Starting August 18th, I’ll be attending two classes as I work to finish my bachelor’s degree. That means I have to change how often I can create content and work on my other projects, such as publishing Shadows of Atlantic City. I have a feeling there are some choppy waters ahead.

Well, I have to restart the bachelor’s program, actually. It seems my year or so at Westwood College isn’t regionally accredited, so I am missing out on 27% of my credits. That means I have to do several of those core classes all over again.

Being a Part-time Student

To receive the Pell Grant, I need to be at least a part-time student. That means taking two classes instead of one in the fall. That also means more time will have to be diverted to the coursework.

Unfortunately, I will have no idea how much time I’ll need during any given week. That translates to not being able to stick to a specific publishing schedule.

Well, at least not plan for one, anyway. I doubt that the two classes will take up the lion’s share of my time. However, I always try to plan long instead of being screwed by being short on time.

Perhaps what I’ll do is schedule four hours per day to work on college courses. If I don’t use up the entire block of time, then I will work on various projects. I know that sounds obvious, but the way I have things set up in Asana, it’s kind of a pain in the butt to manage.

You see, every individual blog post and YouTube video has its own two-hour block of time. That way, I know what I am working on during any given day. Becoming a part-time student means putting things into limbo until I can get to them.

I have a couple of weeks yet to iron out the details, and I have a few ideas of how it would work. But I guess I won’t know for sure until the courses start.

Client Work Has to Come First

The blog and YouTube content don’t pay a lot of money. In fact, 96.64% of my income is currently generated by freelancing clients. I would have liked to get the content to make a few bucks more over the past few months, but it is what it is.

Throughout the week, I have to make sure the client’s work gets done before I do anything else. They are the ones paying my mortgage and bills, so they are the utmost priority. Then, I’ll try to squeeze in a blog post or YouTube video that might net a few bucks over the next few months.

What would it take to retire from freelancing and go all-in with books, blogs, and videos? I need the content to generate at least $200 per day, or to make up more than 50% of my income.

Yesterday, I made $3.17 from both the blogs and videos. Yeah, that’s a far cry from what I need, and it’s why I focus on client work first. I’ll still keep trying to increase my content income. But for now, clients come first.

So, What’s Going On with Shadows?

Shadows of Atlantic City is extremely close to being published. I know I keep saying that, but it’s very close to being up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. That is, unless I want to buy my own ISBNs, which will take a few more weeks of saving some money.

The cover just needs a few lightening and font tweaks, we’re working on the final draft of the story with feedback, and I’m planning a bit of a celebration for when it comes out. Unfortunately, life has a way of tossing hurdles in your path, despite jogging on a newly paved roadway.

I’m going to try to get a bit more time this weekend to wrap up a few minor scenes I wanted to add. And if I can get a bit of time with the test printing, the cover should be ready to go by the end of next week. All that’s left is the feedback and making any tweaks that seem necessary.

I also want to set aside a bit of cash for marketing. There’s only so much you can do for free, and I have a lot of ad experiments in mind that I’d like to try. Like the adage goes, “You gotta spend money to make money.”

No one is going to buy the book if they don’t know it exists.

Can I Still Finish Fury and VII This Year?

I am quite deep into Fury. I’m thinking maybe a solid two weeks of writing should wrap up the story. That’s if I manage to keep up the average of 2,000 words per day. With college starting soon, I’m not sure how much time I’ll have to finish the book.

Perhaps I’ll set up new goals and progression in Reedsy Studio to see when I can have the book done. Of course, this is just the first draft. Then, we have edits, re-writes, beta reading, AutoCrit editing, and more before I can get Fury on the shelf.

As for VII, I don’t have to worry as much about editing. It’s a free book on Wattpad for my fans to enjoy. I plan on doing more stories on Wattpad and Inkitt, but as for VII, it’s nearly done as well. I might feed it through AutoCrit just to polish it up a bit. But I’m not overly concerned about polishing it up as much.

Again, when I’ll have VII completed depends on how classes unfold each week. Since it’s not the highest on my priorities, it might be one of the last things I wrap up before looking at rewriting and re-recording Despair.

Then again, things could go smoothly with the classes, and I may wind up with more time than anticipated.

Using the Courses As Content

As I start my bachelor’s degree…again…I’m going to use the classes much like I did with the Reedsy masterclass for How to Write a Novel. Each week, I made an update video of the course and what I learned. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make weekly videos as I did before, but I intend on turning the courses into content.

For one thing, it helped me retain the information a lot more easily.

Besides, perhaps I can shed some light on a topic that might help other writers who aren’t taking the classes. That’s why I built WriterSanctuary in the first place – to help others find their paths as writers.

In any case, I’m looking forward to a lot of the classes that are in my track. And I might just take all of the anthropology courses, as there are a lot of them that pique my interest. I suppose that really depends on how much time and money I have going forward.

Taking extra classes that are irrelevant to my degree means that it’ll take me longer to get a bachelor’s. But I’ll have two majors by the end. And I am sure that the anthropology courses will spark all kinds of creative writing.

I’ll know More Once the Classes Start

At the beginning, I’ll have a tentative floating schedule planned out in Asana. I won’t know the real impact of how things are going to work until the classes start. Even then, I’m sure some weeks are going to be more active than others with college work.

This year has progressed far differently from what I had originally planned. But I still think it’ll end much better than many of the years before it. Well, as long as I keep pushing myself to get things done.

I do have to say that I am quite excited to go back to school. Sure, I’m rounding the horn on my way to 50. But you’re never too old to learn something new, especially if it benefits your career path.