The art chaos of time management

Once upon a time, there was a (not exactly) young girl who decided to have a full-time tech job, solo-parent a pre-schooler, and publish a book. “I am so organized!” she exclaimed. “I can totally manage my time to get this done.”

Act I, scene 1: Hahahaha

[Cue the universe, laughing, saying “Oh really? Hold my beer.”]

Enter school closures. And snow (in the mid-Atlantic, where they think they can handle snow, but they really can’t). And red alert worthy emergencies at work… all month. And weekend weather so icky, that you need to organize indoor, Covid-friendly activities for the aforementioned pre-schooler.

[Spotlight on a really exhausted human.]

Next scene: Remembering the excitement

This really exhausted human is also at the beginning stages of having her book illustrated. I found a really amazing illustrator and, upon seeing the first drafts of the start of the book, I. Am. Excited!

There is still a ton of work to do, but seeing the main characters – mommy and baby – in real, illustrated life has made this book feel real. It was a real book before, but practically speaking, it was really just a cute poem.

I am dying to share more about the illustrations, but I am practicing my patience. I promise a cover reveal will happen when the time is right. Just not quite yet.

Act II: I have so much to do! Ahhhh!

This excitement has made me realize that I have so much work to do. Mostly marketing. Constant marketing.

I have no idea how to market anything.

For the last 20 years, I have been working with code. Not working alone, but certainly not getting other people to buy the things I code. That’s what the marketing department was for.¹ Now… I’m the marketing department.

Well… that’s terrifying. What do I do? Shout into the void?² I mean, I’m tweeting more and have 400+ followers now! Yes, I know that’s not a giant amount (and a good amount of my followers are fellow techies) but it’s certainly more than before. I’m pretty excited to have this many. And it’s a good start, right?

In reality, I do have a (very large) to do list of marketing ideas that I need to get started on. As soon as I have more time.

[Cue the really exhausted human look back at Act 1 of this play blog post.]