The rest of this month, I am home 13 days! That means every one of those days I need to put my fanny in the chair and get the next Gabriel Hawke book written. Because August is going to be hit and miss to get writing done.
I swear, each summer gets busier and busier! I was able to get more writing done when I sat all day in a swather or tractor raking hay during hay season than I do now.
As our family grows so do the family commitments as well as I’m trying to get my books seen more by actual people. I’ve found that if someone meets a writer and sees their enthusiasm for their books, the reader is more likely to purchase the book. Then if the like that first purchase they come back for more.
I started this month with an in-person event that I’ve not attended before. It was a Renaissance Faire (loosely). I sold 26 books over two days. All but one of the sales were to new to me readers. I’m hoping they will enjoy what they purchased and come back for more next year, as my following has done for the Sumpter Flea Market each year.
The rest of this month I will be attending Miner’s Jubilee in Baker City, OR, to see if it will be something to do next summer, and I’m attending the Tamkaliks Powwow in Wallowa, OR. I’ve been attending this for several years to help me better see my characters and because I find it healing. The last two Mondays of the month, I’ll be judging at county fairs. That’s what makes the summer get busy for me. But I love talking to the 4-Hers and discovering their love for their projects.
When I am home, I make myself write. I have to. My readers let me know they are impatiently waiting for the next book. I can’t let them down. I’m a people pleaser. My greatest flaw. It gets me more work than I can sometimes do, but there it is. It is who I am.
I’m also mentoring two mystery writers and a friend who has been writing the same book for too long. I’m her weekly reminder to sit down in the chair and move the story forward, don’t keep making it perfect. That comes after the story is all out and waiting to be prettied.
It is these mentorships that keep me from opening the internet first thing in the morning and getting words written before I look at an email or see who liked a meme on Facebook. While I coach other writers on finding time to write, finding ways to streamline their days and writing, I follow my own guidance by making sure I’m writing and moving my story forward.
My greatest strength is that when I set my mind to something, I do it. And right now my mind is set on getting this book written this month so I can “pretty it up” next month when I’m attending a family reunion, a grandson’s wedding, judging at another county fair and state fair, and then selling my books for two days at the State Fair. Because most of those trips are on the opposite side of the state from where I live, it requires a day’s travel to and a day’s travel back. Which eats up a lot of the days in August! Half of August I’ll be away from home- 15 days to travel and attend the events.
That is why my fanny is in my chair and I’m writing! I’m halfway through the book and should get it done in the next 13 days. Yipee!
Authors, are you on a deadline this month, or do you give yourself slack in the summertime? If you’re a reader, how impatient do you get for the next book in a series?
Ladies of Mystery 
Paty, I know what you mean. I have the same problem. So many things crop up to get in the way of writing.
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Janet, It’s good to know I’m not alone! 😉
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I’m in that lovely space where the editor has the book but hasn’t yet told me what needs to be done before the book is ready to be published. I’ll have to get back to work on “What Lucy Heard” soon, though.
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Nancy, I never have that. While my editor is going through a finished book, I’m already starting the next one. I guess that’s what happens when you write three series.
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Clearly I don’t work as hard as you do.
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Paty, I can feel your determination to get the thing done. My time this summer is taken up with the annual anthology for Crime Spell Books, which takes a lot from this technophobe. But I get it done every year, so I guess I will this year too. And then it’s back to the projects waiting on the side of my desk. You get to see a lot of the country out there, but I hope to get to enjoy part of the summer.
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Susan, I am determined. I set a schedule in December for the following year. When I get off that schedule, it makes me nervous, so I don’t like getting behind deadlines. Good luck with your editing. I’m doing the same for my Windtree Press co-op anthology. So far, a third of the stories have come in and been edited and proofed. Only about 7 more to go.
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