Before My Second Cup: 4/6/26

Recovery & Rescheduling

Since my post on Friday, I added another 2,000 words to my manuscript.

However,

the rest of the weekend was not so productive. My long runs in my half-marathon program are scheduled for Saturdays, as those are my most reliable days to have the time for them. By the time I finished that run, I had to almost immediately turn around and take my kids to a neighborhood egg hunt I had already committed to. We only got to hang out there for about two hours before we had to turn right back around and head home for a D&D session with Clint and Jackie.

Afterwards, I finished setting up the cookie dough for the cookies I was supposed to bring for Easter at my in-laws’ house. It comes out better if allowed to chill overnight. The next morning, I got right up, finished making the cookies, and everyone got ready for Easter and went out the door. We spent the rest of the day with family, and, upon returning, both kids immediately collapsed into bed while Gabe and I suffered the punishments our stomachs were giving us for a day of twelve times the sugar we’re used to.

A picture from Easter. We had a “big kids” egg hunt where each of us had two large eggs of an assigned color to find. My father-in-law and uncle(ish) thought it was hilarious to put mine in a tree. As you can see, even with me in wedges, our eleven year-old cousin is about as tall as I am.

This morning, though, I feel refreshed. The evil that was taking residence in my gut has fled, and I am left only with the energy its absence has granted. A YouTuber I enjoy, Will Tennyson, has said that days that go off-schedule—whether in terms of meals, workouts, or both—can be best used as a jumping point for the next day. Extra rest and extra energy turned into extra effort. Today’s run is an easy run, meant for recovery from Saturday’s run, so I can only push so hard during that. But there’s weight training and writing that could use the extra push.

I expect to send my beta readers the next batch of chapters by midweek. I had started in on Chapter Nine on Saturday, getting a few paragraphs in before the beginnings of Easter weekend called my name. It’s thrilling to get deeper into the story and see the chapters take on their own routes. I had a few events I had toyed with the ideas of but had never implemented in my (rough) outline that planted themselves in the chapters written this week. It can feel like I’m looking through Margaret or Robin’s eyes as its happening—being just as much at the mercy of these occurrences as they are.

I talked about the story growing last week. This is just another symptom of that process. The best case-scenario is for a story to turn into a river: you can see where it bends and flows for a good bit, but you have to follow it to see where it ends up. You have to let it run its course.

I was originally a hardcore plotter. For some things, I still am. I wanted to know every nook and cranny of a story before it was ever put to paper. But that just made things stiff and unrealistic. I have D&D to thank for the change of heart. Spending years collaborating with other storytellers and learning to trust the twists and turns we all take each other through has led to beautiful results. D&D taught me the power of the bullet-pointed list: yes, we have to make these stops along the way if we want to defeat the bad guy, but the road we take to get there and the pitstops we make are all up in the air. We can never know for sure when a storm will blow through or when our wheel will meet a hole in the road.

In my high fantasy series, Our Cursed Children, I am more of a plotter. But even this has loosened somewhat. I need to know certain things to keep the plans of hidden forces moving at all times, to keep the world alive and functioning while not losing control of the plot. Dead Ends, however, thrives from lack of a plan. I have “big ticket items” on my list: what big threats are at play, who holds what power, and what main motives are for different players at the table. Beyond that, I let the story take me where it will.

I just finished chapter eight, which, as a whole, was largely unplanned. I knew what Margaret and Paul were looking for and what they would find, but their entire conversation about death and Margaret’s job as well as the fight at Ogdin’s weren’t on the schedule until the words were already unfolding on the page.

I know the things I’m saying make no sense to those reading this the day it’s posted, but they will in the future if you pick up Dead Ends: Volume 3 (this will be a hyperlink when it’s released). Besides, even though it’s vague, it’s easier for me to say than “I knew what Characters A & B were looking for and what they would find, but conversation A as well as event B that happened afterwards weren’t on the schedule…”

I could say that instead, but this is my Substack. I don’t want to. Besides, I know what’s a spoiler and what’s not, and, trust me, there’s nothing you can make of that even if you’re caught up on the series.

If anyone’s wondering, I am still listening to The Boy and the Heron soundtrack as I write this. I can’t help it; it’s peaceful. And, while I had a fantastic time with family this weekend, I find my social battery at a whopping 3%. Between the neighborhood egg hunt, D&D, and a full Sunday with family and some visiting neighbors, it’s nice to be alone¹ with my keyboard again.

I have big things on the schedule for this week. Not only am I aiming to release the next batch of chapters for the beta readers, but I’m also trying to wrangle my social media posting schedule back into place. I got things in a good rhythm with my workout schedule, then with my writing and Substack schedule, and now social media is the last hill to climb.

It can be intimidating to step up to the plate after a while away. Social media does not come naturally to me, and I find myself feeling awkward while posting any type of content. I try not to and try to keep in mind that most people—definitely in my corner of the Internet—feel this way when making content. When you get in a routine with it, it’s easier to shut that part of your brain off. But I have been away, so that part of my brain is louder than ever as I mull over what to post this week.

The easiest way is to write the schedule ahead of time so that it’s set in stone. Then, you take it on like any other schedule. Simple as that. But I’ll spend about twenty-something minutes staring at the paper trying to brainstorm ideas that feel good enough despite the overwhelming advice from content creators to not worry about that specific thing.

Venting here about it is already helping. Reading it back as I type reminds me that the problem is smaller than I think it is, that this is something I have managed before and will manage again. The quicker I get back on the horse, the quicker I reach the next town. And the next. And the next.

That’s what happened with everything else I got back on schedule.

Anyway, that’s the to-do list this week:

• Send part two (chapters 6-10) to beta readers

• Get social media schedule back on track

• Beat last week’s word count: 8,307²

No D&D this week, so my attention will not be split. However, a few other personal plans are in place this week that I will have to contend with. If I make the most of that extra energy today, I can plan ahead for those days (Thursday and Saturday) and make the whole week run smoothly. I’d love to add book art to that list, but I’m going to take my own advice³ for once and not front-load my week.

It’s funny how a whole weekend of running around and socializing can leave you depleted of social energy but well-stocked with this introverted productivity. I’m eager to get my run done, schedule my posts, batch my content, and get work done on the manuscript. It’s a beautiful spring day in the PNW, and I hope to be done with the bulk of my work to enjoy the outdoors as soon as possible.

Until Wednesday.

Cheers,

S. Guild

1. “Alone” is relative; my son is on spring break and is loudly playing with his sister. I’m eternally grateful for this; the kids are suffering a unique “easter fun and sugar” hangover that my son has all but recovered from but my daughter is still enduring. But her big brother is a pro at recovering her mood and has been doing so all morning long.

2. This word count only counts manuscript work, not Substack work.

3. I always tell Gabe not to front-load his day when he starts listing off projects for the day. Then I go off and do the same to myself most weeks about writing.