This is My Life – For Now!

It used to be that I hated doing the same thing day after day. I used to want variety in my days, embracing surprises and random acts. Just doing something different every day.

 

These days, however, I am more likely to embrace familiarity. I have the same expectations for the same things during my day when it is the week, as well as when it is the weekend.

 

During the week, I look forward to another day of the following things:

 

Writing SOMETHING (a blog post, short story, poetry, an article, etc.)

Doing work for Twisted Dreams Press/Dreamweaver Press

Working on the SPARREW newsletter

Working on book reviews

 

I also try to squeeze in working on one of my book WIPs as well as doing research, either for a book or an article, during the week. But sometimes, I don’t have enough energy left to do that.

 

Of course, I do other things besides that stuff. I’m outside caring for my plants, on the couch reading other books or magazines, moving about the house to do cleaning/organizing, spending time on my socials, running errands or hanging out with one or both of my kids or enjoying a meal with my husband or watching a movie. I know I should include an exercise routine in there somewhere, but I haven’t figured that out yet.

 

But, for the most part, those four things I listed above normally happen every day during the week.

 

I don’t start work on them IMMEDIATELY in the mornings, right after I wake up. The mornings are my time. I write, enjoy a cup of (decaf) coffee, shower and get dressed, answer messages and emails, read, and do my eye treatment (which is what I call administering eye drops to my right eye, which I had surgery for on April 1). I start work on those four things at a certain time in the mornings, after I do all that other stuff.

 

I normally do book promotion for one of my books on Tuesdays, but this week, I did it on Wednesday, because I had a book to promote for Earth Day. And if a day comes along which I have a book to promote after I already featured one particular book for book promotion, I will promote that book too.

 

As for the weekends, I write an article for my Substack every Saturday and send out the Substack every Sunday. I also post something on the writing blog on Saturdays, but I’ll post on a different day of the week if the occasion calls for it.

 

I don’t do any work for the press on the weekends unless there is an emergency OR I forgot to do something time-sensitive during the week. This includes answering messages as well as emails. Unless the message is urgent or time-sensitive, all of them can wait for Monday.

 

On the weekends, aside from the Substack stuff, I prefer to do website updates. (I will also do website updates during the week if something happens, such as when one of my poetry books had an ebook version release this week and I needed to add the new link to the book cover image on my author site.) I also spend more time working on books, working on the newsletter, reading more of the books I am reviewing, and spending more time working on my writing projects (such as revising a short story) during the weekends.

 

It used to be that I would save all of the self-publishing work for the weekends, but these days, I am now doing the self-publishing stuff any time that I am able to do it. If something needs to be done, I’ll set aside the time to work on it.

 

I also used to save uploading and formatting the newsletter on the SPARREW site for the weekends, but that was only because that kind of work took HOURS and I did not have that kind of time during the week. But these days, I do, so I do that on scheduled days instead of on the weekends. (This is just one of the perks of having kids who are independent adults now!)

 

These are routines that I have grown used to completing during the week and the weekends.

 

And you know what? I never tire of it. It’s as though I expect these things to happen during those particular days. I can’t let a day of the week pass me by without doing something for the press, and I can’t let a weekend go by without investing more time in a book I am writing/editing/revising or working on one of my writing projects.

 

Of course, every now and then, I’ll throw in something different either during the week or the weekend. If I have the time and energy, I’ll work on short story revisions during the week. And if something different comes along that I have the time and energy for, I’ll work on that too. For example, I occasionally write articles for Able News, so there will be times I need to include that kind of work in my days. I also occasionally write articles for WritersWeekly, the Burial Books blog and Weird Wide Web, so if I have something going on there, I’ll include that kind of work in my day as well. I pretty much spend all month working on my First Chapter Plus Magazine articles, during the week and the weekends. These articles are usually due at the end of the month.  

 

But, for the most part, I am basically doing the same things every week and every weekend. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. I like doing these things, and I enjoy how fulfilling they make my days feel after I complete them. Another day of sending an acceptance to an author is another day I am grateful to be working in publishing. And another day that I am able to add more material to my newsletter is another day I am excited to be sharing something useful to other writers. These things really fill up my days, but they are also very fulfilling and very satisfying.

 

Some people may dislike doing the same things every day, but not me. I used to dislike it, but not anymore. Every new day is a chance to do something awesome, and I’m glad that I have routines in place to make sure something awesome can happen.

 

I know that this current situation is only temporary. This is not how my life is ALWAYS going to be for the rest of my life. Change will happen, and those changes will affect my schedules and routines. But for now, this is the life I am living!