I know I haven’t been posting here as regularly as I’d hoped. But when you look at this list of priorities, I think you’ll see why that is. Also, website work is always burnout adjacent, so I feel like I can give myself a bit of a pass on the procrastination.
What I Envisioned for Q3
The high-level version of what I’d been planning at the beginning of the year has gone fully off the rails. Here’s what I shared in last quarter’s blog post:
- Push – Launch podcast, Start querying proposal for nonfiction book, record audiobook for MMM
- Prep – Pre-launch marketing for MMM audiobook, Burnout Recovery workbook book proposal
- Ongoing – Burnout book marketing, Marketing, Patreon, Oracle deck, Writing and Submitting
Here are the Q3 details for those goals, which I had split into “keep the lights on” mandatory items, and the things I’d really like to do, but which might get bumped.
Here’s the “Gotta” list:
- Schedule Patreon posts at least one full calendar month in advance
- Finish nonfiction book sample chapters and start querying proposal by 7/31
- Garden upkeep and harvesting, feeding the hummingbirds
- Trip to Ohio in July for the Celebration of Life
- Trip to San Francisco in August to speak at CIIS about the Burnout Book
- Meet minimum enrollment for my Journaling for Self-Discovery class
- Working with the publisher to move the unicorn book forward
- Adding a coaching 4-pack per month
And here’s the Q3 “Wanna” list:
- Edit podcast episodes and get them scheduled (I have 7 recorded)
- Get 5-6 more episodes recorded for this season
- Launch Podcast, and its instagram, Patreon and website
- Recording the audiobook files for Magic, Murder, and Machines (then editing and equalizing the files)
- Re-launching and remarketing MMM with the audiobook
- Submitting short stories to paying markets (at least 1 per month)
- Finishing the draft novel I’m working on and getting it to Beta readers
I like that I split the list into two sections, because it’s good to see how I prioritized my limited time and energy.
What I Got Done in Q3
At the highest level, I was able to prioritize and work on the audiobook for Magic, Murder, and Machines, but I did push the official relaunch into Q4 due to pacing. I was successful at all of the “ongoing” work. But I haven’t moved forward with podcast efforts, or any of my nonfiction book proposals, yet.
Let’s start with the list if the items that I prioritized, and knew needed to happen, shall we? Of this list, only one item didn’t get accomplished! I was successful with the following.
- Schedule Patreon posts at least one full calendar month in advance
- Garden upkeep and harvesting, feeding the hummingbirds
- Trip to Ohio in July for the Celebration of Life
- Trip to San Francisco in August to speak at CIIS about the Burnout Book
- Meet minimum enrollment for my Journaling for Self-Discovery class
- Working with the publisher to move the unicorn book forward
- Adding a coaching 4-pack per month
Of the “nice to haves” list, I have definitely shifted my priorities around. I only did about half of those:
- Recording the audiobook files for Magic, Murder, and Machines
- Submitting short stories to paying markets (at least 1 per month)
- Finishing the draft novel I’m working on
I knew I’d be traveling a lot, and dealing with a lot of emotions, so I tried to take it easy on myself with these goals. I’m not sure I succeeded at that, but I did reprioritize some big projects to give myself some brainspace.
What Surprised me in Q3
Many of the surprises that appeared in this quarter were areas of new growth. It was as if my ideas were hydras – the moment I decapitated one idea, three more grew in its place. I discovered that I’m the most energized and passionate about working with writers, and that I want to do more specific offerings for those who are trying to write creatively.
In San Francisco for CIIS, I sat in the hotel lobby every morning and instead of journaling, I ended up brainstorming. At the end of the 10 day trip, I had over 150 ideas to sift through, evaluate and prioritize.
One of the bigger (and more pleasant!) surprises was the Burnout Recovery has already sold 1000 copies. This means it’s already in the 96th percentile of all books, which is mind-blowing to me. I’ll continue to market it. My next goal is 3500 copies, because that’s the North Atlantic Books average.
Stuff I did that wasn’t on the original Q3 list:
- I submitted an Equinox workshop to Morbid Anatomy – and the next step for those is in the works
- Because I have ideas for these Wheel of the Year rituals, I also created one more go of my annual mythopoeic midwinter class.
