Walk Through the Door and Hit the Ground Running

It's February. How did that happen? Oh, right, the Earth revolves around the sun and every day/night cycle we're a day older, will we, nill we. This last month has been... productive. Very productive. The downside of that is that I feel like I've been through the whirlwind and dumped out on my head, but it's only long enough to take a deep breath before diving back into it. If I can manage a deep breath. Still feeling the effects of the flu in my head and chest.

I get asked all the time 'how do you do it?' and my initial reaction is 'I don't. I forget stuff. I deliver projects beyond deadline. I scramble to finish others whilst simultaneously juggling a million things.' The reality is, I don't stop moving. I don't sit and stare at the television unless there's a project in my hands I'm working on. I come home from work, hit the door and just keep walking. If I sit down, I'm doomed. So I try not to. I pick up the Ipad and draw, or write, if I must sit. That's why in the month of January I created more than one piece of art each and every day. A minimum of one, but most days two. I created a commission painting (can't wait to share that!) and a book cover for a client. I sold multiple pieces of the art I made this month, too.

It's about momentum. I've written 30 days out of 31. Not a thousand words a day, but... darn close, looking at averages. It came to a total of 28000 words this month, according to my tracking app. I should have finished the novella I've been working on - it's a sequel to Snow In Her Eyes, inasmuch as the main character is Amaya Lombard, but the case at the center of Possum Creek Massacre is unrelated. The problem with finishing the novella is that it turns out it's a novel. 39K words and not done yet. It's going to be an awkward length - I am not taking it up to 80K words, before anyone asks. I'll write it until it's done. Which is probably going to be around 50K words. Not a horrible length for a pulp mystery novel, to be honest.

I decided as we got ready to start a new year that I was going to hit the ground running, with small, measurable goals. Write every day. Art every day. Photography once a week. I've been slower on that last, but I've started a weekly photo challenge in the facebook group, and I did it by myself last week. The result of that is the header image: Working Hands. That's my son, painting his first model and falling in love with it. His newest interest - even obsession - is WWII. I'm a proud mama.

I may not manage to hit my goals every day this year. But I've found that if I set up something for each day, I'm less likely to procrastinate. If it's due in a month, 'I'll get to it next week' or next month, or... Now, I need to add a couple of more boring tasks to the daily checklist.

Oh - and I've narrowed the business name down to either Ars Cedrus, Ars Eclectica, or Sanderley Studios.