The Next Three Months

Warning: some deep productivity nerdery in play below.

So this weekend I sat down and did my quarterly checkpoint for July through September, logging all the projects, commitments, support reading, and catch-ups I wanted to achieve over those three months. There’s a link to the whole process I use above, which is largely pulled from Todd Henry’s oft-recommended The Accidental Creative, which also includes Monthly and Weekly checkpoints.

I stopped doing a formalised look at the landscape ahead during the early days of the pandemic, but it’s incredibly goddamned useful for staying on top of things. While presented out of order here, even the broad strokes of the checkpoint are valuable, since they:

a) Stake out all the projects and people you want to focus on in the coming quarter;

b) Ask you to look towards the horizon and ID moments when your week is likely to experience disruption; and,

c) Pare back or reshape your commitments in light of available time and resources; then,

d) Push you to frame questions about the most complex projects, so you don’t fly at them blind; then,

c) Pull together resources and stimuli that will support you in your endeavours.

I’ve laid out my projects and stimuli list below, so you can get an idea of what it looks like at the tail end (my actual doc often links to Asana tasks attached to each of these, so I can break them down into small steps). 

Even with the paring back that’s part of this process, I’m probably still over-committed for the coming three months, especially with several weeks where the day job will involve 10+ hour days. I re-launched the checkpoint habit because I dropped the ball on multiple projects this week, and my first instinct when that happens is cancel everything and hide for a month.

This checkpoint is an attempt to stymie that impulse and put my focus on the project that are meaningful to me, while also laying out a list I can use to gauge just how much is possible at the moment.

Some quick tactical notes, usable even if you’re not doing this kind of planning:

• Asking Questions: One piece of advice Henry suggests is layout out the challenges associated with a project in the form of a question, and identifying the big three challenges you’ll face for the quarter. Hugely useful way of breaking logjams or negative thinking, as it opens up possibilities and makes the ambiguous concrete. 
• Every Project Has A Verb: I used to just list things by project title (ie Median Survival Time novella), but in recent years the advice to give everything a verb has been incredibly transformative. A project title means I need to decide what happens next, while a verb gives me an immediate action I can take in order to advance. 
• Using Verb Clusters: I have small clusters of verbs that break down big projects (publishing a book) into a series of smaller verb-steps (acquire a book, develop a book, edit a book, publish a book, promote a book). The advantage of working these clusters out in advance is the way it puts a hard edge on projects that are going to take more than one quarter to complete. Each of those clusters also has a sub-cluster, which makes it relatively easy to figure out what a month and a week of advancing those projects looks like.

JULY 2022 – SEPTEMBER 2022 QUARTERLY CHECKPOINT

BIG THREE

Establish Brain Jar Press release schedule

• What is the main goal of the schedule?
• What is a reasonable level of progress every week?
• When do we inform authors of their spot?
• How do we manage delays/interruptions?
• How can we keep development expenses low?
• When is it reasonable to announce a project?

Develop newsletter schedule for the rest of the year

• What do I want the newsletter to achieve?
• How often is it feasible to reuse content?
• What’s the relationship between the newsletter and other forms of social media?
• What’s the best way to develop content?
• When should I upgrade the newsletter system?
• What would make the newsletter a can’t lose project?

Decide whether to continue Patreon or go dormant until PhD is finished

• What is a reasonable return on time investment in Patreon?
• What can I be doing to move the needle on patronage?
• What is the best offering I can give to patrons?
• Who is my ideal patron?
• How can my messaging appeal to my existing readers?

ENERGY

Scheduling Abnormalities

• AWC events on following dates (usually means I’m working 9 AM to 7 PM):
  • Monday 18 JUL
  • Monday 1 AUG
  • Monday 8 AUG
  • Tuesday 9 AUG
  • Wednesday 10 AUG (this week is going to suck for advancing projects) 
  • Monday 15 AUG
  • Wednesday 24 AUG
  • Monday 29 AUG
  • Monday 5 SEP
  • Monday 12 SEP
  • Wednesday 21 SEP
  • Thursday 22 SEP
• Probable Low Energy weeks
  • 10-16 July
  • 7-13 Aug
  • 4-10 Sept
• Unpredictable Events
  • July: <Redacted> return to Brisbane; expect social events
  • COVID
  • Low Mental Health Weeks

HOURS

Which of the projects on your list will require the most creative thought time?

• Draft Median Survival Time
• Develop Cruel Nights
• Writing Knock Knock
• Writing Comics, Prose, Publishing
• Write Giant Robot Snow Sliders

Dream a little. What would “blow your mind” if it happened this quarter? Who are some people you’d like to meet with? What are some projects that you’d like to tackle, or opportunities you’d like to have?

