Storytime with Rachel F Hundred

Time to reprioritise and replan.

It is hard to believe that I’ve been embroiled with a full-time contract for five weeks. One whole month has gone by and I have five months left. Admittedly, it has been nice not to be very strict about my budget for the first time in a year and the work itself has been engaging and rewarding – the people I’m working with really lovely people who are purpose-driven.

With the beginning of June comes the opportunity to take stock and reset. I’ve been learning a lot through May about juggling my commitments and it has become abundantly clear that I’m trying to do too much. I am juggling a full-time contract, three other contracts under my own business, keeping my business ticking over, my writing, my personal commitments to friends and family, and my health.

It is a lot of plates to spin and frankly I’m having to let one or two fall to the floor every week while I spin others.

Clearly, I need to re-prioritise.

Top priority is my health. I cannot do anything if I’m not in good enough health to tackle my to-do list. Giving myself grace is important in those days when my body falters anyway. I can’t truly predict when I’m going to have a bad day so flexibility is also a key priority and to have flexibility forward planning is a must.

Time with friends and family is important too. I have a family holiday coming up in July and my Dad is returning home for the summer so I want to prioritise some time with him.

Financially, the full-time contract is and will provide me with a substantive buffer moving forward. Monetarily I just do not make enough through my own business or through writing yet to walk away from a well-paid contract. It will help boost my savings back up and enable me to continue to pursue my dreams. There is even a possibility of an extension. So, it has to be a priority.

Which brings me to my three contracts. I have 14 coaching sessions left under 1 contract. 2 under another. I then have 6 training sessions to deliver over the next seven months, and 30 coaching sessions to deliver from mid-September. While I could make a different decision, I believe in honouring my commitments and I will see all these through. I have learned how in the last month to juggle my work and my coaching commitments, and I have time set aside for the training already.

I’ve also committed to mentoring and here I will probably need to take stock and reduce my mentoring time. I plan to speak to all my mentees and check in to see what they feel they need moving forward and have a discussion about what I can realistically commit time-wise with my continuing contracts.

Promoting and continuing the business is where I think I need to make the major adjustments. I’ve been trying to continue writing articles to the same cadence as before and that just is not possible. I am going to write one article a week and reduce my social media down to one post per day.

Which brings me to writing.

I have a plan for the next month for fanfiction. I want to finish up A Potioned Affair and get that posted up. I have the next in The Promise series started. I have a fic in mind for the Big Moxie challenge and need to complete and post by the end of June. Otherwise, I will switch to finishing Another Dimension, the next in A Step to the Right series.

I also have a clear plan for the novel with an estimated launch date at the end of July. I will consider writing other shorts between now and then. Ideally, I’d like to write the next in the Iolaire Bay series to help promote the book.

I am committed to keeping up my writing logs as I really enjoy them, and I have already deprioritised my reviews. I’m doing the occasional one when I feel inspired but I’m not committing to reviewing anything over the rest of 2025. So, priorities are set, and there still is a lot to do. I’m sure I have more to learn over the next month but as they say, the game is afoot and it is time to get moving.

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