June was… hefty.

I had a list that looked like this…

• Hone the first three chapters of Saving Sally Jenkins
• Start writing Chapter Overview for Saving Sally Jenkkins
• Start writing a synopsis for Saving Sally Jenkins
• Contact proofreader for Awaiting Annie Jones
• Run Awaiting Annie Jones ProWriting Aid
• Run the first three chapters of Saving Sally Jenkins through ProWriting Aid
• Contact local newspaper about an article

I then added this…

• Create a launch plan for Awaiting Annie Jones
• Create social media launch posts for Awaiting Annie Jones
• Put call out for ARC readers
• Research and update categories and keywords for all books
• Update social media headers

And that was just my writing tasks.

I also had a few social engagements in there plus my day job as well as making sure my family still knew what I looked like.

My usual goal setting and maintaining of tasks was just not going to cut it this month.

I needed to make sure everything I wanted to do could fit into the time I had, while still being able to get some semblance of sleep. (Note: I am not a night owl and do not run well on little sleep so I couldn’t rely on pulling a few late nighters and getting it done.)

The best thing I find in these times is to make a ‘list calendar’ and add every tiny task in there.

It looked a bit like this.

This worked so well as every time I had a work window I knew exactly what I needed to do. If I wasn’t getting to it, I could mark it in red and know I was overdue.

Plus, there is something so satisfying about crossing off tasks and the more I ran down the list the more confident I felt that I was going to get everything done.

The good news is I am at a point in my list where the tasks are thinning out and it feels great! I’m looking forward to heading into July with a lighter workload.

Speaking of July, something I have decided to do this month is review my annual goals. As the year goes on I’m finding it harder to match up what I’m doing with what I planned six months ago. I think it makes sense to add in a regular mid-year review.

To wrap up my first half year though see below.

Annual Goal: Read 6 x non-fiction books.
I’m happy to let this one go. I read two great books at the start of the year and then it started to feel like a task I was trying to check off rather than enjoying the books I was reading. I’m wanting to read one more before the end of the year but would like it to be more autobiography rather than development. My top three thoughts are: Archie Roach, Andre Agassi or Dave Grohl. Whichever ones pops in front of me first, I guess!

Annual Goal: Write two books using my new schedule.
I had great plans to write two books this year and I had the schedule to prove it! The first half of the year went well but when I started writing Saving Sally Jenkins I just felt like it was going to be a longer book that needed a bit of letting the story come to me (that sounds so daft but it’s the only way I can explain it!) instead of trying to crunch the numbers and get it done. I’m really happy with this decision as the Saving Sally Jenkins story has come really quickly to me and I think it’s because I let go of the reins a bit.

Annual Goal: Develop my understanding further of beat writing.
I feel like I can take this one off the list as I’ve realised it’s going to be ongoing development for the rest of my career. My understanding of writing beats and how they effect story has increased tenfold but I think it will only increase the more I write. Save the Cat Writes A Novel by Jessica Brody has been brilliant as well as Savannah Gilbo’s How To Plot A Novel post

Annual Goal: Nail social media.
This goal is quite frankly, laughable. I don’t think I will ever nail social media and I broke the golden rule of goal setting by not making it specific. I’m not sure how I would know when I had ‘nailed’ social media or even how I was going to get there. I do know I have a process for my social media, and getting regular posts out, the key is to keep doing the process.

Annual Goal: Give more in my newsletter
This was probably the most successful goal. I knew I wanted to give more and here it is. I’m going to review where I’m at with this at the end of the year as to whether to continue but for now, I think it’s a great record of what I’m doing and hopefully it can help other writers at the start of their journey.

Annual Goal: Do Something Brave
Month Goal: Ask my local newspaper abut putting an article about my books in.
The only thing that made me actually do this task was knowing that I would have to report here that I didn’t do it! So I guess this is working as an accountability tool. I do still like the idea of doing one small brave thing each month. I also like the idea of always having something to look forward to. Whether it’s a holiday or a response to a submission or even lotto numbers, it’s always good to have something on the horizon.

I’m hoping July will settle down a bit as I move towards launch and I switch off by doing some free writing for Saving Sally Jenkins.

Goals for July will be:

• Follow through on launch plan for Awaiting Annie Jones
• Create social media launch posts for Awaiting Annie Jones
• Update next three months of social media posts
• Be prepared for July mini launch
• Be prepared for August conference
• Enjoy the school holidays!