How would YOU clear this schedule?

By Holly Lisle

Help?I’m swamped enough that the migraines are back, and I’m putting this in front of my readers hoping someone will see a way for me to clear a lot of stuff out of my schedule quickly. I’ll be honest. I’ve got nothing. I can come up with ideas for books and courses all day long, but when things get this backlogged, I get stressed. I’ve been focusing on doing just three things a day, and doing them well, but even that is not clearing things.

Here’s the schedule:

 

FICTION

Publish books and stories for which I own rights that are simply sitting on my hard drive

  • Talyn
  • Minerva Wakes
  • Midnight Rain
  • Last Girl Dancing
  • I See You
  • Night Echoes
  • Last Thorsday Night
  • >>—4EVR—>

Copyedits, Corrections, New Covers, Republish

  • Fire in the Mist (Have commissioned cover art, need to put it together)
  • Bones of the Past (Have commissioned cover art, need to put it together)
  • Mind of the Magic (Have commissioned cover art, need to put it together)
  • Hunting The Corrigan’s Blood (Cover needs new text only)
  • Warpaint (Cover needs new text only)
  • Light Through Fog
  • Rewind
  • Strange Arrivals
  • Sympathy for the Devil
  • The Devil and Dan Cooley
  • Hell On High

New Fiction

  • Cadence Drake Three: The Wishbone Conspiracy
  • Korre Three: Redbird
  • Rest of the Cadence Drake series
  • More Longview stuff
  • More short stories
  • Just more fiction…lots and lots more fiction.

FICTION  / NONFICTION COMBOS

How To Revise Your Novel Expansion

  • Revise Talysmana
  • Add step-by-step demo to the course

NONFICTION

How To Think Sideways Walkthrough

  • Moon and Sun Three: The Emerald Sun (Book for the How to Think Sideways Walkthrough)
  • Plan: Write the book in one hard push, then
  • Put together the walkthrough in the same fashion

ADDED LATER: How To Think Sideways Quick Fixes

  • 10 remaining

How to Think Sideways

  • Weekly email with new HTTS Live Discussion link
  • Set up weekly Discussion Classroom Page
  • Set up weekly Discussion in forum
  • Comment in weekly discussion.
  • Monthly chat: Four remaining
  • Personal bonuses for students who received them: As scheduled

How to Write A Series

  • Finish The Philosopher Gambit (copyedit, formatting, cover copy, and uploading, and product setup on three systems remain)
  • Post the story in class
  • Put up all revised versions of Longview 1 & 2 on Amazon, B&N, and my shop
  • Start writing Longview 4: The Vipers’ Nest
  • Start teaching MODULE 4 in the classroom
  • Finish and publish Longview 4
  • Finish MODULE 4
  • Start writing Longview 5
  • Start teaching MODULE 5 in the classroom
  • Finish Longview 5
  • Finish MODULE 5
  • Start writing Longview 6
  • Start teaching MODULE 6
  • Finish Longview 6 and the series
  • Finish MODULE 6
  • Survey the class for the bonus course
  • Write the bonus course
  • Set it up in the software

Ugly Baby / Ugly Workshop / Ugly Mastermind

  • Survey class for next module
  • Create Ugly Baby module
  • Create Ugly Workshop module
  • Do fiction launch post-mortem email for Launch Observers List
  • Do fiction launch forum post-mortem with Tom Vetter in UW and UMM
  • Do fiction launch, emails, post-mortem with Cat Gerlach
  • Do fiction launch, emails, post-mortem with Volunteer 3
  • Do fiction launch, emails, post-mortem with Volunteer 4
  • Do fiction launch, emails, post-mortem with Volunteer 5
  • Do fiction launch, emails, post-mortem with Volunteer 6
  • Decide if the process in reliable enough to set up a fiction launch class

Yarnlings MM

  • Check in before they think I’m dead
  • Do regular monthly updates on what I’m doing and how it’s working

COURSE AND SITE IMPROVEMENT

Copyedit and correct every single page of every single writing course, and every single page of my sites. More than a million words.

WEBSITE/ SOFTWARE DEVELOPMENT

Website Development for Holly Lisle Online Writing School/ Readers Meet Writers/ HollyLisle.com/ OneStep Writing Website Dev

  • Build “what-it-needs-to-do/ how-it-needs-to-work/ how-I-want-to-use-it” wireframes for Dan (a lot of these are already done)
  • Daily updates and brainstorming on what we’re doing

Community Posts

  • Minimum one daily until I get through this backlog

This Blog

  • At least once a week

Writing Tips Newsletter

  • 2 new tips a month

Fiction Newsletter

  • Build SOMETHING…my readers are just hanging there with nothing cool happening whatsoever

Other Mailing List emails as needed

  • I mail something to at least one list about twice a week, and try not to overlap

Help Desk

  • Monday-Friday Daily

 

PERSONAL

Personal emails

  • Monday-Friday Daily (after clearing a lot of subscriptions, these are down to about 250-300 a day, so that’s MUCH better)

So there it is.

I am wide open for suggestions.

Everything on this list is important. It all has to be done. It’s all stuff I love doing, it’s all stuff I’m excited about, but my two long-term goals are:

  1. Spend more time writing fiction
  2. Spend more time actually talking to my readers and working with my students

ADDED LATER (12:02 PM ET):

I’ve read every word posted to this point. And the first thing that jumps out at me is this:

1.) How the hell did I never think of INTERNS?

I didn’t want to ask for volunteers, but I will happily trade writing courses in exchange for things like bug hunting, copy editing, and help with reformatting courses.

2.) Nobody writes my words but me. So ghostwriting is out.

Having readers and writers contribute guest posts, tips, and discussion ideas is in, though. I like that idea.

3.) The organizational tips are enormously helpful.

As stuff piled up, Calendar (the Mac software) stopped being quite as useful as it initially was. The reminders are good, but getting everything ON the calendar is a mess.

4.) Because of the migraines, I’ve been doing the relaxation, meditation, and exercise all along.

At this point, my issues are in actually clearing the load. I see a light, though, in how I can do that.

 

ADDED EVEN LATER (2:04 PM)

I now have the better part of a plan of action for the next few weeks. Thank you, ALL of you, for every single comment here. I’ll continue reading comments tomorrow, but right now, I’m sitting down to set priorities and clear out everything that can be delegated.

I’ll be back to the blog when I have some internships to offer, and when I have a clear picture of what the next few months are going to look like for me.

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