I have no memory of this place

How to figure out what the devil is even happening when you come back to work after a long break.

In my last post, I offered you a moment to take a deep breath and reset.

In this post, I will stop waxing poetical and actually talk about the process I’m going through to triage my projects and get back on track.

Because I suspect that I’m not the only one who has opened their manuscript at the end of summer and felt like this:

Let’s dive in, shall we?

Step 1: Take a deep breath

Look, I know you’re eager to do All the Things. But are you in the right headspace?

Seriously, take ten minutes to clear your head. Meditate. Go for a walk. Do some yoga. clean your office.

Remember what I said in the last post: This process isn’t just about catching up on all the things that you’ve fallen behind on. We’re not here to unthinkingly scoop up all the balls you were juggling before and start throwing them in the air once more.

This is your chance to reprioritize from scratch.

Don’t squander it.

Step 2: Dump out your brain

Earlier this year, I helped my 12yo and 8yo nieces rearrange their bedroom.

Just rearrange the beds and the desk, they said. It’ll be easy, they said.

But before we could make any progress at all, we had to excavate several years’ worth of craft projects, stuffed animals, used kleenexes, Pokemon cards, and half-wrapped candy pieces from under the beds and figure out what to do with it.

(I wish I had a photo of the disaster zone to illustrate this post with, but for your sake be glad I don’t.)

Anyway, my point is you’ve got a lot rattling around inside your brain. It’s time to put it outside your brain, where you can physically see and deal with it.

I like to do this in a notebook or using post-it notes and a blank wall. If I had a big whiteboard I’d probably use that. A mind-mapping tool like Scapple would also work well.

Basically, just start listing out every single project and task that’s clamoring for your attention. Loosely sort as you go, adding projects as headings (with plenty of space beneath), then listing tasks under the right project heading.

Think about business projects, creative projects, and personal/health projects.

For example, when I did this a couple of weeks ago, my list of projects included “Author Alchemy Summit” as well as “Healing.”

Individual tasks like “reserve hotel rooms for speakers” or “meet with Lidia to talk about catering” got written under the Author Alchemy Summit heading, while “start running 2x week” and “make eyelid surgery appointment” fell under Healing.

This is just a slightly more organized version of a normal brain dump, so don’t worry too much about getting it right or making it pretty. In fact, you can dump out your brain first, then sort things out later if you like.

However you do it, don’t edit yourself right now, don’t get caught up in minutiae, and don’t try to get fancy by brainstorming projects first, then brainstorming tasks after. Just let your brain shout projects and tasks as it wants, and scrawl them down as rapidly as possible.

NOTE: If you’re totally overwhelmed, it can be nice to do this step over the course of a few days. Just spend a few minutes adding to the list when things occur to you—that can help you get that bigger picture with less pressure on yourself.

Step 3: Go for another walk

This type of brain dumping can feel really cathartic, but it can also be super overwhelming.

Now that you’ve created a massive to-do list for yourself, put it aside and go for a walk. Or take a bath. Or go sit in a coffee shop with a blank journal.

Ask yourself this:

How am I doing?

I like to break that into categories:

• How am I doing health-wise?

• How am I doing in my freelance business?

• How am I doing in my fiction business?

• How am I doing with family and relationships?

• How am I doing mentally?

Let your mind wander a bit in these topics, and pay attention not just to the answers your brain tells you, but the way your body feels about those answers.

NOTE: You might prefer to do this step socially, like working it out over coffee with a friend, or talking to your therapist. You might also prefer to journal, or even find a prompt to get your creative juices flowing, like drawing a tarot card. You do you.

Step 4: Pick one priority

Time to untangle some threads. And WTF is even happening with this mystifying knitting project I inherited from a family friend? Is this intarsia? I am in awe.

Look. You and I both know neither of us are going to have “just one priority.”

I’m not going to lecture you about how priority inherently is a singular noun, or chide you for overfilling your plate, or thinking you can do it all.

Pot, kettle, etc.

(And if you’re not going to overfill your plate after this exercise, please teach me how.)

But for this step I want you to go through a thought exercise.

Ask yourself:

If you could only do ONE of these projects in the next three months, which one would it be?

I had three projects competing for top spot: Healing physically, organizing the Author Alchemy Summit, and writing the fifth Nanshe Chronicles book.

All three projects are all incredibly important to me.

Realistically, though, “Healing” needs to take the top priority slot. If I accomplish nothing else by the end of the year, but I manage to get myself to 99%* physically, I’ll be pretty excited.

(*An eye is like 1% of your total body? Let’s roll with that, I’m not gonna google it.)

Having Healing in the top slot means that if I only have 30 minutes on Tuesday and my choices are “take a well-needed nap” or “write on my book”, the choice needs to be my health.

Step 5: Rank the remaining projects

Of course, we’re not going to just be doing one project—even if we are wise people who only have one priority.

So let’s take a look at the rest of the projects on your list.

Realizing that Healing needed to be number 1 for me was fairly easy. Deciding the second most important thing was much, much harder.

I mentioned above that the other two big projects were organizing the Author Alchemy Summit and writing the next Nanshe Chronicles book.

Again, I did a thought experiment: I pictured two Jessies next February.

One is celebrating the launch of Nanshe Chronicles 5, having spent the winter writing the book and getting it ready to publish. This Jessie ended up canceling the Summit back in September, but everyone understands—she was still recovering, after all. She’ll try organizing the Summit for 2025 instead.

The other Jessie is welcoming attendees to the inaugural Author Alchemy Summit, excited by the energy and community gathering all under one roof. She hasn’t written a single word on her novel since before the shooting, but her readers understand. She’ll get Nanshe Chronicles 5 out later in 2024 and they’ll love it, even though they had to wait longer than expected.

Both Jessies are celebrating the finale of a project. But when I imagined them, one was a clear winner to me.

I realized that if I pulled the Author Alchemy Summit off but didn’t write a book, I would be so much happier than if it was the other way around.

Step 6: Go forth with your refreshed priorities

Take a look at your brain dumped projects and tasks, using the new lens of priorities that you’ve sussed out.

Start putting things back on your daily and weekly to do lists based on your new priorities. Not everything that used to be on your plate will make it back on your reprioritized plate, and that’s fine.

Remember. You’re not catching up on All The Things.

You’re resetting so you can do your best work possible.

If it helps you, write your main project (or your top three ranked projects) on a sticky note and put it somewhere you can see it. That way, as you’re making moment-by-moment decisions throughout your day, you’ll know what you need to be doing.

And, of course, give yourself grace—especially if you’re getting back to “real work” after a time of major disruption.

You’ve got this.

From chaos with love,

Jessie