January Odds & Ends and Ups & Downs

I’m kind of in the doldrums this month.
 
There’s a lot of reasons for this, but mainly it comes down to a few things.
 
Those things are:
 

• Lack of Paid Work;
• Lackluster Unpaid Work;
• Lack of Direction;
• Laziness and Procrastination.

 
Those are the main reasons why I’m feeling in the doldrums right now. Let’s discuss.
 

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Lack of Paid Work
 
By far the worst time to be a freelance writer, in my opinion, is from Thanksgiving into January.
 
No one is hiring.
 
Alright, some people are, but from my experiences things really slow down during this time of year.
 
That means incomes go down. Some people have to go out and get real jobs.
 
I’m thankful I have my Amazon income at the end of each month, which is almost enough to cover my rent.
 
That’s a huge help.
 
Besides that, however, I have to rely on ghostwriting, content writing, editing work, publishing work, social media work, and a few other things that bring home the bacon.
 
Right now there’s a lack of that paid work, however.

​This causes worry, frustration, and the last two items on our list – lack of direction and laziness/procrastination.
 
Before that, however, let’s get to my lackluster projects.
 
Lackluster Unpaid Work
 
I’m not that excited about what I’m working on right now.
 
So…why the hell should I think that you would be?
 
Here are some things that I have in my current writing projects folder and in my upcoming blog post folder:
 

• Paranormal Montana: This is a book about Montana UFOs, Bigfoot, ghosts, and other strange things.

 

• 2nd Edition MT: This is the 2nd edition of my book Tribes and Trappers, which I actually finished this week and will put out in a week or so.

 

• 2014 Compilation: This is a short book I’m working on that compiles useful posts from my 2014 election blog and puts them in a coherent order that could help voters.

 

• Colter’s Revenge: This is the 5th book in the Mountain Man series that I’m not doing much on right now.

 

• Content Battles: I’m working on a blog post about 5 famous battles in history and what this can tell us about content marketing.

 

• MT Misc: I have lots of mish-mash that I’m putting together as my 6th book of Montana history. This has stuff like Frontier Town, the Montana Chinese, the Liquor Control Board, rising property taxes, and all the political characters we know…or don’t know.

 
So those are the main things I’m working on.
 
Honestly…does any of that interest you? I’m not sure.
 
Maybe that’s a big problem – doubt.
 
I will say that none of these projects are that exciting me at the moment, however. That leads to the next problems.
 
Lack of Direction
 
I’m not sure where I’m going right now.
 
Maybe that’s the lack of income and sense of insecurity it brings. I remember feeling this way in January last year, then some work came in.
 
I’m glad I have a calendar with publication dates on it that I try to hit, and often do it. That helps you stay on track.
 
For instance, this month I’d like the Tribes update to be done by the 20th and Paranormal Montana to be out by the 29th.
 
The problem on that last one is that I don’t have a book cover, or even a cover idea really. Let’s not get into the money situation.
 
So maybe that book will get done and sit for awhile. I find that having a cover finished and ready to go often motivates you to finish a book.
 
Anyways, I have this lack of direction and it’s bothering me.
 
This causes me to do a lot more standing by the computer, staring off into space, wondering what to do.
 
Laziness and Procrastination
 
I’m not doing as much as I should each day…at least that’s what it feels like.
 
I could be working harder, but for some reason I’m not.
 
Usually when I have lulls in work I do more on my own projects. For some reason, it doesn’t feel like I’m doing that.
 
So I have this lack of direction that’s causing procrastination.
 
That’s not good.
 
Remember, the planet Mercury is in retrograde this month also. That started on January 5th and it means you shouldn’t sign contracts or buy electronics.
 
It means communications will often get skewed and there could be conflicts in various areas of your life.
 
The good news is that we should pull out of this funk on January 25 when Mercury switches back.
 
Until then, hang in there and try to get some older stuff done. Organize things and work on updates to existing products.
 
I have a feeling we’ll get out of this and be doing well again in a couple weeks.
 
Thanks for reading!