I think I have ADD.
If I do, I wish it was ADHD, I’d probably get more done. Day by day, month by month, year by year.
And this year above all others, there’s SO much to do. After our latest business meeting in January, where we set a publishing schedule for the first time (YAY!) our little group is super busy right now. As you can see from the previous two posts from Jeni and Kristin! This comes with a fair amount of stress. In addition to the meat and potatoes of the Wordwraiths: *actually writing* (which has turned into more of a weekly than a daily occurrence, for me at least), we have no less than three big writing and pop culture conventions coming up, monthly publishing dates for novels or short stories, five or six novel launch parties, write-ins, writing retreats (like our train trip last Fall), and last but not least, one big fat geek wedding! That’s geek with no R. Our last bachelorette, Sarah, will finally take her giant leap for marriedkind with her fun and career-supportive best friend, Patrick. We’re all very excited. What a year 2016 will be!
Sarah’s busy enough, what with such a major life milestone coming, but she’s got writing events coming up soon as well. Our months and years of hard work are about to see the light of day as far as the world is concerned. Jeni with her next short story, Kristin with her first novel, me with my first short story, and Sarah with her first novel! Then Ian, Caycee and Chris are not far behind! It’s a trial by fire for Wordwraith Books; we’re doing everything ourselves that much bigger publishing houses normally take on with a whole staff of people, but we’re nugging through it and learning as a group and taking copious notes every step of the way. We’re gonna be experts at this small press stuff by this time next year. Mark my words.
As for me personally, I really need to get down to business! Like I just mentioned, with my first official short story coming out in April, there’s a small mountain of prep left to do. Plus my first novel is scheduled for a July launch, and I don’t even have a cover yet! I’ve got 99 things to do today (and every day), and WORK isn’t one of them. But I have to put food on the table and keep the house heated and the electricity flowing to the Xboxes, so the whole 8 to 5 grind kinda takes precedence over my creative projects. But right now it’s lunchtime and so I say WAIT YOUR TURN, WORK. You have me for the next 14 years (when I can finally retire with a nice government pension), so just be patient, you’ll kill me eventually. Right now I need to focus on my writing career. So! Let’s open up my inconspicuous writing folder on my work laptop and find that Launch Checklist and– oh, wait, the short story I plan to launch in April, I forgot I still need to tweak that one little part so it makes sense with the– Oh crap, the novel I plan to publish in July, I forgot I still need to update it with the accurate words and phrases I got from my friend overseas. They were in a Facebook instant message. Better at least copy those over before they get buried too deep, then I will get that story edited real quick, and then I will print out that checklist… Okay, swipe the passcode. Dammit, too fast. Slow and sure wins the– there, I’m in. Hey I got a text! Better answer that, might be important… Okay, wasn’t all that important, but it’s done now. Now I– Huh, someone left me a voicemail. Better check that… Okay it was Mom, I’ll stop by her house later, sometime between work and dinner. That’s something else; what am I going to make for dinner tonight? Pizza sounds good, and that way I don’t have to cook. But I’ve been trying to save money. I wonder how much Ramen we have left? Enough for all the kids? I’ll have to check when I get– Woah, where did seven Facebook notifications come from all of a sudden? Oh yeah, I need to get on FB anyway to get the data from my friend. Hmm… Oh look at that, the most recent voting polls are in– okay, okay, I’ll look at that later. >Swipe< Ha, that’s a funny meme. >Swipe swipe< Okay, seen that, that too, oh cool, ha that’s funny! Uh oh, Jeni, Ian and Kristin all posted to our writing group page, better open those up, their posts are always important and I don’t want to fall behind… Okay done catching up, glad I saw those posts, they were helpful to my checklist. Now, where was I? OMG, what is that cat doing? That’s hilarious! Hold on I gotta comment… “LOL didn’t even know cats could do taht!” Agh typo! >Tap tap tap< "that!“ There. POST. Okay what was I doing again..? Damn. It’s 12:39 and I haven’t eaten lunch yet. Better go grab a sandwich real quick and eat in the car so I can be back here by 1:00 and then it’s back to the grind. I’ll get to those 99 things later, I guess. Maybe tomorrow will be better?
So that’s my typical day. Returning to my original thought, it sounds like ADD to me. Or maybe it’s just a symptom of our e-society? When I could be knocking out a thousand words or tweaking my website or prepping for my story launches, I’m lost in a labyrinth of "have to dos” and distractions, all of which seem to have the same priority in my scattered mind. I don’t know how I ever get anything done. How any of us do. But all of us somehow manage to. I eventually set priorities–usually at the last minute–and somehow it all works out. Usually not because of me, but because everyone around me is patient and understanding. My boss(es), my girlfriend, my kids, my old friends, my writing group… all are wonderful, and I’m very lucky to have each of them in my life and I know they’ll support me in everything I do. And there’s so much to do. God I need a nap. If I can just make it until… OMG, how did they teach that panda to do that?? So cool.
What?
Yeah, yeah, my 99 things. Eh, I’m not worried. It will all come together, it always has, especially since I’ve been a member of this group. Watch out for us, world. Here we come.
– Rod and the Wordwraiths
Wordwraith Books 