Planning for Quarter One

I begin each year thinking I'm going to slow down a bit. After all, I'm technically 'retired.' But it's my belief that if you slow down, you begin to decline mentally as well as physically. And I can't afford to do that. Take a look at my first quarter of 2017:

Jan. 24--First edits are expected on my new Lobster Cove book, Sweet Caroline.
February 1--Manuscript due to Lori Wilde for her workshop. Miles to go yet on the manuscript.
February 13-24--Workshop with Lori Wilde. 'Intense' is the working word I've been hearing for this workshop.

And that's just the deadlines for my writing.
For the first three months of the year.
Sobering thought.
Might be time for a little of the bubbly.

What, you might ask, will I do in Q2? Here's my list, as of right now:

Solicit an agent with the Regency series idea.
Final edits on Sweet Caroline, begin a promotional campaign.
Start work on book #19

Of course, there are always extra things that come at you out of left field. I'm excited to see what those will be. I have a few clues, but don't want to jinx anything. For now, I'm keeping my head down, my butt in the chair, and getting the word count accomplished.

 You'll be the first to know of anything major. Stay tuned.

Happy 2017, everyone!

The Waiting Game

I've been busy the last few weeks trying to line up guest appearances on other's blogs and get reviews for my latest book, which releases finally, on April 4. It's been a long time since I began the series, and I appreciate all my loyal readers who have stuck with it until this one, the final book in the Cotillion Ball Series.

Or is it? Even as I write these words, I'm hard at work on a companion book to the series. A few of my friends from the Pioneer Hearts were discussing what you call a book that's an offshoot from another series. Several names were bandied about, and I like the term 'companion.' It's done, for the most part, and I've begun shopping it around to various publishers. So, I'm
waiting to hear back from them.

Most every author who goes the traditional route to publishing waits to hear back from the publisher on whether they want to take a roll of the dice with our works. Then, our faithful readers must wait until the book can be fit into a publishing schedule, and when it can be available in print. We're always waiting. And the bigger the publishing house, the longer the wait.

The finalists for RWA's biggest awards of the year were announced last week, and everyone who entered, whether they thought they had a chance of finaling or not, waited on Friday to see the list of names, which kept growing throughout the morning. Finally, at 3pm, the last of the finalists were announced and added to the list and we all stopped waiting and went back to whatever we'd been doing.

Even if I am about to jump ship and self-publish a novella just to get the experience behind me, it's still a waiting game. First, I must wait until the publisher I sent it to gets back to me. I'd rather not spend my own money getting it edited if it's ultimately to be picked up by a publisher. Then, after the 12 weeks the publisher has requested to review and make a decision, if I decide to self-publish, I need to be fit into an editor's busy schedule, find a cover artist, formatter, etc, etc. I'm sure there are a million other little things I'll need to take care of, and wait on, once I get into it.

And while I'm at it, royalty checks for the last half of 2015 are due by the end of March. It's nearly time for that to show up, but as yet, I've not received word about what to expect, and nothing's shown up in my bank account.

The Waiting Game. That's what being an author is all about.

MIA

I jokingly told one of my friends the other night that my TBR stack was getting out of control, and, if I could only have one night of insomnia where all I did was read, I was sure I'd get caught up.

Be careful what you wish for.

Not more then two nights after our ill-fated conversation, I came down with a summer cold. It began innocently enough, with just a runny nose. By the time I crawled into bed, I couldn't breathe through my nose, and I was all clogged up. I tried sleeping while sitting up, but that didn't work, either. It seemed my wish had come true, and I was going to have one night when I couldn't sleep.

As my conversation with my friend flitted through my mind, I thought it was rather ironic that I had all this reading to do, not to mention writing, but my brain was so fuzzy, I couldn't keep my mind on the book queued up on my Nook. It was as if my brain was on holiday--MIA. Giving up, I dozed on and off, but kept waking myself up with my moans of suffering.

Have I mentioned that I'm not a good patient?

I rarely get sick, and when I do, I expect to be down and out for only a short time. I give myself permission to feel bad one day only. I'm now on Day 2, and not liking much of anything. I called in sick to work at my grocery job. Speaking of groceries, nothing tastes good, so I'm not eating. Ice cream is good for my throat, as are popsicles, so I'm managing to go through a lot of that. When I'm sick, nutrition takes a back seat to comfort.

I can't read and make sense of anything, so I certainly can't try writing. Maybe it's time to take a snow day in the middle of summer. In the midst of all my promised reviews and my personal writing deadlines, I'll just prop my feet up, watch some television and cuddle with my dog. I'll have a Scarlett O'Hara moment and worry about everything else tomorrow.