Timelines…

As a newer writer…I say that in terms of publishing, not so much in how long I have been writing in my free time…I find more and more that we end up setting timelines for ourselves to meet goals only to end up being let down by them. Well, here is a big thing that I am learning this year, while timelines are good for setting goals, there are times that you have to realize that you need to change thing. That you need to push things back for what feels like the millionth time in order to take care of other things.

2024 was supposed to be a big year for me to publish my first novel. Well, that doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen this year. But, you know what? That’s okay. And while I’ll still beat myself up for not meeting that goal I had set when I sat down at Smut Lovers Con this last year I am meeting some major other goals this year that has taken priority. I’m making a cross country move with my future husband for his dream job. I found a new day job that I have a lot of room to grow with. I found a new apartment for us to move into that will include an actual office space for me to write in. (I can not tell you how excited I am to have an actual designated space to write with minimal distractions. Ok, ok, ok, I hear my husband scoffing in the background that I’m always distracted. He isn’t wrong.) Not only with that major change, but we are now planning our wedding that we will now have to add travel time into. Toss in everyday life in there on top of trying to find writing time…well that’s alot.

Yet as everyone else does who are writers we compare ourselves to everyone that is published. Ok, I think we might do this in other aspects of our lives, but I feel it more in the writing world. We see how many books people are turning out to publish each year and it’s mind blowing. I am beyond amazed at all the works that people put all there love and time creating. Then there is us new authors, with a day job, struggling to get that first book done. We put deadlines on ourselves and things just keep getting in the way.

And you know what? That’s ok. Out of all the things that I need to do this is the one timeline that I have full control over. Keeping as much of a healthy mindset as possible you gotta take the deep breathe and take in what you can move around. For me I’m realizing it’s my writing.

Beating ourselves up over missing the timelines we gave ourselves isn’t helpful in the long run. I’ve meant to post a blog a month on here and it hasn’t happened. But that’s ok cause I haven’t forgotten it. When I am able to I’m going to jump on here and get what I can done. Have I finished my edits? Hell now. I’m such a slow editor it hurts, but I’m making progress. And it’s the little victories like the once sentence I deleted and tweaked this week.

Am I going to be able to self publish this year? Most likely not with all that is going on, but am I giving up? Hell no. Timelines my fluctuate with things, but it’s still happening. Just not as fast as I hoped. I’m still going to try to get it done this year since there is still more than enough time, but if I don’t? That’s ok. By the end of this year I will have made some MAJOR life changes and finally settled down a bit. That in itself is amazing.

My book is still coming. I’m just going to be more forgiving on my timeline and stop comparing it to everyone else. You don’t know what else everyone else has going on in there life, so stop thinking you can do it all and then some.

I’m going to keep taking my own advice as hard as it is at times. Take it one day at a time. As long as you make some progress on your to do list you will be able to get to your goal eventually. Just be sure to be kind with yourself and making sure to take the breaks that you need to keep going.

Happy writing!