Suddenly busy after months of not so much

At the start of last week I realised there were six different projects all wanting my attention, all interesting and all worth progressing. Some required half a day, others a whole week, some considerably more. Attempting to nudge them all forwards at the same time was the path to inertia and madness - it was time to prioritize. So I sat down and made a list of everything I needed to do, everything I wanted to do, time needed and specific deadlines.

The first half of last week went to plotting a media tie-in novel and submitting that for consideration. Next came developing Story of the Day ideas for Doctors. This week I planned to split between developing a Phantom pitch and plotting a new novel, with some Tv reviewing in my Copious Spare Time®. Next week I need to submit a ten-page treatment for the Lighthouse TV writing course. That left the last days of October to revise my Inspector Morse tome.

Of course, that went flying out the window by Tuesday. Got a welter of notes on a commissioned project I'm not allowed to discuss yet, requiring a nose-to-tail rewrite within three weeks. The media tie-in novel plotting overran by a day, nudging my Doctors efforts into today. A screen agency asked me to read a script and I need to do some paying work this month, so I said yes. That means this week's planned activities must wait until November.

And then something else came up, another enticing opportunity [with a Non-Disclosure Agreement attached, so no details allowed]. And an exciting job opportunity. Not to mention yet another novel proposal I've got sat on an editor's desk awaiting their feedback. Or a documentary pitch I submitted to a new competition that should bring a yea or no answer this week. Or finishing a new draft of my Red Planet Prize entry in case it makes round two.

It's nice to be so busy after months of submitting material, waiting and waiting some more. If half these projects came off I'll be amazed [one in four is a more likely scenario]. I'll also be run off my feet. I'm already reducing all extra-curricular activities to a minimum in anticipation of a busy winter. It was a relief when I heard on Saturday I wasn't shortlisted for a local writers' fellowship. Time's at a premium. Let's get busy. Onwards!