would force me to follow through. It might just be the kick in the pants I obviously need.


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