I am useless at planning, which annoys me. Many, many years ago I worked in jobs that demanded accurate and speedy work with seriously hard deadlines, but those skills are long gone. For ages I’ve tried to stick to a timetable of a little fiction on most Mondays, a little chat on some Wednesdays and an occasional book review on Fridays. Recently that has gone so far out of the window that it can’t be seen with a telescope.
This doesn’t just apply to my writing, by the way. I have a mound of knitting projects that have been started and forgotten that is large enough to hide a lost city. I am on Christmas card terms with all the delivery people around here as I have so many internet impulse buys. And my poor husband has learned to live with my erratic attitude to grocery shopping.
To be fair to myself, I’ve recently been busy with a lot of projects. This is partly because in nearly sixty years of life I have not learned how to set realistic goals. The quirkiest project that I’ve been involved with is #HazardousToYourSanity where a number of different bloggers write about projects that interest them. I’ve contributed a couple of posts about British Superstitions, here, here and here and there have been all sorts of topics from other authors, such as soup recipes, music playlists and some very spicy ideas. I’m committed to regular spots in the roster and I’m a couple of pieces ahead now, which is a relief. I was also incredibly honoured to be asked to write the Afterword for the next Kindle edition of A Place Called Paradise by Essie Summers. I’ll share when that comes out, but my part in that is now pretty much done so that’s off the list.
Of course, October is rapidly approaching and as so much of my writing revolves around the supernatural, I feel that I have to go for it. October Frights is back between October 10th and October 15th again, organised by the amazing AF Stewart. I have already got some stuff sorted out for that, and I’m planning a few good things for the rest of October, so watch this space!
Of course, Invitation Accepted is continuing and I have a lot of plans for that.
I am always reluctant to post that I am going to do something, as chaos always follows. If I say I’m going to turn right then, no matter what I do, I turn left every time. However I’ve finished the next instalment of Invitation Accepted and cued it up to be published on Monday, I’ve picked a book to review in eight days time, so the next realistic Friday, and I’m making notes about what I can chat about next Wednesday. I’m hoping that I can get back on track in time for October.
Now all I have to do is try and rein in my imagination and be realistic about what I can do in October – but I think it will still be worth it to watch this space!
