Retiring This Blog

 I am no longer writing in between -- I've retired, and now I can write whenever, wherever, and how much I want.

Retirement, here I come!

Writing in between ... new work

I retired last year, then 6 weeks later, I started a new job. I went from I.T. professional to the coordinator of Master Gardeners for my county.

What does that entail? Helping MGs with their events, making sure they stay on budget, signing contracts for various things -- management, essentially.

It's a part-time job (30 hours a week), which leaves me ample time for writing. I'll have 2 books out this year, I've written 1 BIG one (100,000 words) and one small one (70K words) and I'm on track to finish another one that will probably come in at 70K.

I still write every day, I still enjoy it, and I'm still submitting manuscripts to my editor. In short: not much has changed and yet a lot has changed.

Writing in between ... work?

Nope. From here on, I won't be saying that anymore. I'm retiring in a few days. After 45 years in the high tech industry, I decided to let the young'uns take over.

To be honest, I haven't even really tried to think about what it might be like. I'm focused on getting through the remainder of my workload, prepping for a small getaway, and when I come back, my schedule changes.

I also applied for a part-time job which might kick in sometime in November. It would be challenging, but a different kind of challenge than what I have now.

Now I'll need to figure out a new writing schedule, a new promotion schedule and a new way of managing my time.

Bring it. I'm ready! Or, I will be by the time it gets here. I hope.

Yep. I'm back in the swing

The last time I wrote, I was 5 weeks in from surgery and trying to get back into Writing Mode.

I sat back down to dig into writing in April and I managed to finish my manuscript in mid-May. That was a very respectable bit of writing. I did 109,500 words in a total of 15 weeks (18 weeks, but I took three weeks off for surgery, really).

I just sat in the chair and wrote and wrote. I haven't done a content re-read yet so it may all be crap, but I think it turned out okay. I'll find out in a few weeks when I do a re-read and will know for sure at the end of the year when I do another re-read. Fingers crossed.

Physically, I still hobble now and then when I'm tired. I mean, they did cut a bunch of muscles and they're regrowing and healing and strengthening. But I'm almost back to speed on the treadmill, I can do aerobics without much problem, and my yoga is improving.

So I guess it's onward!

Now *that's* writing in between

I had Big Surgery about 5 weeks ago -- total hip replacement. I've hobbled around for a decade or more with pain in my hip, and finally decided to have it done.

I've never had surgery before where I had to stay overnight in the hospital. Interesting experience; not terrible or anything, just interesting. The pain was manageable most of the time, and I was up and moving within hours. It took about a week for me to start to feel somewhat normal again, and now I'm almost back to 100%.

I viewed this recovery time as an opportunity to reassess my 'schedule' -- that daily list of things I do. I obviously couldn't go to the gym, run on the treadmill, etc. so I made do with what I could do and gave myself permission to heal. Along the way, I got out of the habit of writing, but that was okay -- I was taking drugs and doing therapy, so I expected that to lapse.

Now I'm trying to get back into a workable schedule and it's surprisingly hard. I *want* to write, but I need to find that golden time of the day when I can block out the world and go into that world I'm creating. I'm getting there, but it's a matter of retraining those muscles, too, just like I'm retraining my physical muscles.

I'll report back in a few months about how long it took. I'm only 5 weeks in; I'm betting another week or two, and I'll be in the swing again.

I hope.

Beginning of the year goals

Let's see ...

Write Book 8.

Review Snow White and the 7 Jocks ("Mirrored"), which I did indeed write in 6 weeks.

Write another Angels book.

Write another Remembered Classics book.

Go to RWA National Conference in July.

Have hip replacement surgery in February.

Have a casino outing in September/October.

Continue the Paycheck Job as long as I can tolerate it (so far, so good).


I'll check back in mid-year and we'll see where we are ...

End of the year wrapup

Or close to the end of the year.

What did I accomplish? I did write Book 7 and am thinking about Book 8, which I want to write next year.

I wrote another mystery, but this one isn't a Remembered Classics. I think I have a new trilogy going with angels and demons and redemptions and ... I wrote the first one ("Save Her" [Saver]) and am thinking about 2 more.

And I'm working on a Remembered Classic based on Snow White and the Seven Jocks, er, Dwarfs. I hope to write that one in 6 weeks.

Fingers, don't fail me now.

I also set up a Business Book -- things to do now and in the future to keep the business side of this on track.

Somewhere along the way I also helped the hubby through emergency surgery, took 3 or 4 long trips, survived a couple of health crises of my own, and worked full-time at the Day Job.

Not a bad year. That's a lot of Writing In Between. I'm hoping 2018 will stabilize in terms of health so there're no more trips to the emergency room for me or the spouse and no more half-nights of sleep. Imagine what I could do if I was healthy!

I really have no excuse

yeah, I've been busy. I was out of town for a week, helping a friend recover from surgery and it was hard to get any writing done (although I did get some dictation done during my drive to and from her place)

And yeah, I'm working. Same old deadlines at the Day Job, some of which are challenging.

And I am on track to meet my deadline. I have about 6 chapters to go and a month to do it.  I really didn't start this book until February, so 5 months for 120,000 words isn't bad.

So why do I always feel like I'm lagging behind?  I think it's because this book has been tough to write because it's the Political book, the one where we start to think about a new government, and my brain hurts from thinking about it.

You'll hear a big sigh of relief on July 1 when I finish.

She said hopefully....

Deep breath and continue

The swearing (in) is over, the March is done (and the hats I crocheted marched for me -- yay!)

And I have gone back into the previous 6 books of my series and layered in a corrupt government, an impeachment, an assassination, and a coup. That made me feel a lot better.

The good thing about the whole Government Mess is that I'm using it my book. I'm looking at what works and what doesn't (a lot of so-called checks & balances turned out to hinge on the integrity of the people involved, and there's not a lot of that being shown). I'm seeing who forms what groups, who steps up to resist, and so on.

So -- it's awful but it's useful. Or as Mom used to say, "UBU: ugly but useful"

Keep calm and take notes. That's my new mantra.

The Zombie Apocalypse

That's what it feels like, at least. I feel like it's the end of the world as we know it.

It's been tough to write in between the anger and the fear surrounding the outcome of this election. I've been trying to store up snippets of text about it, because I plan to use it in my dystopian novel about the end of America.

I may need to go back and rewrite bits of it -- I get the feeling I may be living the story now...

Crazy times!

It's been 6 months since I've been here -- crazy!

Okay, let's see: January-March, I was in the time suck of event planning. The event went off with few hitches on March 5.

Then I went to California to be with my sis after her mastectomy. Came home and packed again and flew out to Pennsylvania to be with my husband, when his mother died.

A week later, came home, had a few days of relaxation, then I got a massive case of food poisoning that laid me low for about a week.

Then it was April! Busy time at work and in the garden and before you know it, I turned around, and here it is: May.

I'm working on Book 7 of the Dream series (but oh, it's slow going: so many interruptions).

I have a new book coming out with The Wild Rose Press this fall (Dogged).

I'm taking a major road trip to deliver furniture to a niece in Colorado (downsizing!)

And in between, I'm trying some promo experiments.

So yes: writing continues in between everything else!

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.

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!