I'm a Pro at Crastinating

I have a monthly newsletter for my author business. It's not all that complicated — just a way to share a bit of personal news and maintain a connection to people who might enjoy my books. I usually follow the same format every month: 

• hello, here's what's in the newsletter,
• a bit about my foster kittens or whatever else is going on,
• something related to my Tess Baytree cozy mysteries,
• something related to the T.M. Baumgartner SF/F novels,
• some indie books to check out
• a closing question (sometimes with a picture of the dog)

Here's the November newsletter as an example: https://mailchi.mp/a28b799206a4/november2022-news.

Each section is a few hundred words at most, and it really doesn't take long to write. But every time, I put it off for days. It's not like I don't have a deadline; the indie books are usually author swaps, where I get together with another author and we boost each other's books in our newsletters. As part of that, I agree to send out my newsletter on a specific day.

I timed it today, and it took me almost exactly two hours to put it all together. That's a lot of procrastination for no real reason.

(It's a little more than that, of course. I have to set up author swaps and take pictures and think of something to write. But still. It's not much more than two hours.)

Anyhow, I currently have about 800 subscribers, which seems like a lot to me except the fact that I'm still using the free tier on MailChimp reveals how relatively tiny my list is. But still, 800 people signed up for this thing?

Obligatory Photo

Look at this handsome dog!