Fail to plan, plan to fail

“I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult.”
–E. B. White

I have a tendency to be a bit impulsive at times; to jump into things without thinking them through, flying by the seat of my pants and depending on a varying combination of adrenaline and determination, a dash of guile, and the invigorating pressure of an impending deadline to push me across the finish line. Usually the results are pretty good, though quite often it’s the equivalent of the “B+” paper that could have been an “A” with a bit more preparation and planning.

Invariably, the process leaves me exhausted, if not completely burnt out, and I have a number of adandoned or incomplete projects in my past to prove it.

This time, though, I’m impressing myself with the amount of patient research and planning I’ve done while developing my latest project, the years-in-the-making, I want to be a publisher, “World Domination” project, now officially known as Spindle. In many ways it’s the evolution of everything I’ve done in connection to writing over the past 10+ years, from my short-lived zine, zuzu’s petals, and my two reading series, a little bit louder and louder than words, through the various blogs I’ve launched and shuttered and publishing jobs I’ve had, good and bad.

Since I made the decision a couple of months ago to focus my efforts online instead of the financial sinkhole known as print, things have been progressing nicely. A lot of great feedback helped me to refine the general concept, and as opposed to past efforts, I’m now building the platform based on that concept, not the other way around. (Side note, I’m really growing to love Joomla.)  I’m also giving myself plenty of time to work out all of kinks on the technical side while assembling a reliable editorial team that will ensure I don’t fall into the other trap that always manages to snag me: doing everything myself!

Stay tuned.

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Written by Guy LeCharles Gonzalez

Guy LeCharles Gonzalez is the Chief Content Officer for LibraryPass, and former publisher & marketing director for Writer’s Digest. Previously, he was also project lead for the Panorama Project; director, content strategy & audience development for Library Journal & School Library Journal; and founding director of programming & business development for the original Digital Book World.