Is it me, or is this getting harder?

I had huge deadlines in the Paycheck Job which sucked the life out of me. I used to be able to laugh that kind of thing off, but lately, the PJ has been just one big churn after another.

Of course, there are reasons for that, all out of my control. And I suppose that's what made it so stressful. If I could fix it, I would have, but I couldn't. However, I was the front man for the project, so I got the fingers pointed at me. My boss knew the truth, which is really what matters, but it it's annoying when others Just Don't Get It.

Anyway, that's behind me (I hope), so I can go forward. But it drained me of a lot of energy. I'm going to need a holiday to recharge.

Oh, wait. There's a holiday coming up. Serendipity!

Writing in between .... well, nothing!

No, that's not an ironic title -- I have made a LOT of progress on the Endless Dream series. I have 6 chapters to go and I'm done with Book 4. NO blockers, so far at least.

And I have fully fleshed out ideas for 2 new mysteries next year, and I can't wait to get started on those.

So I'm on a big push to finish up. Of course, now I'll be writing in between holidays: Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming up. But it's different for me now. Family is all scattered and it's just the DH and me at home. So it'll be very low key and laid back, and probably won't interrupt my schedule too much.

Keep your fingers crossed for me that I finish by December 1 -- I can't keep mine crossed, I'm too busy writing!

Writing in between wondering why the hell I'm writing

I seem to go through this phase now and again.

Remind me why I'm doing this? It's not for the sales, because those are miniscule. The only consolation I have is that others are having slumpy sales as well. A few people I know are doing good with their careers, but mine seems to have stagnated.

I'm not sure what that is, but I have a suspicion that with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing, a.k.a., self-publishing), there's a lot of books out there and it's getting harder and harder to find individual authors. I also think other forms of entertainment are taking a chunk out of budgets. Movies, TV, video games, etc. -- it's all entertainment, and how many people actually sit and read a book anymore?

Ultimately, I guess it doesn't matter. I'm a writer, and I'll write. I may not publish, but I'll write. I might not have a book out next year (shock!) because I'm shopping around for a publisher, but we'll see. Stranger things have happened. I'm going to spend 2015 on promo and see where that takes me. If I don't see an uptick in sales, then fine.

I'll write and have fun doing it, and to heck with publishing.

We'll see....

Writing in between health issues

I've had back problems all my life. It was finally diagnosed as spinal stenosis: essentially my disks are squishing flat.

I've had a couple of epidural injections which have helped a lot, but I still have some other chronic health issues that have specialists shaking their heads. Is it gynecological? Is it digestive? Is it all related to my spine issues?

Needless to say, I'm getting tired of being tired and achy and having unexplained "problems" make my life miserable. I'm still writing, but I'm taking notes about the medical profession. I'd like to find a doctor who wants to treat ME: not my digestive tract, not my ovaries, not my spine, but the whole ME.

I doubt there's anybody out there who does that, but if you hear of someone, give me their number. I may be tempted to give 'em a call.

Writing in between trees

 

 

That's my office -- those windows. We were lucky. We only got grazed. Others lost a lot more than we did (my garden, mainly).

Yep. I wrote in between storm cleanup. 

big pat on the back.

 

Despite all distractions, I made my deadline

Go, me.

Yep, I was out of town on travel (business and personal) for 2 weeks, 2 trees fell on our house and made life miserable for a while, and I still managed to finish my manuscript in the time frame I wanted (April 17 to July 1). Okay, I finished it on July 7, but that's close enough given all that happened.

Just goes to show: set a deadline and stick to it. You never know what might happen!

Writing in between self-doubt

This spring marks the start of my 8th year in publishing. 8 years, 25 books. Not bad.

I am slowing down. I don't dive headlong into a story now. I'm averaging writing 2 or 3 books a year, and publishing 1 or 2. I'm getting tired of the promo grind because no matter what you do, it's a grind. The only way it wouldn't be a grind is if writing was my full-time job and I could devote a few hours in the day to promo. But those few free hours I have are spent on writing.

Vicious circle, right?

Where does self-doubt come in? It comes in when I look at sales. Yes, I have sales, but they're not huge and they're not enough to pay for the time and effort I'm putting out.

So do I continue or stop?

And if I stop, what will take its place?

Decisions, decisions ...

Writing in between procrastination

I finished my current WIP and was only 5 days off on my deadline. I blame visits from family and other volunteer work for that 5 day lapse.

It's really essential for me to set a deadline on a book,otherwise I will procrastinate. It only took me 10 books or so to figure that out.

Not sure what's next. I have 2 ideas but neither is really grabbing me. The characters aren't talking to me yet. I may switch over and work on my Sci Fi series a bit earlier than I planned. I targeted it for a re-read/research in June with writing to start in July. I may slip it in earlier.

Or I'll just continue my research for the 2 books and then switch.

Or ... maybe I'll take a break.

Who knows?

Writing in between ... moving ... again?

About this time in 2011, we put our house in MN up for sale. Long story short: it sold immediately, but we didn't close until July. After that, it was a nightmare of litigation that got resolved in 2013 (long story, best told over a drink in a bar).

Now here we are, 2014, and we're considering putting our house in IA up for sale to move to a different place in Iowa.

Why this madness? Several reasons: the new place would be closer for hubby to commute (like, within walking distance of his new office); cheaper; maintenance provided (I am getting older, despite rumors to the contrary); less work to maintain the home; newer home.

LOTS of things have to fall into place to make this happen, but there's a chance that yes, I may be packing it up and moving it all again. I've moved 30 times in my life, so this is not a biggie for me, but it is a PITA and will cut into my writing time.

So stay tuned. I maybe Writing In Between a big shift in my life.

We shall see....

Writing in between ... holidays

I set a goal for myself to finish my 3-book series by the end of 2013. I had one book done, 1/2 of another finished, and one to write. On September 1, I cleared my desk and started to write.

And I did it. 150,000 words in 102 days. And they're good words, too. No crap there. I may need to tweak a bit when I edit, but I'm pleased.

I worked around several holidays, birthdays, visits from family, trips out of town. I noted only days I wrote (102).

You know how I did it?

BICHOK.

Butt In Chair, Hands on Keyboard.

I focused and I knuckled down and I did it. It really helped to set a deadline for myself, so I'm doing that from now on with every writing project.

My current deadline? April 15 to finish writing my WIP. Use May to edit manuscripts and get them submitted. Use June to edit that 3-book set.

Then start writing another 3-book set.

You heard it here first: April 15. Tax day. Deadline day.

I'll report in as I go.