I was 50/50 on the goals I made for myself last week.  I did help my son with schoolwork, used my bike twice, went to work, and finished ‘Lupin’.  I DID NOT finish January posts, sleep better, do any paperback formatting, or start the February posts.  So, what would I say the verdict is?

‘Adulting won and creative free time lost.’

I was definitely toiling away from dawn to dusk this week.  If I wasn’t at work, I was helping my son with schoolwork.  If I wasn’t doing either of those things, I was passing out while watching ‘Warrior Nun’.  Had to restart episodes so much that I gave up trying to stay awake past 10 PM.  Just wasn’t happening with everything going on.  Things aren’t even worth talking about.  They were just busy.  A few things did happen to explain the upheaval a bit.

First, my son had an allergist appointment.  I’ve mentioned before that he has a peanut and tree nut allergy, which causes some concerns.  You don’t realize how much those things are in food until you can’t eat them.  Freaking everywhere!  It had been a while since he was tested, so we got him checked.  All but 2 of his food allergies may have disappeared.  Fingers crossed that it’s the case because it would make his life a lot easier if he only has to avoid two things.  This required a bunch of conversations with him after the fact.

We also had parent-teacher conferences, which took away another night.  This is probably why I didn’t get as far as I wanted.  All of the reports were stellar because he’s a great kid and student.  Participates, works hard, studies, and most of his grades are good.  A few stumbles here and there, but that’s normal.  I knew it would be like that, but it gave me a chance to get some questions answered.

At least I’ve only got 3 work days coming up and they’ll be fun.  I get to rest up this weekend, so maybe I’ll finish Legends of Windemere paperbacks.  I’ve got 10 more to day.  Then the 8 War of Nytefalls, Quest of the Brokenhearted, Life & Times of Ichabod Brooks, and the 2 Bedlams.  That means I’ve got 22 paperbacks to format and submit.  It’s possible to get that done by the middle of December, which means I can do promos on the Tuesdays in January.  Might take a bit longer because I might do something else on Thanksgiving.

Since I don’t have my son for the holiday, I’m strongly considering tackling at least one of the Tales of the Slumberlord outlines.  That way, I can start writing Darwin & the Demon Game during the Holiday Break.  Having 6 days to work with, I should be able to get 3-4 of the 16 chapters done.  Maybe even 5 if I’m really lucky.  Probably shouldn’t push my luck there.  If I can finish the book before the summer, I’ll be in good shape, especially if I’m working during that break.

This is what I need to figure out.  I have to be able to write my books during the school year.  That way, I can work over the summer.  Be nice to make enough money that I can be more flexible, but that’s not possible.  This whole thing is a challenge when you add the blogging into the mix.  My weeknights would have to go to that and my non-parenting weekends/holidays would go to writing.  Of course, I’ll be pulled away for family events and such too.  Means it’s going to be a lot of slow progress, which hurts for someone who was able to dig into a project and work on it for days without a break.  This is why I feel like I’m in a holding pattern.  Just not used to being slowed to a crawl when it comes to creativity.

Guess we’ll just see what happens.  Got nothing else to really talk about.  Hoping to find some good Black Friday deals online.  Mostly tech for my son’s holiday presents and some specific Lego sets.  Fingers crossed.  Not sure I’m going to tackle a store, but we’ll see if they’re still crazy during the late morning.  Never really tried in-store shopping during that day, but the presents aren’t simple this year.

Let’s get to the goals since I’m exhausted from multiple busy days.  I’m writing this late Friday night and have to get up early for a doctor appointment too.  So, we’ll see how coherent things are:

1. Go over Darwin & the Demon Game outline.  Might be in better shape than I realized.
2. Finish January posts.
3. Complete paperback formatting.  Hopefully finish Legends of Windemere.
4. Help son with homework.
5. Father/son time when possible.
6. Keep using the bike.  Might be shaky this week.
7. Black Friday shopping.
8. Sleep in on Sunday.
9. Try to stay out of trouble on Twitter.  Getting harder and harder every day.