2025 Weekly Challenge, Week 11: Sike!

I might be dating myself with that post title, but I totally feel like my life tricked me right now.  I was feeling motivated early last week and totally thought I'd have a productive week, but a bunch of last-minute babysitting, a day trip on Friday (okay, I knew about that one, but still) and an unexpected illness conspired to make my week less productive than I had hoped.

Writing

In this area I actually was pretty productive.  I worked on my novel six out of seven days last week, missing only Monday.  Some of it was research, watching YouTube videos of mares foaling for the novel I'm working on, but I still counted it even though it wasn't words on the page.  I ended up getting over a thousand words written late last night.  And if I can keep up working on it, I can keep my current streak alive.

Decluttering and Organization

I didn't have a chance to do anything in this department last week, since we took it easy over the weekend and napped a lot.  My husband caught a cold from work, and I'm trying my best to stay healthy and not catch it, too.

Dolls

I didn't get anything done in this department either, for the same reason.

Lessons Learned

I'm still not in the clear yet as I could still catch my husband's cold, but I'm hoping to stay healthy.  Either way it'll mean not a lot gets done for a few days, because I'm going to try to take things easy in the hopes of keeping up my immune system.  I do hope to get a few things done (and maintain my writing streak!) but between that and several other things that have already come up, I don't expect any groundbreaking productivity this week.

2025 Weekly Challenge, Week 10: Progress

Progress has been slow, but I can still see signs of it.  I had a more productive week last week, and have been feeling more motivated overall.  This is an improvement over the previous week, when I was only just starting to feel like I was coming back from my slump.

Writing

I worked on my novel four days in a row last week, Monday through Thursday.  I had hoped to keep up the streak a little longer, but we had a busy weekend and I wasn't able to get any writing time in.  A future goal will be to make sure I get writing time on weekends, but it didn't happen this time.

I posted to my author Instagram four times as well.  A lot of it has been political stuff, but hey, it's posting, right?

Decluttering and Organization

It's minor, but I'm going to count it as a win: Last week I did all the laundry and put it away the same day (some of you know how hard this can be), and I started cleaning up the garden for spring.  I'd like to be able to enjoy my patio this year, but it's been very neglected the last several years so it's going to take some work to get it back to where it looks nice and feels like somewhere I can sit and hang out again.

This week I'm hoping to get more done in the garden, and hopefully get caught up on some projects inside as well.

Dolls

No progress here last week, but I anticipate that changing this week.  I have a lot to do still to get ready for the doll show, which is in just one month now!

Lessons Learned

Coming back from burnout or overwhelm is possible, but it's an excruciating, uphill battle and progress takes time.  Still, I feel like I did much better last week, and hopefully will see even more improvement in the next couple of weeks, as the doll show deadline looms.

On that note, though, I fully expect the mad rush to get ready for the show to kick me back into a burnout state.  I might purposely schedule a week or two of recovery time with few responsibilities and see if that helps.  In the past, when I've tried to skip recovery time after a big event like this show, what normally happens is that it just prolongs the burnout over weeks or even months.

I'll deal with that when it comes.  What matters right now is holding it together for the next month so that I can be ready for that show!

Amazon Boycott March 7-14

If you survived the economic blackout on February 28th, here's a new, slightly longer, but more targeted one to sink your teeth into: For the next eight days, March 7-14, we're boycotting Amazon and all of their various companies.

That means not only no Amazon, Kindle, Prime Video, Amazon Music, or Alexa, but also no Twitch, Whole Foods, Ring, Zappos, or IMDb either, as Amazon also owns all of those companies.  Here's a graphic list of everything Amazon owns.  (Scroll down — it's the long graphic, not the thumnail.)

I meant to post a warning in advance again so people had time to get what they needed before it started, but a week isn't too long and it's only Amazon & Co. this time.  If you need something try to either wait until after the 14th or find it somewhere else.

I think this boycott will be more difficult for people, because even though there is only one company (or group of companies) we're boycotting, it's also a longer period.  It was easy enough to put off purchasing for 24 hours, but waiting eight days is a little more difficult.

At least, since it's only Amazon and their companies, it should be easy enough to find most things somewhere else if you really can't wait!

With this in mind, I'm going to share my philosophy about boycotting.  I am 99% behind boycotts, but that 1% says that if it's going to dramatically impact your quality of life, it's okay to make a small exception, as long as you're otherwise committed to the boycott.

I also think there's a bigger picture to look at as well.  For example, I'm planning to cancel my Kindle Unlimited as soon as I finish the books I already have borrowed.  If I don't read them during this week, I'll have to renew on the 23rd.  It seems counterintuitive to boycott Amazon for a week and then send them more money, so I'm going to work on reading just those books during the next week.  It's a minor violation of the boycott, but the end result — canceling my Kindle Unlimited subscription — makes it worth it.

The important thing is to send a message to Amazon that we're not here for their new policies and their partnership with the current administration.  Are you with me?

TikTok and the Importance of Diversification

I got distracted by all the current events, but I meant to post about TikTok back when it went down and back up again.  It all felt to like a publicity stunt designed to upset as many users as possible, but what it also reminded me of is something I've heard a lot of marketing experts and self-published authors talk about: the importance of never being dependent on somebody else's platform for your audience.

