2012 is no more. The Mayans were wrong, and thousands of conspiracy theorists the world over are scratching their heads in confusion. We were blown off our campsite (winds up to 160kmph – we were literally blown away!) so had a New Years party in the city this year, and now I have a fridge filled with camping food that desperately needs to get eaten!

This year is going to be one of the biggest and craziest of my life, both in terms of my business and my personal life. This year I make the transition from city girl to country lass. This year I embark on an exciting new publishing challenge (more about that later), and this year I grow my business bigger and brighter than I ever thought possible.

The New Year is a time to reflect on the last year, and to plan for the year ahead. But with family overstaying their welcome at your house, kids home for the holidays, and a gazillion other demands on your time, it can be hard to find a few minutes to sit down and think strategically about business. Before you know it, it will be the end of February and you haven’t started anything for the year yet.

Here’s my solution – a short and very sweet guide to 2013 goal-setting.

Read On…

I am shit with email.

There is no sugar-coating that baby, no making excuses or blaming it on the cat. I am shit with email. I come home from work, all ready to write my little heart out for the evening, and there it is, that seething bulk of communication, and I am grateful for every single item that comes into my inbox - new albums for me to download, guest posting, client enquiries, press releases from strange and weird places, ad requests for Gothic Wedding Planner, replies from editors about pitches, newsletters … – so I, in my excitement, read them all, think “I’ll reply to that later, when I’ve given it some thought,” file it away in a folder, and promptly forget that I need to reply to it.

Sometimes I look at that counter that says “54 new emails” and I go and listen to my husband’s band practice, instead.

I frequently leave people hanging for days – sometimes even weeks. I accidentally delete things. I send emails and forget to attack stuff. I send enormous files without noticing. I am a bad, bad emailler. 

If there were email gods, they would smite me where I stand.

The first thing that I wanted to say was that if you’ve been a victim of my email-suckyness, I apologise. I am so, so, so sorry. It’s not you, it’s me. I’m an unorganised, scatterbrained hazard to myself.

The second thing I want to say is that it’s going to change.

Read On…

A lot of productivity gurus hate on the New Years Resolution, but I’m still a fan. Likely, it’s because unlike most people who make New Years Resolutions, I tend to keep mine.

Read On…

You ever have one of those weeks when everything seems impossible? Where all your savings are spent on emergency car repairs and replacing broken drum pedals and stolen car stereos and your work seems pointless and your goals seem impossible and the whole world seems to hate your guts?

Yeah, me too.

I’m currently facing the reality that – even though I reached my income goal for 2010 – we now have next to no savings left. I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that not only will we probably not be moving to Germany next year, we can’t even technically afford to go to Wacken and see our amazing friends. I’m waiting and hoping for a cheque that was supposed to come in October, a cheque for over 2 months worth of work that I will likely not be paid for. I’m looking at spreadsheets and to-do lists and all the amazing things I wanted to do next year and just feeling like the world’s biggest failure.

I feel like I’ve let my husband down, and myself, because I had set these goals and, even though I achieved them, it’s all come to nothing. We still won’t get to do what we’d set aside all that money to do. I’ve been busting a gut working 60 hour weeks for over a year now, and I have nothing to show for it.

I have given myself permission to wallow. And hence, with a plate of my killer chocolate and beetroot brownies, I am sitting at the computer, the cat in my lap, listening to Opeth and throwing an epic pity party.

Read On…