In addition to all of the authors of various genres I have in my network, I also have musicians. I love having them in my corner because they too have the same challenges: writing new material, publishing, producing, marketing, and making the time for work and family obligations. I love talking with them, seeing them when I can, and reading about their victories and challenges in making their break, making a new album, or going on tour.
Over the next few months, I'm going to be at events for many weekends where I will be selling my books, after a week of hard work at my day job. Some of them will be at night and will involve loading and unloading a plastic box full of books and table decor. There may even be a preferred way of dressing. In thinking about all of the places I will be, that ranges from jeans and t-shirt all the way to Sunday best. For all of them, I have to stay on top of the flow of the crowd, making sure I don't miss a sale.
This past weekend, I was a rock-star author in the best way. I attended the Knoxville Tattoo Convention. I was there both Friday and Saturday, at my designated table, for long hours. Of course, I have to also include the time I needed beforehand to make sure I had plenty of books and other necessary resources and to locate the place in more than enough time.
After a long weekend, I slept most of Sunday and Monday afternoon and evening after work. It's now time for me to do more writing and preparing for my next "gig". That will be next Saturday, September 9th from 9am-1pm at the Union County Library. I look forward to seeing you there, to rock out with me!
A few weeks ago, I had to make an unexpected change to my diet. I had to quit drinking caffeine due to a mild case of reflux. Of course, my initial thought was, how am I going to write when I don't drink the liquid stimulant that allows me and many other writers to stay up late at night and think of great ideas?
For three weeks, I weaned myself off it. During that time, I continued writing. Guess what happened when I had less caffeine? I was able to think better. The ideas for my stories were coming easier to me. I loved so much what was happening to me, it almost made me regret not having this happen when I was working on The Long Road Around the Corner of Hope or Crawling to the Light.
But then I had to remind myself this is a process. I can only learn from it and move on and be better at this craft.
Secondly, it means my mind is getting clearer. I couldn't help thinking of when I started on the second draft of Wise Turned Foolish. I had just had a major surgery. Two weeks later, I looked at it and noticed how disjointed everything was. Though I was happy to write as an outlet for all of the pain I had had from endometriosis, I realized everything was so inconsistent and sometimes even repetitive. I pretty much rewrote the whole story.
The same applies to my current work on Professional Fans and Twofold Love Comeback (formerly Two Suitors). I've been busy decaffeinating them, making them clearer and have a better flow to them.
So much clearer I can think now because of not drinking any more caffeine, I can't get ideas on paper fast enough. So if you need to talk to me, and I'm not available, I'm busy writing even better books.
