Howdy ya’ll! It’s been a craazy month, to say the least, and I’m barely staying afloat with my newborn button boo, writing deadlines, and NaNoWriMo chomping at my butt. I’ve had to make some major changes to my lifestyle and have had to tweak things as a writer-entrepreneur to stay on schedule with my dreams!
I know lots of you (especially us creative-entrepreneur-supermoms) are looking for ways to keep on track 
while also working, being parents, and managing all your other life responsibilities, so I wanted to share what I’m going to try out for now and for 2015 going forward.
Honestly, I see this new life of mine as an exercise in guerrilla warfare. You gotta pimp every free second, minute and hour you have, get in writing where you can, multitask, and just keep doing it (whatever “it” is) until it’s done. It doesn’t have to be perfect or pretty, but playing this game catch-as-catch-can will allow you to survive behind enemy lines.
So with that, here’s my life and my new schedule. I’m not promising that it’ll work, or that my new “life reboot” is a panacea, but I am promising that I’ll do my damndest to keep up, and that I’ll share with you all how it’s all going!
My Writing & Life Reboot
My daughter is beginning to show some methods to her madness now, so I can plan my writing time around her schedule. For you moms out there, keep in mind that you have to stay flexible and take writing time when and where you can. This, however, is how my daily schedule is working out as a full-time author-entrepreneur-mommy.
NEW WRITING SCHEDULE (DAILY)
4:00 AM – 5:00 AM: Blogging, website management, freelance writing, social network updates
5:00 AM – 7:30/8:00 AM: WRITING. Just straight up, no holds barred, fiction writing (can you say vomit drafts?)
8:00 AM – 3:00 PM: Taking care of the baby, running errands, reading & doing research during baby feedings, making phone calls, listening to industry podcasts, and other hands-free stuff that will increase my knowledge and push my career forward
3:00 PM – 6:00 PM (roughly): WRITING. Boyfriend takes baby out for a walk (or just takes the baby), so I get some more writing done on a current or different project. Lots of story and character building. Finishing up any writing I hadn’t gotten done earlier.
6:00 PM – 10:30 PM: dinner & family together time; getting baby to calm her diva self down; spending time with the boyfriend; trolling on Facebook; other brainless, I’m-dead-tired-and-just-want-to-chill-right-now stuff
Now, if you notice, I only get about five to six hours of sleep per night. Yes, I know that’s crazy, but it’s working for me right now, lol. Hopefully, as my baby gets a couple of months older, her bedtime will also get a little earlier, and I’ll get more sleep. But until then… 😉
Sooo… daily writing schedules are awesome, but in addition to a daily grind, I also thrive best with a year-long grind. Because I’m trying to treat my indie author life as a business as well as a pursuit in what I love, I like planning out the production of my work on a yearly and quarterly basis. I also like to put my “products” on schedule.
This year’s massive changes proved it hard to stay as on schedule as I would have liked, but having finally found a balance that works for, I wanted to share my new production schedule! Check it out:
NEW PRODUCTION SCHEDULE (YEARLY):
NOVELS, NOVELLAS, & SERIALS
1. Researching – 3 weeks
2. Story and character building – 3 weeks
2. First draft – 4 weeks
3. Second draft – 4 weeks
4. Third draft (after pro editing)- 4 weeks
5. Final draft – 4 weeks
WRITING SCHEDULE: 3,000 words a day
MONTH TOTAL: 90,000 words a month
REWARD: 12-18 novels a year!
TAKE AWAY: Start novel/novella/serial projects 6 months ahead of their “due by” date to have them in on time.
TV PILOTS & SPECS
1. Story building – 3 weeks
2. First draft – 4 weeks
3. Second draft – 8 weeks
4. Final draft – 4 weeks
WRITING SCHEDULE: 2 pages a day
MONTH TOTAL: 60 pages a month
REWARD: 9-12 pilots or specs per year! (I’m thinking about having a 2:1 ratio in my portfolio, i.e. 8 pilots and 4 specs)
TAKE AWAY: Start pilot and spec project 3 months ahead of their “due by” date to have them in on time!
FEATURES
1. Research, story, and character building – 4 weeks
2. First draft – 8 weeks
3. Second draft – 8 weeks
4. Third draft – 4 weeks
5. Final draft – 2 weeks
WRITING SCHEDULE: 1 page a day
MONTH TOTAL: 30 pages a month
REWARD: 2 solid features per year!
TAKE AWAY: Start feature projects 6 months ahead of their “due by” date to have them in on time.
Ambitious, right? I’ll let you know how it goes, but in the meanwhile, here’s another update / “reboot”…
Slight Changes in the Blog
The core purpose, nature, and features of my blog will not change, but the frequency with which I post will change, unfortunately. I make time for an hour of blogging each morning (7 days a week), and I post as soon as the writing or podcast is polished.
Unfortunately, the new change means that most likely I’ll only be posting here 2 times a week, 3 if I’m really on a roll. But that’s okay, because I’ll have more fiction coming out for you guys, so I hope it’s a fair trade!
NOTE: I DO still take author features and blog tours, so please don’t be shy in submitting them! I’ll let you know if I can fit you in the schedule for the month! 🙂 Also, as I mentioned, podcasts, the Rebel Ragdoll Review, YouTube reviews, the blog articles, and more core features of Colby’s Cove will endure. So no worries!
NaNoWriMo Update
So I’ve got over 77,000 words for The Final Page and over 83,000 words for Ronin/Hegemon, and I’m trying to see if I can up my count on both. I’ve written about 6000 new words total (yes, I know, it’s pathetic), with a recent boost in my daily production due to my new writing schedule.
So, we’ll see how the new schedule comes to bear on my daily word count. Keep track of the box at the right for a word-by-word update! 🙂
So, how’s your NaNoWriMo going? Have you also had to make major adjustments and life changes that have affected your career? How have you overcome these challenges to keep writing? Post your experiences below! And, of course, in the meantime…
Keep it indie,
<3 Colby