Time Crunch

The release of a new book is an exciting thing. My new historical To Ruin the Duke hit shelves about a week ago, so my calendar has been filling up with book signings and blogging dates to get the word out. Unfortunately this comes at a time when I am on deadline with my next book, which is due to Avon this summer. I turned in To Ruin the Duke last summer, so for me, it’s old news, though for my fans it’s brand spanking new. My current work in progress is the new and sparkly (and sometimes difficult!) thing in my life, which is as it should be.

Since I am on deadline, my family expects me to hole myself up in my office every night after dinner to put in my daily page count for the new book. My kids have come to recognize after eleven years of publication that when Mom is on deadline and in her office with her headphones on, steer clear. All requests that do not include blood or fire should be redirected towards my husband. And my husband—dear, patient man that he is—happily juggles these requests, guarding my writing time so that I can lose myself in the book and deliver the type of story that my readers expect from me.

So here I am, promoting my new book while writing the next one, stepping out of my cave for air once in a while to let my kids know that I haven’t met with some fatal accident. It might be easier to juggle a demanding writing career and family, I suppose, if I didn’t have a day job in the mix as well.

Yes, I still work at a full time job. Everyone knows things aren’t easy out there, and companies are really hustling to hang on to their customers. Mine is no exception, and there are times where my skills may be the deciding factor on whether or not we keep a customer. (But no pressure!) There are days when I come home so wiped out from work that the last thing I want to see is another computer. But still I sit down at the keyboard and get my page count done for the day. It’s the only way to make that deadline. Writing these books is a labor of love.

Of course I dream of the day when I become successful enough at my writing that I can make it a full time career. What writer doesn’t? But that day is a ways off yet, and this month’s time crunch is a temporary thing. The new release won’t always be new. The book in progress will get completed and turned in. The weekend will come, releasing me from the 9-5 grind for a couple of days (though while on deadline, the weekend becomes time to accomplish more pages of the work in progress!). At some point during the year, there will actually come a month or two where I won’t be actively writing. I take a little time off to let the creative well refill again.

In the end, I think the time crunch is worth it. I can’t give up writing, and I can’t give up the day job right now. I think we all make time for things that are important to us. And writing these books—sharing my stories with people who might be cheered up by them in today’s gloomy climate—is worth a few hours of my time.

Now if only I didn’t have to sleep…just think of what I could accomplish!