When did life get so busy?
June is jam-packed this year. Every time I look at the crowded calendar, I realize I've forgotten at least one upcoming item that requires planning or emotional preparation. Then while remedying that oversight, I inevitably discover another.
For a compulsive list-maker like me, there's only one logical solution. Start a list, build it into a spreadsheet, and start coloring. I'll only post the list so far (a work in progress like everything else) No one wants to see the spreadsheet except perhaps economics professors who had to buy ALL the Sharpie markers to have enough colors for their overhead graphs. That's a post for another day.
- June 1 Surprise! It's June. Were you ready? I wasn't. Schedule a blog post. Post quotes that I stayed up all night making. Check on assorted projects in progress. Get a story posted to Far Horizons. Do the first-of-the-month chore list. Panic.
- June 2 Finish a scene. Finish the week's crits. Get reading done. Not too bad.
- June 3 Morning work which conflicts with afternoon meeting, and volunteer presentation, which conflicts with an evening event I should attend. Yes, all on one day.
- June 4 All-day self-publishing seminar. 9-5 (On the train at 7:15 AM) Evening events including a reception, going on until 10PM. It's all part of the Nebula Awards Weekend event/party thrown by the SFWA, an organization I hope to join someday by qualifying with my amazing profits.
- June 5 All day events again, all related to science fiction, writing and general geeking out. Includes a reputedly huge book-signing event and another reception in the evening. I may dissolve in acid social overload before the end. Plus a guest post scheduled to post on my blog. (Already DONE. Ha. One thing checked off.)
- June 6. More awards weekend fun. At least no evening events, because I couldn't afford the seminar fee and the banquet fee. Something told me the information would stick with me longer than the food. Common sense perhaps.
- Recover. That's not to say that my days will be empty. During the above busy time, I will be neglecting regular work. A reprieve means catching up and keeping up with the day-to-day:
- Twitter feed maintenance, including participation in a big month-long independent-author promotional event
- Facebook page upkeep
- Staying connected with peers online
- Regular work schedule
- Volunteer work schedule
- Not starving, not going naked, not being eaten by dust bunnies, not being marooned at home without transportation. Shop, launder, cook, clean, take care of the car. (I call it doing my homework. It's time-consuming and mind-consuming.)
- Extra Bonus! Adapt, refine, and practice a reading for the wedding of two good friends. (Obviously good friends. Only for them would Spouseman agree to stand up in public and hold my hand while I read a thing. Not even for me would he read in public.)
- Write. It should be at the top of the list, yes. It won't be this month. Grr.
- June 12: Another guest post. (Also DONE. Scheduled, proofed and set. The associated tweets? Not so much.) Wedding rehearsal.
- June 13. Wedding Day. Also a big movie release. Which we will have to see on Sunday.
- Lull. Then another week's reprieve. Only work and volunteering planned so far. I'm thinking of scheduling a sale day or two for one of my other titles in there. Because why not? I don't have enough to do. Besides, the way things are going, Something Will Come Up.
- Week of promotion.
- Goodreads Giveaway for Controlled Descent.
- Pre-release reminders for Novices: email reviewers with a refresher inquiry about reviews and a reminder on the release date.
- Drum up interest for Novices through Twitter, Facebook & Goodreads.
- The Big Day. June 23.
- Release day for Novices
- First bookiversary for Controlled Descent
- Pull winners for the giveaway
- Aftermath. A week of nail-biting, disappointment, fretting, and excitement and elation all wrapped up in one big emotional burrito.