Schedule Frustrations

You see that ticker over on the right? It's barely moved in the last two weeks. Why? My schedule's been wonky, and it's made it difficult to write more than a couple hundred words at a time.

I've been extremely frustrated with my schedule. I keep trying to write for my usual two hours a day, but I've been lucky to manage twenty to thirty minutes. It's starting to impact my mood and productivity in other areas, so I have to find some way to get things back on track.

So what's been going so wrong? It's a combination of things. Without them piling on top of one another, it'd be easier to handle, but there's been something of a domino effect going on.

First, I'm in the middle of restocking after my last convention, producing new Mother's Day special soaps, and working on 2016's new line of fragrances due to debut in late June. At the same time, we're still in the thick of the school year, and I'm reaching that lovely post spring break burnout phase I seem to hit each and every April. Then along with that, I've been having issues with migraines again as the weather's begun to shift in the last couple of weeks. It all adds up to a perfect storm of scheduling problems.

My next convention is in a little over two weeks. I need to be fully restocked and have the first three of the new fragrances finished before then. Once it's over, I will only have six weeks to finish the remaining six fragrances and restock any items sold during the convention. Plus, there will be Father's Day and Independence Day specials as well as the seasonal fragrance swap over happening in the same time span.

I'll get back on track soon. I've done all I can to at least keep the business, this blog, and the YouTube channel going. I should finish the first of the two blankets I've been working on this week, and I'm nearing the end of "Never Trust a Sorcerer." C. L will finish his school year in another four or five weeks, and with him taking over homeschooling duties during the summer, perhaps I can get the rest of the Icarus rough draft finished before the beginning of July.

I've been looking for places I can cut back too. I actually just closed down a "mommy blog" I've run for the past eight years yesterday. It'd become redundant, and it seemed the easiest way to save two or three hours a week. Finishing up stitching together all of the granny squares for the first blanket last week has helped as well. Working on the edging doesn't require the same amount of light, so I can work later in the evening. (Our overhead lighting situation is a bit sad, so I've been reliant on sunlight and open blinds to see what I've been doing.)

What steps do you take when scheduling your work become problematic?