Nobody likes a perfectionist, but nobody hates a masterpiece. I don’t want to sanitize my work to perfection because the kind of writing that is excreted by committees blows chunks. I’ve almost completed my book, and it’s been in an improving state of almost completion for weeks, even though it’s consuming 3-4 hours of my time each day. And it’s 3-4 joyful hours. I think I’m a week or so from releasing it, and I wanted it out there and in the world’s hands before christmas, hence the santa hat.

But, really, the content was drafted. I don’t have the capacity to write production quality content in real time. I was taking on big damn topics: Drama, procrastination. There’s a chapter called f—k your parents. Those things weren’t going to work if they were hamfisted or shrill attempts. The writing itself had to be more solid than anything I’ve ever written, and it’s certainly a project that is about as hard as anything I’ve done.

Realize, I’ve read about 500 books in the business/self help/personal development genre in my lifetime. Everything from the excellent “7 Habits” to the mediocre “Cheese” to some trite & dangerous crap du jour like the Secret.

Right now, I’m not unhappy with the writing. That’s not to say I’m done with it. I’ve gone through it 5-6 times, and it’s shaping up to look really friggin’ cool. The last week has been uplifting–the feedback from my throng has been good, and now I look for more negative feedback to make sure it’s sharp as hell before I release it. I should be doing work on the Blog I’ve made, but that’ll come, and I intend to continue to improve this throughout its lifetime. There’s also so much more to write, there were 24 chapters called:

F—k yourself:
f–k clutter
f–k perfection
f–k whining
f–k obesity (free sample)
f–k procrastination
f–k indecision
f–k drama
f–k slacking

F—k Your tribe:

f–k your team
f–k your guru
f–k your job
f–k your stroller
f–k baby boomers
f–k The Jonses
f–k lawyers
f–k meetings

F—k your programming:

f–k self righteousness
f–k manners
f–k fear
f–k egotism
f–k entitlment
f–k compromise
f–k materialism
f–k your parents

The interior design I absolutely love, and the collaboration has been an utter blast. The marketing is going to be fun, too, an ‘anti’ self help book. We’re going through it over and over again to make sure it makes sense, it’s solidly constructed. It’s more work than you think, but the work will pay off, provided that the entire consumerist economy isn’t a worse problem than I had thought.

This will probably be the last PDF I do. While doing a PDF gives you good control and SOME interactivity, the real promise of ebooks is what they do that’s not book. In other words, Brian Clark was again, right. And I’ve ignored his advice because of Zen To Done’s inspiration. That was a PDF that felt like the best of both worlds, so I gave ‘er a whirl.

Anyway, this beast has consumed me for a while. I look forward to getting it done and off of my chest. I’ll probably have some version of this for sale next Monday, but it’s unlikely to be the ‘final’ version.

Also: more stuff on freelancing is coming. For those of you that requested the book download–I’m sorry I got ahead of myself. I was excited about Keith’s cool Aweber plugin for WordPress, and wanted to put it to use. (That’s another project that’s almost done. If you want an aweber box that’s 100% customizable, and 100% compatible with every WP theme, let me know, Keith and I’ve got something cool for you).

See you tomorrow.  Back to th e mill.

Problem is, some of the stuff has been going on for weeks, and it is a momentum killer.   We only have some limited amount of bandwidth and we can’t have umpteen half done projects waiting for us.  David Allen aptly puts out the notion that each unprocessed loop consumes some amount of psychic RAM that keeps us from doing things more effectively.  And this is true (though I’ve taken in a ton of work lately).   So–in addition to the planning that I do, I have to have an action plan for when a project loses momentum–what to do.

I don’t really know the answer for this.   Sometimes the client absorbs the energy and is the obstacle, sometimes it’s circumstances (and sometimes, it’s simply my fault).   A conscientious freelancer needs to have a plan in place for this stuff though.  It’s not really about ‘causing’ or ‘manifesting,’ the loss of momentum.   It’s about having a plan in place to ensure it never happens.   So…instead of phrasing it ‘planning for the loss of momentum.’  Let’s say ‘ensuring that projects go fast and well,’ and accounting for normality.

Here are thoughts on how to do it–none of them are exhaustive–or even complete.  This is more or less a brainstorm:

• Acknowledge the issue proactively at the beginning of projects.  “We’re going to plan–in advance–for the BS that happens on projects…and do something about it.”
• Financial Incentives: Clients can be motivated by money, and having an understanding that if we have to chase down documents, etc, etc, we charge more than if we don’t.  Making this explicit can help everyone get the deadline done faster.
• Check in:  Schedule Check ins on your calendar periodically, and don’t accept reschedules.   Have a mutual commitment to one another.
• Stay far far ahead of deadlines: This is way more important than you think–really.   If you stay out in front, then there no issues in that regard.

This is preventive.  When momentum is lost, what then:

• Regroup ASAP.  Reschedule milestones and deadlines ASAP.
• Try to abbreviate the remaining workdays till project delivery & focus on the ‘lost sheep.’
• Have a ‘back on track’ plan written in advance for the major stuff you do frequently.
• Deliver SOMETHING the day you recognize momentum is gone, daddy, gone…a milestone, anything.  Stop other projects till the last sheep is in the fold.

I think that’s it for now.

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