Do It Now: July Wrap-Up

Good morning adventurers!

Can you believe we’re at the end of July? And that 2014 is more than halfway over?! Please tell me I’m not the only one wondering where half the year went… And occasionally wondering what exactly I’ve done in the last month…

Lessons Learned: Do It Now

July continued June’s trend of feeling like the busiest summer ever. Between large family events, moving, moving while Brian was in Rhode Island teaching for a week, hosting friends who needed a place to crash, and large planning commitments here in Philadelphia…

Well, let’s just say that I reached last week feeling like July had been a month of survival. I felt glad that I had managed not to fall behind on anything, but disappointed that I didn’t feel like I’d made any forward progress.

I started last week telling myself, “Don’t worry, you’ll just step it up in August and build a lot of momentum then.”

And then I thought, why do I have to wait for August?

There’s still one more week left in July. A week in which I could (and did) email half a dozen prospective new clients; send out my headshot and schedule two auditions for the next few weeks, start rewrites on my WIP. Why wait?

So often, we wait for changes on the calendar to make changes in our lives. We plan to start that project or email that lead next week, next month, next January 1st. But all those calendar dates… well, they’re pretty artificial, aren’t they? We’ve assigned them meaning that they don’t naturally. Heck, we’ve created  them. Days don’t naturally have dates attached, after all.

So here’s my lesson for you this month: Do it now.

If you have something that needs to be done, don’t wait for an artificial starting point. Whether that’s creating a website, starting a project, getting in touch with a contact… whatever it is, do it now. There’s really nothing stopping you except yourself.

Blogging My Writing Process

I really didn’t keep up with this one this month. I’m just starting the rewrite process, and I have many thoughts about that. But I need to actually get them written down here! Expect a post on getting to the end and rewrites to pop up here next week.

And if you want to catch up on my Write That Novel series, check out

part 1

part 2

part 3

part 4

part 5

Around the Web

1. The fact that Erin squeezes a home office into her tiny New York apartment certainly puts my home office situation in perspective! It also has me thinking that the 525 sq. ft. I now live in in really too much for two people…
2. Carol has some great advice on avoiding clients that you’ll hate working with. Having been in this situation a few times, I can vouch for everything she recommends!
3. I spent some time setting goals this month, and I’d like to know how you handle that process.
4. Copyblogger has some excellent thoughts on marketing your freelance business.
5. Summer is a great time to expand your client base, but that takes a little work. Check out these five places to find freelance clients.
6. You can now find me on Instagram!

What About You?

What have you been up to this month?

What have you accomplished that you’re proud of, or wish that you’d done differently?