Monday, February 18, 2019

February New Year's Resolution (better late than never)


Well, Christmas flew by in a flash - and lovely it was too - and January got off to a busy start as I had a deadline for the second book in my French Cafe series, as well as copyediting and proofreading book one, which will be out in March.

After leaving the bulk of the writing (again) for the final month - writing 10,000 words in 16 hours at the end, to leave myself a day to read through the draft and make sure it made sense before submitting to my editor - I'm determined to manage my time more effectively with book three. Even though deadlines are tight, writing three books a year, I know I can do it better, but need to start by banning myself from the internet. Never does social media appeal more seductive than when my deadline starts approaching like a speeding train. I used to  turn into a domestic goddess, doing loads of housework and baking, crubbing floors and dusting skirting boards, which was at least productive. I'm not sure 'liking' other peoples' dinner - however tasty it looks - or retweeting memes about procrastination is half as useful, however much I like to call it 'networking'.

So, a resolution of sorts for 2019 - to faff less, write more - and stay away from the internet (unless it's for research - and to look at puppies, and find out what everyone else in the world is doing). 

I may have said this last year, but this time I mean it.

(I may have said that too...)

2 comments:

Sue Blackburn said...

My goodness whatever you're doing at the moment works for you Karen but I guess it must be - er, quite a strain and extremely nervewracking! But some people do actually work better to a deadline don't they, when it's fast approaching. Anyway however you do it keep those wonderful books coming :-) xxx

Karen said...

Thanks for your lovely words, Sue :-) I do think that even if I had a year to write each book, I'd still leave it all until the final month! xx