Tiffany Rambles



Hey, this is my ACTUAL to-do list. Putting my camera to use. ^_^

This morning I woke up at 8:30 am instead of 9:30 or 10 am. I had tea, oatmeal, and sausages instead of soda, an omelet, and waffles. This is me, trying to wake up earlier and eat healthier, and I'm happy I'm finally trying. What pushed me? Here and there, I've been reading posts about the daily lives of professional writers and entrepreneurs who work out of their home. The majority of those posts drilled into my head that if I'm aiming to be more productive, I need to take better care of my health and start my days earlier. I knew that before I read those articles, yeah, but they were the push I needed. I now want to eat more fruits and veggies and drink more juice and tea. I feel proud to admit that.

Anyway, my to-do list is HUGE today (hence why I call it the monster list). I know, I know, it's Valentine's day. Shouldn't I be spending today with a friend or with my boyfriend or TV? Well, as it turns out, the boyfriend goes to work today and I have a lot of work to do as well. We anticipated this already and decided to do our Vday stuff together yesterday. It was wonderful. I gave him things, he gave me things, we cuddled and talked and laughed a lot. Mostly the day was just like any other day we've spent together, in that he played video games and I worked on my business, but we didn't need the excuse of Valentine's day to feel extremely thankful to have each other.

Now that I'm done being a lovestruck goober, here is what I'm up to:

Yep, this is the card and candy.

1.) Start editing novella: If you don't already know, I'm a freelance editor who owns an editing business called Honest Crits. Because I had to edit the stories of those who won my Big Giveaway Contest over at Reader's Den, I had to wait to start editing the most recent novella that's been submitted to me. It's 74 pages long. If I give myself until March 5th to complete it, I can do 3-4 pages a day. Now all I have to do is make sure the writer is okay with that date.

2.) Promote my review of 'Spur of the Moment' by Candace Bowen Early: I'm very satisfied with this review. I wrote it without an outline and the words still easily came to me. The review also turned out to be longer than I thought it would be, which always makes me happy. Feels like the review has more depth. Today I'm gonna go into hardcore promotion mode and promote the review on more than 25 sites and pages, but already 3 people have particpated in the giveaway. That makes me incredibly happy! Since my promotion plan is 15 bucks, I always feel so terrible when an author doesn't get at least 3 participants and/or a discussion in the comments. Already, I won't have that problem with this review.

3.) Mark David down for second week of March: This means that, the second weekend of March, I'll be reviewing the second book in The Black Earth Series. I already reviewed book 1 here. Soon, David will be joining my Reader's Den team of writers. I'm thrilled to have him as a writing companion.

4.) Finish 'Common Errors' article: Actually, I need to start it too. -_- In March, I'll be doing a blog tour for Honest Crits, but first I need to write all 8 articles I'd like to promote throughout the web and then contact the blog owners whose blogs I'd like to appear on. The 'Common Errors' article will be a two-part article exploring the errors I see time and time again when I'm editing.

5.) Do at least 500 words of Dream Catcher, damn it!: If you read the last part of my previous post, you'll know that I'm very upset with myself for not working more on my fiction. I've been so into this business life that it feels like the creative part of my mind that allows me to write about creatures and alternate dimensions has been closed off. I can write articles and reviews with no problem, but work on my story? Fiction is where I started. I need to return to my roots, and making myself do at least 500 words today is supposed to help with that.

6.) Make sure dad gets boxes and 40 bucks: How handy is it that my dad works at the post office? Anyway, this is in regards to the fact that I need to send the books of those who won my giveaway contest out. It slipped my mind yesterday, but to make up for it slipping my mind, I finished editing the winning stories.

7.) Start polls for Reader's Den posts: There are two questions and two polls I'd like to have a lot of readers' inputs on. First question: Do readers really care about where and how a book was published? Second question: What do readers do with free Amazon books? Then, when these polls have been circulating for a while and I feel like enough readers have participated, I'll write two posts at Reader's Den about the answers to those questions. It should be fun.

8.) Submit at least 1 job application: My sources of income are rather shaky right now. Twice a month, I get 50 dollars from my dad, but my phone bill is 40 bucks and I have a tight budget. When all is said and done, only $7.50 of that 50 goes to me for general spending. Percentages of the rest go to self-publishing, savings, and my business. The business money I make is, of course, sporadic because Honest Crits is still in the process of being launched. Hency why I'll be doing a blog tour in March and advertising in April. So far, all the money I've made for the business has gone back to the business. As thus, I need a part-time job.

9.) Clear at least 25 e-mails: Even after going on my large unsubscribing spree, my e-mails still multiply very fast. And it doesn't help that I have about 6 e-mail addresses. I could very easily spend a whole day clearing e-mails, but I don't have the time for that. Clearing at least 25 e-mails today seems good enough for me.

Will I complete all of this? I don't know. Chances are, I won't. But it's not a big deal if I don't complete them all, as long as I complete 3-5 of them. As always, I leave you with the two most recent songs I love most: