This week, I spent a great deal of time planning out May. I wanted to make sure that I had sufficient time to invest in college work without sacrificing too much of my day. Well, I think I came up with a decent plan of action. Now, I just need to follow it.

Although I’m still performing better than I did last year, there is easily room for improvement.

Changes as a Creator for May

I talked a bit about changes I want to make for the upcoming month. And after spending quite a bit of time working in Asana to see what is physically possible, I have a better idea of how to move forward.

I’m tellin’ ya, Asana has been an incredible tool to help me manage everything I want to accomplish. And all of this was done through the free version of the planner.

Blog Posts

I had to dial back the blog posts for WriterSanctuary to two per week. As I’m trying to rebuild a dead blog and would like to improve the others, I just didn’t have the time to publish three while taking a college course.

However, I’ll be able to work on all five of my blogs. Of course, three of them will only get one post per week. But that is more than what they were getting in 2024. It’ll be a while before they generate significant revenue or traffic. But at least the subscribers will start getting updates again.

This is all temporary. As soon as I’m able to hire additional help, I plan on putting some writers to work. Plus, things might change again for June depending on how well this new schedule works for me in May.

YouTube Videos

I’ve decided to prioritize YouTube a bit more than I have in the past. Only one channel is monetized, but it brings in about four to five times more than the blog in ad revenue for the same content.

I’m also working on building up the YouTube channel for ColoradoPlays. I’d love to monetize it so I can donate more to Extra Life. Plus, it might help me gain a bit of extra cash to work toward retiring as a freelancer.

Unfortunately, there’s not much I can do with Crossing Colorado’s YouTube channel at the moment. I am already spread pretty thin, and the other two channels have a higher potential for generating revenue.

Books & College Sprints

Speaking of YouTube, I’ve scheduled 2-hour blocks of time for writing sprints, Monday through Friday, to work on books and college work. The writing sprints don’t get a lot of attention, but they keep me focused for working on my books. They should have the same effect while working on college courses.

Even if the college classes don’t require daily attention, at least that will be more time spent working on my books and stories. Keep in mind, I’d love to publish at least three books this year…and time is ticking.

Not to mention the fact that I can also work on blog posts during the sprints.

In any case, I really enjoy the writing sprints and look forward to being quite productive as both a self-published author and a college student.

Investing Time in Fourthwall

I have a few items on the Fourthwall store for WriterSanctuary. However, I’d like to have a wider range of products that are relevant for writing in general.

Each week, I’ve allotted myself a block of time to work on designs and ideas. One of these includes autographed copies of my book, which you can’t get outside of in-person events.

I would also like to put my 3D printer to work and create figurines from my books, both hand-painted and plain. I’m not sure if they’d sell, but I would love to have a collection of them. It might be pretty cool to have a chess set of the characters from the Witcham series.

Regular Updates to Substack and This Blog

I’ve schedule a block of time to write updates to the Substack newsletter as well as this blog. I’m paying for the domain name, I might as well use it.

The Substack newsletter is mostly for fans of my work as an author. This includes things like inner thoughts of being self-published and the path I’ve been walking. It’s different from WriterSanctuary, which focuses on raw information most of the time.

This blog is centered on me as a creator, which includes everything I do online – from the blogs to the YouTube channels.

That is the distinction between all of my blogs and such. And it took me quite a while to figure out how to run them all simultaneously. There are a few overlapping elements, but they are different enough, I believe.

Weekend Game Development?

Lastly, I’ve been toying with the idea of creating video games that happen in between the books for The Witcham Chronicles. I think it would be a fun addition to follow the storyline for the gamer fans.

Currently, I’m tinkering with creating modules for Neverwinter Nights, as the Aurora toolset makes creating these types of layouts pretty easy. However, I’m looking into more current platforms. Neverwinter Nights is over 20 years old, after all.

This is more of a passion project, though. It’s not something that is set in stone at the moment. But I think it would be a fun way to melt a few hours on a lazy Saturday every week.

It’s Going to Be an Interesting Month

May of 2022 was my best month for time management. December of 2022 was my best month for total word count. I’m looking forward to shattering both of these records in May, which is doable as long as I stay the course and stop getting into my own way.

There are a lot of awesome things on the horizon. As long as you’re willing to make a few sacrifices, break a few bad habits, and follow through with your goals and aspirations, a lot of them might be yours for the taking.

It often takes big changes to make profound and positive impacts on your life. And spinning your wheels in the mud is only going to dig you deeper into that rut.

It’s time to get out, stick a plank of wood under the tire, and idle yourself out of the muck.