The last few weeks have been quite busy, both on and offline. And despite the chaos that makes up the vast majority of my life, I’m quite close to getting a lot of things done. I just need to keep squeezing out every minute I can to keep moving forward.
The next few weeks are going to be stressful. However, I think I have the majority of it under control. I suppose we’ll just have to see how things unfold.
Publishing Shadows
I am nearing the completion of Shadows of Atlantic City. All that’s left is a couple of additions here and there and a test-print of the cover. With any luck, I’ll have it uploaded to Amazon and Barnes & Noble either tonight or this weekend.
I’m hoping to schedule the release for Black Friday, at which point, I’ll set the books at a 50% discount for the first few days. The fun part is remembering to get back onto those platforms and change the price back to normal afterward.
Amazon, especially, doesn’t make those kinds of adjustments easy to manage unless you’re using Kindle Unlimited. And because I don’t want my books exclusive to Amazon, I need to remember to go into KDP and change the prices back manually.
So, it looks like I’ll finally have this book published in the next week. It’s been a long road, but I feel it was worth the travel. It’s easily one of my better books, and I look forward to seeing it in print.
Working on Finals for School
Finals are coming up in college. Currently, I’m working on a final essay for English Comp that takes the stance of being against generative AI in creative spaces. I’m not sure what the final will entail for the Storytelling class, as my professor hasn’t updated Canvas regarding what’s next.
Currently, I’m acing both classes and not worried about the final too much. Yet, I do need to set time aside today to register for January classes before I forget again.
Being a part-time student hasn’t been too bad, all things considered. Because of the chaos in my life, being able to go along at my own pace has been incredibly helpful. I’ve also scheduled two-hour blocks of time every day to work on school projects, should I need the time.
I wish I could go full-time and then some. The problem is that I just have too much going on right now to even think about being a full-time student. So, with any luck, I’ll have my bachelor’s in 2036. Well, probably a bit sooner than that, but it’ll take a lot longer than four years.
Despite next week being Fall Break, I’m going to try to wrap up as much of the final projects as I can. I don’t like waiting until the last minute, and usually try to have things done ahead of time.
Goal Setting for 2026
About this time of year, I start deciding on what goals I’d like to accomplish in the next. It gives me time to make adjustments to my schedule while giving things a trial run to see if they’re even accomplishable. Because things can change so rapidly around here, I don’t want to set myself up for failure by aiming for something I physically am incapable of doing.
So far, I’m toying with:
- Spending 30,000 minutes working on novels and stories
That averages just under 2 hours per day, Monday through Friday – a far cry from my best, which is an average of 36.22 minutes per day. - Attending 7 book signing events
Mostly, these center around the author events I attend, such as Read Between the Stars and the breweries. - Continued work on time management
I’m getting better at managing my time, but I still have a long way to go before I’d call myself successful.
These are just a few of the ideas that have been bouncing around lately.
The hardest one is the 30,000 minutes spent working on my books and stories. Since I have so much going on, I’m not sure if I can squeeze out a solid two hours per day. That’s why I’ve been thinking of setting up a secondary goal of just surpassing my best time of 36.22 minutes.
Attending Yet Another Brewery Event
On the 29th of November, I’ll be at Danico Brewing with a handful of authors. This will be an outdoor event, as long as the weather holds out. I’m not sure how excited I am to attend another brewery, especially as the last one kind of put a sour taste in my mouth.
It’s not the fact that I haven’t sold a single book at these brewery events, but how we were treated at the last one. It was like we were putting them out of their way just by setting up the tables on the second floor. I definitely didn’t feel like we were welcome.
Besides, it looks like there’s a chance of rain and snow on the 29th. So, I guess we’re just going to keep our fingers crossed that the weather holds out.
1,000 Published Posts on WriterSanctuary
This week, I hit the milestone of publishing 1,000 posts on WriterSanctuary.com. Of course, this doesn’t count the many that I have rewritten and updated over the years. Still, it’s quite the accomplishment.
As far as I can tell, having 1,000 posts published hasn’t really made much of a difference in visibility in Google. In fact, traffic hasn’t been all that forthcoming since Google launched its AI Overview crap. Nonetheless, I’ll keep writing for the subscribers and followers of the blog.
The goal of WriterSanctuary since 2013 has been to help writers of all kinds while documenting my experiences as a new writer. This included bloggers, freelancers, and self-published authors. So, I’ll keep focusing on helping those I can while trying to make enough money to keep everything going.
It’s my flagship blog, and I’ll keep working on it until I am no longer a writer.
Keeping the Momentum Alive
It’s no secret that I am a hyper-stressed individual with a lot going on. However, I am constantly working to keep the momentum going to reach the levels of success I’d like to achieve for myself. Things like finishing the semester as a 4.0 student or hitting 1,000 publishing blog posts are part of that success.
I don’t need fancy cars or big houses. I’m mostly working toward peace and prosperity, two things that are in short supply in today’s America.
No matter what, though, I’m going to keep working towards my goals. While the light at the end of the tunnel is still a distant and faint glimmer, at least I can see it. And for me, that’s all that matters to keep working toward my end game.