Finishing Two Books, One Hour at a Time

I have a habit of piling on too much throughout the week. And although I’ve been lauded for being able to crank out a lot of content, there’s only so much one man can do. Especially when there are only 24 hours in any given day and the body needs to rest for a portion of them.

Still, I’m managing to keep the momentum while working on two books simultaneously. Though, I’d much rather focus my attention on one at a time.

Why Am I Writing Two Books?

Initially, I finished the first draft of my next book back in October. The plan was to get it out by Christmas, but a few things cropped up. First of all, I want to make sure it’s the best version of the book before I publish it.

You don’t want to put something out there that is half-assed, confusing, or riddled with plot holes. There are quite a few tweaks and changes I need to make before actually slapping it up on Amazon and Barnes & Noble while calling it, “good.”

Over the last few months, I’ve told my audience how I would love to rewrite and finish one of the books I have on Wattpad. Well, I talked it up so much that now there are quite a few people anticipating that rewrite as well.

I’m sure they would understand if I didn’t have the time to simultaneously work on both books. But then, I would feel like I’m letting my audience down.

It’s just how I roll, I suppose.

So, this past week, I assigned at least an hour per day to work on both books. I’d spend an hour working on the Wattpad book first, and then spend an hour working on my next publishing.

Overall, it seems to be working relatively well. Though, it does mean that it’ll take twice as long to finish either manuscript. I could just focus two hours on one every day. But then, again, I would feel like I’m letting down the audience who wants to read the other.

I know that all of this is pretty much inside my head. After all, my readers and viewers really don’t care which comes first. But I know a few of them to have specific preferences.

Why Only One Hour Per Day?

As I said, I have a lot going on throughout any given week. Clients, blogs, YouTube channels, books, and other projects fill up my time. This means I have to juggle what I can do in an 8-hour time frame.

Now, the reason why I focus on an 8-hour workday is that I’ve burned myself out doing 100-hour weeks in the past. I missed out on a lot of awesome things, and I vowed I would never do it again.

The money just wasn’t worth the physical and mental strain I was putting myself through. Sure, I make about a third of what I’ve made in the past. But when your mental and physical health declines as much as mine did, it reshapes how you view your future.

In any event, I can only “afford” an hour per day for each individual book, especially if I want to continue making money. The clients pay my mortgage and the blogs pay for a few of the extras.

Until I can make that mad YouTube money or sell a thousand copies of my book every month, I’ll still need to work on the projects that pay. Not that I see myself making a lot of money on YouTube, mind you.

On the upside, I’m almost done with one of my clients for the rest of December. So, I might be able to squeeze in a bit more time over the next couple of weeks.

Can’t I Write on the Weekends?

I normally try to write a bit more on the books during the nights and weekends. The problem is my career path. By the time I’m done working with clients throughout the day, my mind is mush.

All I want to do is curl up on the couch and watch Netflix without having to think much about anything important.

Unfortunately, I also have three live streams for different brands. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday nights from 7 pm to 8 pm are all on camera. By the time I’m done “working” at 5:30 pm, I have to eat dinner and prep for those shows.

On the other nights, I try to relax as much as I can.

As for the weekends, I often have the kids here. And while they are usually pretty good about leaving me alone to write, they often interrupt throughout the day. Not to mention that I don’t want to spend all of my time writing instead of spending time with them.

Tomorrow, I’m home alone, and I plan to finish rewriting the first chapter of the book on Wattpad. But normally, my life is too chaotic to do much after my normal workday.

It’s All About Creating Balance

When you have a ton of things you need and want to do throughout the week, balance is key to getting as much done as possible. Of course, this also depends on what tasks you have as priorities.

In my case, I’ve had to sacrifice a few things to ensure I still have income while working on publishing my books. But that’s because I came to the decision recently that I want more books under my belt. So far, it’s been working out.

Not everyone has an excessive amount of free time on their hands. Some of us have to jockey tasks around throughout the day to make things work. And that’s OK, even if some things are postponed for now.

The trick is to remember to get back to those things you put on the back burner before you ultimately forget they’re even there.