This morning I found time to make a Twitter post.

That statement really ought to sound absurd. A Twitter post is barely a sentence. But I’ve made that one of my personal goals lately (“Make more Twitter posts”), and I’ve consistently failed at it.

Maybe this morning’s Twitter post will shed some light on why that is. Here’s what I had to say:

In the last 3 months I’ve written 40k words on one novel, 40k words on another, and 20k words in short stories. #Busy

“Busy” barely scratches the surface. I’m working 40 hours a week for my day job. I’m also president and CEO of the Consortium. Those titles in and of themselves don’t mean a lot, but I’m building a small business/non-profit out of nothing, and anyone will tell you that’s quite a chore. We’re thriving, too, and that doesn’t happen without a big time investment.

I’m also Head Publisher for Consortium Books. That’s another position altogether from the stuff I’m doing for the Consortium as a whole. We’ve already published five titles this year, and we’re going to try to do another five before Christmas. Most of those will be short stories, but from a digital publishing perspective there’s not a lot of difference.

I’m also taking nine hours of graduate work at the University of Oklahoma. Y’know, in my free time. I’m putting together a 30,000-word textbook proposal for my Nonfiction class. I’ve written two mainstream/literary short stories for my English class. And I’m writing the third book in the Dragonprince Trilogy for my Master’s Project. That’ll be about 100,000 words done by the end of the semester.

But I haven’t actually finished the second book in that trilogy yet! That’s the sequel to Taming Fire, and it’s already been promised to an adoring fanbase for publication in December. That’s the other novel I’ve done 40,000 words on, and I really think I’ll have a final draft ready for review by the end of October. That’s still cutting things awfully close.

I haven’t talked at all about spending time with my wife and kids. Or catching the occasional football game. Or maintaining relationships with any of my non-work friends. I haven’t talked about designing videogames, either, but I’m doing all those things.

(I haven’t talked at all about blogging, either…. And I’m not going to lie: That one’s suffering a bit. Thank goodness Courtney’s been around to keep the lights on!)

I’m also watching the calendar tick slowly toward NaNoWriMo, and I’m thinking, “That is going to kill me.” I’m thinking I really ought to sit it out this year. I’m thinking it’s awfully tempting to forbid my Consortium Books people from participating, too. I’ve got work for them to do!

I won’t do that. I probably won’t even sit it out myself. I love NaNoWriMo. And, y’know, even as overwhelming as they are, I really love all those other projects I’ve described, too. That’s why I committed to them in the first place. That’s why they haven’t gotten jettisoned as my life has gotten busier and busier and busier.

I’m looking desperately for some endings, but I’m just not willing to cut anything off unfinished. I’ve got an awful lot of work in progress, and it’s all got bestseller potential.

Wish me luck. I’ll do my best to keep you posted.