Schedule Changeup

I've done a bit of schedule wrangling today and it has worked out quite well, I think. The last few days back in the saddle [actually writing again] has had some mixed reviews. I quickly started to his a wall, not wanting to write mid-day (which was the schedule I set). So I would procrastinate and push it off "until later", which of course we know "later" never actually comes and a few days went by without writing at all.

So I decided that, if I'm going to actually remain consistent, I needed to prioritize and write first thing in the morning instead of doing all the extra stuff ahead. This morning I got up, showered, ate breakfast, did my morning paperwork in the office, and then went back to my chair and immediately fired up my OpenOffice and knocked out 600 words [target goal currently is 500 / day, and I hope to increase over time - when I wrote my first two books I was averaging 3000 words / day - I'm trying to find a happy medium between not writing and burnout]. Not only did I exceed my target goal on Seeking Light Aurora today, but I also was able to finish the last edit on Chapter 1 of The Preparation.

By doing it all up front, it leaves me the rest of the day to relax and do what I really feel like doing without stressing that I "haven't written today". 

On another front, my graphics artist is AWOL. I have not heard from her in several days, so I decided to start shopping for another one. I put an ad out on the internet for a contract worker, fixed price job for a book cover and I was shocked to get 9 people interested in doing the project - and they all chimed up in less than 24 hours! A number of them are even trying to low ball the competition and under bid my proposed flat rate price.So far there is only one contractor from the bunch whose portfolio I found interesting. And let me tell you, so far, he is amazing! Not only has he started working on the project before I even hired him, he is quoting me half price for the job and he is providing feedback through each step of the process. He picked a background, but I didn't like it. Then he picked another one and I love it. Now he is working on the verbiage and there are a few changes to the background I'm hoping he can make. It is very possible this guy, too, could fall off the edge of the earth just as abruptly as the last contractor did, but I won't be out anything if he does. Here's to crossing my fingers, and kissing some toads.

Overall, today has been a lazy day. I'm getting over a cold and I just feel kind of run down. I've been in my chair most of the day and it's truly a grand life. Let's hope my schedule switchup holds through tomorrow.