Zoom, There It Goes

Tempus Fugit. And speedily too.

At the close of the year, you know how it goes, looking at the past years and what went wrong and what went right.

I of course feel I must apologize to all and Sundry — I don’t know who Sundry is or why he/she/it/blobfish is not included under “all” — because 2020 was totally my fault.

My husband, whom I love and adore decided the issue with my writing and its paying is that I was running directionless with it, without a plan. He wasn’t wrong. Keep that in mind. I mean, he was absolutely right when it came to good business practices. Or even bad business practices. I wasn’t running my job as a business.

Partly, you know, because I hadn’t really been running a business for 20 years. Because, you know, the job as a traditionally published author is dependent on what the publishers buy and when they buy it.

So making a plan for what you’ll finish or when is kind of silly. Because you can finish tons of things no one wants to publish. Or you can leave your schedule open and say “Sure, I can do that” when someone offers a great new thing.

And when you transition to indie, you absolutely do have to have a business plan.

It’s just that I’m a minor avatar of chaos. Which means when I try to plan or organize anything, the world goes awry.

And this is why I blame 2020 on the fact that on December 28 2019 we went to dinner (it’s our anniversary) and we sat there planning my writing for the next year.

All I put down was completely doable. Except that needless to say our year was eaten by stupid government tricks (mostly. I mean the disease was a problem, but the stupid government tricks were what had me too Angry to function.)

So, all of 2020 and the two years that followed were my fault, because I tried to plan.

The thing is, we’re going to try it again. Tomorrow. Stop staring at me.

The problem is I do need a plan to get where I want to go. Yes, I am still me, and just like I flavor seek when eating, and therefore get in all sorts of ridiculous trouble mostly of the weight gain kind, I will still write strange things and toss them out periodically because they’re in my head and they have to come out. But at the same time I know I owe my fans and those who love my books already out that are part of series, that I need to continue, or the fans will be sad. So I will have to schedule releases. That way I can tell you when something is coming out and not leave you in limbo. It also gives me a chance to get art scheduled or work on it, etc.

Anyway, the year ahead is as tightly scheduled as 2020 was supposed to be.

And yet, you know, there is that “zoom there it goes” effect, when everything slides sideways.

Pray for me. Or perhaps for the world.