Running in place

Busy at work, busy at home, busy here at my computer.

I don't know how it happened, but I have deadlines everywhere ... well, except at home, of course. But what happened was, last weekend what was supposed to be a minor rearrangement of my office space turned into a two-day reorganization, complete with new furniture, new bookcases, etc.

I'm one of those people who can't pause until it's all put away the way I like. I LOVE it now, but I was offline for almost 2 days.

That means I had about 150 email messages waiting for me, excerpts to post on web sites, a newsletter to get out for my local chapter, and -- oh yeah -- I wrenched my back so I missed a day of work. And that meant I had to get there a bit early today (for me, that's REALLY early, as in 4:30 in the morning) to get caught up on what I missed. We're on deadlines there, too.

I also have to work on my pitches for a conference coming up (pitching my books [and me] to an agent and editor), think about what to pack, get promo materials ready to go, and ...

Oh, yeah. I'VE GOT A BOOK COMING OUT ON THURSDAY. I can't upload that image because I haven't had a chance to resize it yet. But that means I have to start the whole promo thing over again, update my web site (note to self), make lists ...

Juggle juggle juggle.

Is this the calm between the storms?

I've been trying to do a little bit of promo every day, just log on to various loops, chat with some folks, answer a couple of questions, and (if allowed) post an excerpt. I have about 5 excerpts for the book that I want to post, but I don't want to post it all in one swoop, so I'm trying to space them out on different loops.

Next week I'll add another book to the mix, which means I'm going to have to keep track of what I post where, who's reading what, etc.

I've also got contests running on a couple of web site, one for each book. In fact, in one contest, I'll have 2 books (I think. I'm still getting the second one set up). Then I have banner ads going on a couple of sites (I'd point you to them but the banners run randomly, so I'm never sure when I'll see it).

It's getting a bit confusing. I've resorted to yet more Master Lists of what is where and when.
Imagine what it would be like if I was a Big Time Author?

Hmm. Then I'd hire somebody to keep track of it for me. (wink)

So what's changed?

Well, I'm a published author. Has anything changed?

Not really. It's sort of like any other momentous moment in your life: wedding, graduation, death of a loved one. You look around and you think, 'the world should look changed'. But it doesn't. It's still the same world.

I know it feels odd to visit assorted web sites and see my book cover there -- MY book cover. Wow. Imagine how the artist must feel, so that every time she turns around she sees her artwork. Wow.

I hope this is the start of many 'oh, look at that' moments.

whew

The Brownie book is out there. Yet another milestone, yet another learning experience. I am so relieved to finally have a book out on the market -- now I get to see what works and what doesn't for marketing, how my writing will be accepted, and all that jazz.

Big sigh of relief.

Life is getting busy ...

It's weird. There are times when I have ample free time and times when I don't have time to take a deep breath. This is one of those "no time" times.

I think what happens is, as you get older, you expect things to follow a certain pattern. We get up at a certain time, go to work, do the same old things, etc.

In the last week or so, the pattern has been disrupted -- new kitties in my life so new habits are there, a new laptop at work so a whole new experience there, a new book coming out (you knew I'd work it back to writing, didn't you?)

I am doing what I can to cope with the influx of oddities and surprisingly, this blog has helped. It's a stable point in the week: twice a week, Tuesday and Saturday, I have to blog.

Little did you know that you might be contributing to my sanity.

Onward.