• A month with book sales every day
• Launching a new release with over 100 pre-orders
• Pushing Patreon funding over 500
• Finishing all the PhD writing
• Doing a podcast interview

FOCUS

HOME

General

• Pack shelves so we can store more Brain Jar Press books
• Finalise plans to move and sell the unit
• Submit my tax in early July
• Take a day trip to potential suburbs/towns we’re considering as places to live

Relationship

• Plan July Date
• Plan August Date
• Plan September Date
• Plan July Write Club catch-up
• Plan August Write Club catch-up
• Plan September Write Club catch-up
• Catch up with <Redacted>
• Catch up with <Redacted>
• Catch up with <Redacted>

Expenses & Purchases

• Book Coco in for tooth extraction
• Get my wedding ring resized
• Consider paying Storage Unit in block
• Prepare for Rates increase
• Prepare for Mortgage increase

Admin

• Refine household routines
• Maintain Flylady cycle
• Refine work routines
• Complete Quarterly Checkpoint (October – December)
• Complete August checkpoint
• Complete September checkpoint
• Complete October checkpoint
• Complete Weekly checkpoints

ECLECTIC PROJECTS

Newsletter

• Develop newsletter schedule for the rest of the year
• Redevelop welcome sequence
• Set up Q4 Newsletter expansion

Project Drafting

• Write Knock Knock
• Write Comics, Prose, Publishing series
• Write Giant Robot Snow Slide
• Write essay for Winged, With Sharp Teeth
• Write essay for Eight Minutes of Disposable Sunlight
• Write essay for A White Cross Beside a Lonely Road

Backlist releases

• Release Exile
• Release Frost
• Release Showcase
• Re-release Early Experiments
• Re-release Winged, With Sharp Teeth
• Re-release Eight Minutes

Books to Develop for Q4

• Develop A White Cross Beside A Lonely Road 2nd ed
• Develop One Last First Date Before 2nd ed
• Develop Sheddings Skins 2nd ed
• Develop Knock Knock release

Mugs & Merch

• Design 6 mugs/merch projects
• Explore methods/systems for expanding reach

Freelance

• Design 12 new book covers
• Post about freelance work 3 times
• Post about consulting 3 times

BRAIN JAR PRESS

Releases

• Release After Midnight
• Release Braid
• Release By The Moon’s Good Grace
• Release Gorgons Deserve Nice Things
• Release Goal Setting (Literally)
• Release Home & Hearth
• Release Bone Chime Song

Develop

• Develop Cruel Nights
• Develop Winterbloom
• Develop Blood Eagles
• Develop Shadows, Vignettes, and Oubliettes
• Develop Tomorrow’s Language
• Develop Wolves and Girls and Other Dark Gems

Acquire

• Acquire 6 projects for Q3 2023

Admin

• Process tax details for Brain Jar
• Compile royalty statements
• Compile June profit and loss update
• Compile July profit and loss update
• Compile August profit and loss update
• Pay royalties to Brain Jar Authors
• Consider a 5 year anniversary event in November

Projects of Opportunity

• Develop Goal Setting Workbook
• Develop Writer Champs Omnibus
• Release Crawlspace
• Make a decision around Reforged

PHD

PhD Admin

• Alert Kim I’m still working on things
• Lock down a completion plan
• Apply for an extension

Median Survival Time

• Draft a manuscript
• Pull together a revision plan
• Revise the manuscript

Cerberus Station Rumble

• Pull together a revision plan
• Revise the manuscript

Exegesis

• Review current manuscript
• Revisit necessary PhD research
• Draft remaining chapters
• Flesh out Bibliography
• Submit to Kim

WEBSITES AND SOCIAL MEDIA

PeterMBall.com

• Log all pages in need of templates
• Build templates in Elementor
• Refine templates
• Set up posting schedule for August and September

Brainjarpress.com

• Make a decision around Bookshop theme (renews 29 July)
• Potentially rebuild the site using Elementor in July
• Add merch to site using Gelato
• Add 1 merch option per month

Patreon

• Review Patreon reward levels
• Do a weekly Behind-the-scenes wrap-up on Patreon
• Set up monthly download posts
• Set up preview posts
• Draft Man vs. Bear Monthly for July
• Draft Man vs. Bear Monthly for August
• Draft Man vs. Bear Monthly for September
• Decide whether to continue Patreon or go dormant until PhD is finished. 

Facebook

• Announce new releases
• Share something on the Author page every day
• Deliver short-burst content to personal page three times a week

Twitter

• Announce new releases and blog posts

Instagram

• Announce new releases and merch

UNNECESSARY CREATING

• Write an NYCW dynasty
• Create a superhero gaming chapbook

STIMULI

Stimuli What kinds of stimuli will help you with the projects you’ll be working on?

Design and Management

• High Output Management, Andrew S. Grove
• Design For The Real World, Victor Papanek

Thesis

• The Rebirth of Rapunzel, Kate Forsyth
• Papers on meta-text narratives
• Structuralist Poetics, Culler

Writing, Marketing, and Creative Careers

• How to run a writer’s room
• How To Dominate On Social Media for Less Than One Hour A Week
• Building A Sunday Comics Empire
• The Secret To Online Social Networking
• Building A Fanbase
• Creating Your Ideal Customer Avatar
• How To Build A Rabid Audience From Scratch
• How To Build An Audience From Scratch

What are you curious about right now?

• Wired For Love, Stephanie Cappiocco
• Predictably Irrational, Dan Ariely
• Plays Well With Others, Eric Barker
• Make A List, Marilyn McEntyre
• Talking To My Country, Stan Grant

How will you challenge yourself to grow?

• Big Magic, Elizabeth Gilbert
• Doctor Sax, Jack Kerouac
• The Complete Western Stories, Elmore Leonard