This week I’ve been staying up late writing and last night crashed at 9:30 … and totally forgot my blog. It’s one of this “catch up” days which I needed, but inevitable, things fall through the cracks … like remembering this was MY Thursday to post.
Thing is … I have nothing to say. I’m going to New Zealand next week to keynote the New Zealand Romance Writers conference (yes, I’m very, very excited!) … I’m also presenting a workshop and doing other things for the conference, so I’ve been planning and preparing and shopping … and my mind isn’t 100% focused on anything.
So sleep may be overrated when I have a writing deadline, or I’m totally in the zone and don’t want to go to sleep, but when I need it … I crash. Hard.
So what have I been working on?
In the mornings I work on my page proofs for NOTORIOUS, my April hardcover debut. I read my page proofs out loud, so they take me a bit longer than most people to read, and because I don’t have a time crunch on these, I’m focus on 3-4 chapters a day. I’m nervous because this is my first hardcover and a new series, so I want it to be perfect. Yeah, I know, I create my own stress.
In the afternoons, I’ve been working on Lucy #8, DEAD HEAT. This is the first Lucy book set in San Antonio after she’s sworn in as a full FBI agent. Yeah! She made it! It’s sort of a sad and dark story.
At night, I’ve been working on blogs, articles, and a editing a story I wrote years ago that I really love. Hence, all the late nights. But one thing I’ve learned with my muse is that I can give one story 4-5 hours, and then I’m brain dead. I used to write multiple stories at once, then once I published I focused on one book at a time, and now I found that I can get more done if I devote 4 hours to one project, take a break, 4 hours to another, take a break, then 4 hours to yet a third. And I’m writing more on EVERYTHING, which stuns me! But with a daughter in college, another going to college in a year, and three more coming up through the ranks … I need to be very productive. At least for the next 10-12 years!
And then there’s been getting the kids ready for the beginning of school, and getting my oldest ready to go back to college (she leaves Sunday.) That’s a full-time job right there.
So enough about me … what about you? Kids going to school? Vacations? Deadlines? Work? Family? I know I’m not the only one who’s busy!
And one more thing … because I’m late, I’m going to give away an ARC of CRASH AND BURN, a new digital mystery written by yours truly … and Laura Griffin. We are SO excited about this project, that I want to share. We created a PDF, and one lucky commenter gets it. So tell me what’s going on with you this week and I’ll put your name in the proverbial hat.