Always Have A Few “Extra” Articles Written

I knew that I should always have a few articles “in reserve” as a just-in-case something really came up and I was unable to get to my blog or newsletter one week. But knowing and HAVING are two different things!

This is my big, beautiful executive desk. In my living room. Flipped over on it’s top with the bottom in the air!

So please, this week, use my chaos as YOUR lesson!

Two weekends ago, on 1/18/14, I was robbed while out hiking. Now that sounds all dramatic and I assure you it really wasn’t! To make a long story short, I was learning how to rappel (fun) and went down into the headwaters of the Verde River by rappelling down a damn. Once down, I wanted to take some photos. But then I realized my camera’s batteries were dead. So my honey, Ben, and I headed out to explore a bit.

On our way back, I realized that the “hikers” we had seen on the old railroad bed that ran over the canyon had climbed down our rope, stolen my camera and prescription sunglasses, climbed back UP the rope and then stolen the rope!

Don’t worry, it’s not that hard of a free-climb back out!

But at the end of the day, I still was dealing with the Sheriff, my homeowners insurance, and needing to get new glasses. Why am I telling you this story?

Well, two reasons:

1. It pushed back all my projects from two weekends ago to last weekend. Which totally messed up my project calendar.
2. Because it ties into LAST weekend’s story!

So, we know I was firmly behind coming in to last weekend. And like so many of the self-employed, I rely on my weekends to do the big projects I just can’t get to during the week! Saturday went really well; I was really rocking on my project. Sunday, I had plans to finish up some video scripts, shoot the video for my upcoming launch, and then work on client projects.

Instead, I walked into my office and heard “Squelch, squelch, squelch!”

Yep, completely flooded!

Again, not from anything dramatic! We’ve been getting up into the 70’s during the days here in NORTHERN Arizona, barely dipping below freezing at night.

Nope, this was a hot water pipe that had been slowly leaking. It had actually been causing water damage (and mold!) in my office for some time but it just wasn’t enough for me to notice. But sometime in the night on Saturday, the pipe split and completely drenched my office.

Which meant that I spent Sunday dealing with it! Huge thanks to my honey, Ben, my folks, and my friend Eddie (a plumber!) who came to help me out! And to make matters worse, I could tell on Sunday that I was coming down with the dreaded CRUD.

Fast forward to today, Tuesday. I spent Monday pretty much in bed with The Crud (aka, the flu) except for the morning at dad’s tax office working. Today, I again had to venture to the tax office for more project work that HAS to be done early this week, (Hello, IRS!) and then curled up in bed with the Vicks.

Here it is at 7:30 PM on Tuesday; the day I update my blog and the day I send out my newsletter. My editorial calendar is all shot to heck because I didn’t get to finish my project on Sunday, I still feel like crud, and oh, I STILL have client projects I’ve promised out today!

And AND! I’m working on an itty bitty table in my dining room because my house is in chaos from one end to the other because the carpet is pulled up in my office!

I ordered this computer in June of 2013. And I didn’t get a wireless nic card! Thankfully, Ben had an extra and installed it so at least I can work. Finally!

Now, I’m hoping that you’re giggling along with me about all of this. Because trust me, I’m just laughing about it all. You can’t make this stuff up!

Throughout this I am completely counting my blessings from my great family, patient clients, and fully-stocked freezer. I know that things could have been so much worse (robbed while I was standing there instead of around the corner of the canyon; electrical fire from the water; my beautiful desk could have been ruined instead of just a bit damaged; had to face the drama all on my own; stomach bug instead of just the flu, etc!)

But where I’m going with all of this is that it is a STELLAR idea to write a few evergreen articles and hold them for weeks like this. (There was no way I could have pulled a guest post together in time!)

If you’ve been blogging long enough, you can also re-publish a popular article from your archives. But let’s be really honest, shall we? I’ve only been seriously writing articles for this business since August. I think that’s just too short a time frame to bring out an “oldie but goodie” from my archive.

And I’ll be adding “Write a few evergreen articles” to my February to-do list!

What’s left of my office.

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Kim Galloway

Best-Selling Author, Kim Galloway is your New Frontier Publisher, Story Pathfinder, and Intuitive Ghostwriter. She helps message-driven people FINALLY write their books to share their message – as Best-Selling Authors!

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