My friends, my friends. I have realized that I have made quite the miscalculation in my immediate plans and goals. As the title says, I forgot about Mercury. What about Mercury? Retrograde. It can be a dirty word, a fighting one. Yet it’s one we can’t fight.
It was my original plan to hop over to Order of Crows book three once I’ve finished with my editing job, you know, keep the momentum going and all. I’m eyeing the timeline really hard right now, and I have a feeling that’s not going to happen. Mercury officially goes retrograde on November 9th. That’s the day after my last bookish event of the year. That also means we’re already feeling the beginning of its effects. So rather than jumping directly into my very important and hopefully last rounds of edits for Crows, I’ll be mandating some downtime for myself. Actual downtime, not just from events.
Does that mean I probably won’t hit my publishing goal for Crows? Well, probably, but if I’ve learned anything–and at my age I certainly should have learned something–it’s that I can’t push forward 100% of the time. It took me longer to accept that than it maybe should have, but I have learned. That being the case, I’m preemptively removing some of the pressure from myself in preparation.
Now, I know me. I know retrograde me. I tend to either have extreme creative bursts or I want to become a full-on hermit. I already feel myself gravitating toward staying home over going out. I want to fully dive into the book I’ve been reading (Night Angel Nemesis by Brent Weeks, 10/10 recommend all the Night Angel books). It’s coming. That’s why I am going to make a final push on finishing those edits (I’m in the homestretch so that’s doable). I’m going to show up and sell at the Merritt Square Mall Con. Then I’m going to chill so I don’t burn myself out. I recommend doing the same for all my creatives out there, for everyone, really.
I think that’s all for now. Have a great weekend, my friends! Much love and positivity!
Aj Elmore, Author 