- Restarting and rediscovering my yoga practice
- I had a poem published
- Completed writing a novel, a novella, and two short stories
- Created a writing workshop (starting in Q1) with signups ready for the October PRS event
- Created the Oneiroglossy press website, and set up infrastructure prior to MMM launch in November
- Scheduled YouTube videos through the end of the year
- Started planning 2027 Patreon themes and content
The four solstice and equinox rituals I did during 2026 will be reused and recreated in the coming months. I’m slowly reconsidering my plans for classes through Morbid Anatomy. From a marketing perspective, they have a broad audience, and it’s a great way to get my work in front of new people. But I’m also ready to do some more things on my own. Expect to see that changing in 2027.
What Didn’t Get Done in Q3
The gist of what didn’t get done is basically just where I’ve pushed out deadlines and dates for big projects.
The podcast isn’t “on the hook” for advertisers yet, so it’s easier to delay it at this pre-launch phase than it is to have to pause mid-stream. I do still want to launch the podcast, and I do see how it fits in the larger scheme of what I’m working on, but it’s a lot of dedicated time that I’ve not had this quarter. So what didn’t get done related to that are:
- Edit podcast episodes and get them scheduled (I have 7 recorded)
- Get 5-6 more episodes recorded for this season
- Launch Podcast, and its instagram, Patreon and website
The nonfiction book proposal that I’m working on requires that I write and finish drafts of four of the six or seven total chapters in the book. I’m nearly done writing 2 of those, and have lots of notes for the remaining two that need to go into the sample. The proposal itself is done, though I’ll be polishing it once I have sample chapters completed.
- Finish nonfiction book sample chapters and start querying proposal by 7/31
I’m not stalled on this work, per se, but it’s taking a lot of time because I want the sample chapters to demonstrate the full depth of research and knowledge I’m sharing.
My Goals for Q4 2026
I’m going to break this section down like I did last quarter, into the high level plan, the must-do items, and the things I’d like to accomplish, but it’s okay if I don’t. I’m also taking into account that I’m going to be physically responding to the winter in Q4, and ready to slow my roll. This list needs to be shorter than the others!!
Here’s the high level:
- Push – Relaunch Magic, Murder and Machines with audiobook, send nonfiction book proposal to first choice publisher by 11/30
- Prep – Pre-launch marketing for Writing workshop starting in Q1
- Ongoing – Burnout book marketing, writing and submitting, Patreon, and oracle deck videos, unicorn book shepherding
Here are the must-dos:
- October workshop at PRS on writing fairy tales
- Attending a writing retreat in October
- Finishing the sample chapters of the nonfiction book
- Submitting the nonfiction book proposal to first choice publisher by 11/30
- Editing the audiobook files for MMM and submitting them to acx by 10/15
- Lots of marketing for the relaunch of MMM
- Lots of marketing for the writing workshop in Q1
- Schedule Patreon posts at least one full month in advance
- Get forestry management help to take down trees for firewood, fire safety
- Ongoing tasks with estate settlement (homework from the universe)
- Replacing weather stripping house-wide
- Submitting short stories to paying markets (one per month)
- Adding a coaching client per month
And here are the things I’d love to do, but might not get to in the next three months:
- Editing the longer pieces of fiction recently completed (2 novellas and 1 novel)
- Writing 4-5 more Greek myth retelling stories
- Possible trip to see Josh’s family in December (he also recently had a death in the family)
- More on-demand courses created and made available (so many ideas!)
- Go through the details from my editor on my big Greek myth novel and make a plan for edits in 2027
- Draft a proposal for a Burnout Recovery workbook
Every Friday, I look at my to do list for the next week. I look at the to do list that I’ve not yet completed in the week at hand. From there I determine which tasks I don’t want to “carry” into the following week. Things that really just have to get done. As I wrap up Q3 and get started on Q4, I find myself doing that with my annual goals and lists. I really don’t want to carry some of these items into the new year unfinished. We’ll see if that’s the motivation I need to wrap up things like the non fiction book proposal.