This last week went by a bit quicker than I would have imagined. Probably because I've spent an incredible amount of time playing Fruit Ninja in VR. Yeah, I am quite addicted to the game. On the upside, it's been a long time since I burned this many calories throughout any given week. You know what they say, "Time flies when you're having fun."
Not to mention that it's been a week of birthdays. My daughters are within four days of each other, one of whom turns 18 today. Plus, my best friend's birthday is on the 28th while one of my boys was on the 4th. Good times.
I didn't get as much done this week, but not because I was playing my new game excessively.
Taking Down Time
I spent a great deal of time focusing on myself, this week. I made sure my client's work was done for the day and then did a bit of relaxing and research for my own projects. It was nice to just sit back and breathe. It's something I don't get to do all that often.
I thought about where I want the blogs to go, what I'm doing with the YouTube channels, how I'll incorporate the Twitch stream, how much time I can dedicate to writing the books, and a lot more.
I'm starting to appreciate having weekends off more and more as I continue to age. I guess this is why people take vacations...something else I don't do all that often.
The silly thing is that I know downtime is important for mental health. After all, I'm no good to anyone if I am hyper-stressed and exhausted all the time. Being a writer is mentally taxing when you pound out as much as I do on a weekly basis. By 5:30 pm, all I want to do is curl up on the couch, not look at anything, and vegetate.
Anyway, stepping back a bit has been very beneficial. And I think I'm ready to get back to the grind. I just need to make sure I'm at least taking Saturday off without being stressed to my limits.
Revitalizing the Dead Blog
One of my goals this year is to rebuild a blog that was five seconds away from being pulled off life support. Ever since Google torpedoed the site back in 2018, it was just there. As it used to be my flagship blog, I've decided to patch up her holes and get her back on the water.
So far, things have been working...ish. This time last year, the blog was averaging 52 visits per day. Currently, she's getting around 80. Although that isn't a massive difference, it still means the blog is getting more traffic in 2023 than it did in 2022.
Since Google's big update back in June, a lot of the content was de-indexed. So, I've been using that list of pages as a launching point for rewrites and updates. Then, I'll manually request an index from Google. So far, it's been working.
I still have a long way to go to get the site back to what it was getting back in 2018. But she's growing, albeit slowly.
I think what I'll need to do is dedicate more blocks of time to fixing the blog throughout the week. And if I can get my new writers pushing out content for the gaming blog, I'll have a bit of time to do just that. Not to mention that I can always reel back WriterSanctuary.com to just one blog post per week for now. It's not a permanent thing; just long enough to hit a few milestones for the dying blog.
Two Books at the Same Time is a Pain
Currently, I am working on rewriting VII on Wattpad and editing my next book, Kingmaker. And I tell ya what...it's a pain in the ass. They are completely different genres and take up a lot of time in my day. I have to split the time I have available between both books, which means it'll take twice as long to finish either one.
So, why don't I just stick to one or the other? Because I know me. If I don't maintain what I'm doing now, I'll get sidetracked with something else. No, I need to do this to keep the momentum and prove to myself I can do it.
That's one of the biggest reasons why I'm constantly pushing the envelope with challenges. Sure, bragging rights are kind of fun once in a while. But I want to prove to myself that I am capable of handling far more than what I have done in the past.
In any case, I think this is the last time I work on two major stories at the same time. When I do Kindle Vella, it'll be a once-per-week thing. But I can't wait to have a solid block of time to work on just one book. In fact, I'm already thinking of ideas for my next challenge...which is why I need to keep going with what I have planned out. Otherwise, nothing will get done and I'll keep bouncing from one thing to another.
Getting Ideas for the Book Cover
After I piqued Dad's interest in creating the book cover, he wants me to send some ideas of what I wanted for Kingmaker. He seems pretty excited, and I am hoping it'll give him something to do other than sit around his house with his thoughts.
I'm going to send him a few ideas this weekend to see what he can come up with. For those who are monthly members of my Buy Me a Coffee, I'll share the mock-ups so you can see where the book is going and how it'll look.
This is getting a bit exciting. Sure, I have A Freelancer's Tale published. But this is the first major creative novel I've worked on outside of goofing around on Wattpad. And yes, I'm going to market the piss out of Kingmaker. Though, I'm almost certain that book two is probably going to be the better story out of the four that I have planned.
How Did Your Week Progress?
Taking some downtime has been greatly beneficial. Today, I feel reinvigorated and looking forward to what next week holds. It's important to take time for yourself. It'll prevent burning out and help you think and see things more clearly.
What kind of things did you do this week?