Day 141

Spoiler Alert! May contain planning-stage plot/character details or other spoilers!

09 Jan 2017

Made some good progress on plot and character arc mapping last week, but got derailed on Friday with a bit of consulting and pushing one of the serials ahead - those are starting to be in serious need of some planning tooā€¦ So this week, for sure, Iā€™ve got to get the plan out to my editor! In other news, it looks like Iā€™ll be house-sitting for a few weeks starting a week from today, which could be an incredible opportunity to concentrate and push forward with rewrites, but also carries the temptation to indulge in distractions and general laziness.

Promotions are still going slow; mass following on IG seems to have a slight boosting effect on overall followers and interaction, and Iā€™ve focused in more on bookstagrammers and related media. Contemplating starting a separate account to feature text from one or all of the books under development. Couldnā€™t hurt anything (probably), but it is more work, and since none of the text is at the final polish stage, Iā€™m hesitant to go there. Should probably be doing a more focused job on Twitter and setting up a FB page, but since my interaction level on both is pretty minimal, itā€™s a bit awkward to push there. Plus, everyone seems to feel mailing lists are super important, but it seems like just another chore that no one actually is interested in. Which brings it all back around to, am I creating anything of any worth to anyone? Can I even tell an effective story? Sales are hard (and I havenā€™t even really started yet!)

Planning baby showers is also hard. More specifically, coordinating tasks and communication across a team without a defined leader is a mess, a lack of cohesion and clarity around purpose, tone, aesthetic etc. is a nightmare, and to top it all off, the ones from my side hate parties and social gatherings of pretty much any type to begin with! However, it seemed sort of sad to not have one, so here we are. And it will be fine (and over) soon, and hopefully the parents-to-be will be happy with the result. Itā€™s kind of caught in a weird no-manā€™s-land of not fancy enough, but overdone, but some of the trouble is just that I tend to ridicule convention and meaningless trends, which creates conflict with people that arenā€™t used to looking at their culture from the sidelines. Like, sure: mason jars; cups with handles (and maybe lids!) Iā€™m down with that. Keeps hot or cold things away from your fingers. Burlap and lace; contrast of texture and colour with the option to add one or more bright accent colours. Overpriced and overdone, but aesthetically pleasing and flexible. But so much of fashion, art, design etc. is not aesthetically pleasing, attractive, cost-effective or clever. Itā€™s just a money-making trend or a bland fear of personally distinctive choices. Pinterest, and social media in general, following on the heels of decades (at least) of curated magazine spreads and set design, has a lot to answer for. Itā€™s a bit strange that way; the eclectic layered, mix-and-match aesthetic of youth culture seems to support individuality, yet everyone seems to look outward for inspiration or guidance, instead of starting with their own values, preferences etc.

ā€¦but then I go around using IG filters and stealing layout inspiration for bookstagrams, so weā€™re all guilty in one way or anotherā€¦

Part 2

Oh the distractions~ I saw someone else doing a Goodreads push for followers. I wonder if a reader profile keeps its followers/friends when switched over? Must look into.

Monday

Start time: 11 am & 1pm

Location: Abbotsford, couch/living room

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