Juggling!

I did it -- I juggled writing, event planning, work, and promotion plans, and I managed to finish the book.

I wanted to wrap it up in November, but I just wrote "The End" on Sunday, so it took 6 weeks. Keep in mind, this was a rewrite, so it wasn't all new prose, but a major part of it was, plus I had to keep lots of details true to the story -- this is the final book in a planned 11 book series, so I was making notes like mad for details I need to layer into the previous books (5 of which are written).

So despite all the Churn (and oh, my I've had a lot), I did manage to write! Now it's off to review and edit a book before I submit it to my editor for consideration. The first of 6 I plan to submit.

But for now I think I'll relax and enjoy some holiday time and be ready to come back in January, raring to go. I think writing 4 books this year is enough.

Churn!

You know about Churn, right?

That's when Stuff piles up and churns around and just gets in your way. I had a lot of Churn this week. The Paycheck job has a few tasks and processes that are amazingly error-prone. I spent all of Monday answering email and trying to straighten out a mess that should have really been straightforward.

Then in mid-week I found out that a person I'm working with on a Major Volunteer Event resigned, leaving me holding the bag. No word to me, no word to the committee we formed--just "I'm done. Good-bye."

Sigh.

I'm writing in the middle of Churn, but -- and this is important -- I AM writing! I have real hopes that I'll finish another book by the end of this year. It's all a matter of chunking up my time and knuckling down when I get those free moments.

So let's hear it for Churn -- and an end to it soon, I hope...

Lots of writing despite lots of action

I've had a lot of activity lately:

I'm co-chairman of a major event next spring and that has taken up a LOT of my time. I expect to be swamped with work for the next few months.

I had a houseful of guests for a week or so. As my husband said, "it's great to have visitors but did they all have to come on the same day?"

I'm wrapping up garden season, and that's always busy.

I had a busy summer with assorted events.

But despite this --

drumroll

I wrote 124,000 words in four months and I think they are 124,000 GOOD words. In other words, I think it's a good, solid book. Book 5 of the American Dream series and I think I hit the mark with it.

You know, I think I'm finally getting the hang of this author thing.

Writing in between .... volunteering

I'm volunteering as co-chairperson for a major event coming next spring -- an annual Winter Garden Fair, which is a day of workshops and speakers for about 600 people.

Massive undertaking, to say the least. Plus we switched venues this year, so all the planning is starting from scratch.

There's lot of volunteers helping to do it all, but I'm in charge of several key parts of it. I've woken up at 3 in the morning a few times, wondering how the hell we'll get it done.

Because of that plus my Paycheck Job, a lot of other things have dropped by the wayside. Promotion: zilch. Looking for a new publisher: zilch. But I am still writing, and getting lots done on the Endless American Dream series.

So for the next few months it'll be:

Paycheck work

Writing

Event planning

.

.

.

everything else in between

Updates to follow

More storm damage

Let's see. 3 trees down in May this year. 3 last year. Water in the basement in June last year; water in the basement in June this year.

This whole home ownership thing is vastly overrated, I think.

Add to that a lot of volunteer work: I'm helping plan a major gardening conference for 800 attendees next year.

But despite that I'm writing in between. And I'm making good progress. I can easily see the characters in my head, and I hear their dialogue. I know where the book is going and I'm happy with the progress.

I'll check in next month and see if I feel so optimistic.

Until then, let's hope for quieter weather. please?

Those Final Steps

Ha! What a difference a month makes!

The "2 books at a time" thing just didn't work for me. As soon as I got one movie going in my head, the other movie would intrude. Kind of like sitting a theater and you're all intent on the movie in front of you, then you hear the action scene from the movie in the next theater and you start to wonder what's happening.

I put one book aside (Pried) and focused on Whole instead. This is my Alice in Wonderland book, and just like Alice, I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole and ended up in a strange new world. The book turned out to be crazy and chaotic, but that's what I was aiming for (or so I tell myself).

The movie really started playing and now I'm writing the final scene in the book. I want to wrap it up today, let it sit for a day, go back and assemble and re-read, then Monday I'll dig back in and start working on Pried.

Maybe I need to complain about writing more often! It seems it gave me a real kick in the butt, at least for this book.

Those first steps

As I talked about on my web slog, I was having trouble with my current Works in Progress (yes, I'm doing 2 books at once) because I wasn't hearing the characters.

I don't mean literally hear them, although sometimes I do. But when I write, I have a movie in my head of what will happen. Until I get that movie going, writing is a chore.

January was a chore. I didn't have the movie. I now have the movie for one of the books, so the writing is going good. The other book ... I'm still waiting for the characters to step up and star.

I'll report in next month and let you know if they show up.

Churn: my new favorite word

I'm writing in between Churn.

Churn is all the stuff that happens that really isn't critical until it blows up in your face. It's the panic when you think you won't hit a deadline then the deadline gets pushed. It's your printer not working so you have to swap it out for a new one. It's finding out your book won't format right.

It's having all of that in the space of a few hours. Then something new happens to churn it up.

So yes. I'm writing in between a bunch of stuff at the Paycheck Job, home life, and other things.

But that's the key thing: I'M WRITING.

Now back to it.