Summer Planning

My favorite season of the year starts on June 20th, and along with family stuff I'm now planning my writing schedule. I'll finish up my latest ghost writing series project on June 30th, so that comes first. I also have a client who has me on retainer and keeps me busy year-round. I intend to continue writing the weekly installments for Twenty-One, but unless the other clients on my list ask me to work for them I will have a sizable chunk of time to use as I please.

The options:

1. Write something new. Always the first thing I think of, the big shiny ooooh option. I have this character dancing in my head who wants his story written, too. I'll finally pry him out of my brain and onto the page. I could manage a new idea novella in a couple months.

2. Find some more/new clients. Always the financially wise option, although as I head into my third year of freelancing I've managed to produce steady, reliable income from the clients I already have (all of whom are pretty fabulous to work with, too.)

3. Take another step toward my first self-publishing venture. Gulp. Assuming I can stop waffling and make some production decisions, maybe.

4. Use the time to do something other than writing. Since I had my eye surgery I haven't taken any long road trips, and my guy wants to see Maine. I think that's a bit far for my first jaunt, so I'm thinking a couple days in the Tennessee mountains.

5. Hand-quilt a huge quilt top I made over the winter. Summer is the best season for my arthritis, and at the rate it's affecting my working fingers this may be the last quilt I stitch by hand.

I might go with a combination of 1 and 3, and negotiate a long weekend to do 4. Which means I can't get sick, but none of the options are musts, so if something happens I can always opt right back out of them. I might also start 5 and work on it through the fall and winter, but that depends on how well the hands are functioning. I'm also thinking about NaNoWriMo and whether or not I want to do it this year; if I do decide to jump in I'll have to start planning in August to feel ready by November.

What are your plans for the summer? Share them in comments.