If you weren't aware of the TikTok controversy, in 2024 the United States Congress banned TikTok unless the company divested from its Chinese interests before the deadline, which was in January.  The concern is that China could use the app to surveil Americans, since Chinese companies by law must comply with any data requests from their government.

When the app went down on a Saturday night in January, just a couple of days before the inauguration, I saw posts from many of my friends (who apparently didn't think it would actually happen).  Of course a social media post from our then-president elect resulted in the restoration of TikTok the very next day.

The app was down for less than 24 hours, but the panic was widespread.  I saw lots of complaints on other social media sites about what the loss of the platform was going to do to small business owners, and I couldn't help wondering: If they were so worried about their businesses, why didn't they take advantage of the advance warning (the ban was made law last April, nine months before the deadline) and start preparing for the change months ago?

Social media provides a great tool for marketing your book or business, but it is just that — a tool — and should never be your entire business model.  Good use of social media accounts should encourage followers, but also drive those followers to a platform you control.  You need a website and ideally a newsletter with an email list, so that if your favorite social media sites were to ever go down, change their rules, or lock you out for some reason, you wouldn't lose everything you've worked so hard for.  Ideally you should have social media accounts on multiple platforms — it's unlikely they'll all go down at once — as well as your own branded website.

(Note that Meta owns Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, so all of those could feasibly go down or lock you out at once.  So be sure that you diversify between different companies as well as different platforms.)

TikTok users: Right now you have a second chance.  Yes, TikTok has been spared for now, but it's just that — for now.  There's a new deadline coming up on April 5th.  So far I haven't heard of any business deals that would satisfy the requirements to avoid the ban, and there's no telling whether they'll get another reprieve.  So set up other social media accounts, get set up as an influencer on other platforms, or set up a blog and a mailing list — whatever suits your business model.  While you still have TikTok available to you, start building your presence on other platforms.  Most importantly, start looking for ways to make your audience actually yours instead of just TikTok's, such as through the use of a website and mailing list.

Seriously.  Start working on it now, if you haven't already.  You only have a month left before a potential repeat of the same scenario could play out.  Don't get caught out a second time!

Slava Ukraini!

I, like many Americans, was horrified on Friday by how President Zelenskyy of Ukraine was treated when he came to negotiate a condition to continued aid that never should have been a part of our offer in the first place.  For the first time in my life, I was deeply, deeply ashamed for my country.  And so I would like to say:

To President Zelenskyy and the people of Ukraine: 

I know I speak for many Americans when I say that our president does not speak for us.  It will forever be a mark of shame for the US how you were treated in the Oval Office.  Your fight is noble and righteous and we should be supporting you, not cornering you in a room full of onlookers like a group of scared followers watching a bully pick on a kid alone, and then sending you away with accusations that you need to be more grateful (even though you have thanked us repeatedly).

I have, however, been glad to see so many countries rising up and voicing their support in your time of need.  I hope that in the end, we will have helped to give you the support you require in one way or another — if not by supporting you ourselves, then by causing everyone else to recommit to helping you.

As for the United States, perhaps it is time for us to learn that we are not the entire world, that we can refuse to do the right thing and still the right thing will be done, because we are only one country among dozens.  Certainly we are no longer a world leader, and it feels right now for other countries to step up and carry the torch that we once helped to light.

And perhaps, now, the torch is yours: Ukraine has been an unrelenting light in the face of darkness, a symbol of freedom and resistance in the face of oppression.

May the rest of the world prove itself as fierce in its support for you, as you have proven yourself to be in your fight for independence.

Slava Ukraini!

2025 Weekly Challenge, Week 9: Rising Hope

Last week was a little better than the week before, which gives me hope.  I'm feeling a little more motivated today and I think it's going to help with this week.

Last week's goals progress were as follows:

Writing

Last week was pretty good on the writing front.  I wrote three days in a row, and while I missed Friday and the weekend, I'm okay with that because of how much was going on those days.  I've also been very active on my blog and on my author Instagram, partially because I decided to start channeling my politics focus where it was relevant, but I'm pleased with the results.

Decluttering and Organization

One of the things that kept me from writing over the weekend also helped motivate me to work on a small decluttering and organization project: My mom spent the night Saturday night to celebrate her birthday, which was Friday.  That meant that I had to clean up the downstairs bathroom for her use.  I haven't been using that bathroom much since Izzy died, since we had set it up for her care, so this was actually a big accomplishment for me.

I also got some minor things done last night, just by keeping moving once I was already in motion.  It sounds silly, but I had something that I absolutely had to do, and once I was in that mode, I just pushed myself to get several other things done, and it worked!

Dolls

No progress here, unfortunately, but I have hope for this week!

Lessons Learned

I'm not sure why I feel different about last week or this coming week, but I think it has a little to do with goals, inspiration, and good ol' dopamine kicks from getting stuff done.  It felt good to accomplish some things over the weekend, and that was part of it.  But also, I found an external factor (my mom's visit) to motivate me and made use of that.

This week I have a new project I want to start working on, and I'm hoping that will help me maintain motivation throughout what promises to be a busy week.