In a land far, far away, on a dark and stormy night, I sit typing away on my keyboard. Thoughts of family, friends, and other trivial things are far from me. I’m immersed into the lives of people living in the late 1880s in Athens, Tennessee. The final read through before sending the manuscript to the proofreaders was almost finished. Will I make it on time?

Two days earlier

I practically bounce around throughout the day. After finishing half of the final read through, I finally decide on a publication date. With beating heart and shaky fingers, I push the magic button that will make my book available for preorder about twelve hours later.

The next morning, I open my email and see the message I’m waiting for. The one that tells me the link is live!

Yesterday

I finish reading through the book and send it to my proofreaders. One of whom is already through chapter five (of 22). Now that I am free of worrying about it for a couple of weeks, I have time on my hands to write a blog post. I sit in front of the laptop and tap on the keyboard. No words come. What do I write about? I want to update people about my writing because I’ve done so much the last nineteen days, but how do I talk about it without getting boring?

One hundred thirty-four words later, I have a boring blog post. Hm. Now what? I can’t publish it, but I still want to tell people about everything. As I try to figure it out, an idea pops into my head. How about a disjointed, unorganized journal type story in first person present? I’ve never tried writing a story in first person present so it should be interesting and fun. Would you like to see what it’s like? I hope so, because if you’ve made it this far, you’re already at least one-third of the way through the story.

Let’s journey back about nineteen days.

February 4, 2015

During my two and a half hour window of being home, I decide to join a word war. I’m crazy, I know, but I have an idea. As I write a little in that idea and get stuck, I get another idea for another story. Seriously? How many ideas can one person get in the same day. A few hundred words later, I have a good start on the story, but get stuck. Now I’m stuck in two different short stories and another idea for another story pops into my head. I finish the word war and finish getting ready to leave. Meanwhile, I have three story ideas floating around in my head.

February 4-15

I write a lot in a Hymns of the West novella I have titled Pass Me Not while also working a little bit on the second story idea titled Redeemed. I finish writing Pass Me Not on February 15th. My goal was 15,000 words and I end up with 15,087. Now it’s on to finish Redeemed (my goal is 10,000 words for this one).

Meanwhile, I also set up a gang to help promote my book launches!

February 21

Goal: Finish writing Redeemed today and get at least halfway through Amazing Grace.

By the end of the day, I have 11,438 words in Redeemed and the rough draft is finished and Amazing Grace is at least halfway read through. Yay! I also get Amazing Grace set up to be available for preorder and do an update on my website to include the preorder link. What’s next? I don’t know… Well, besides some sleep.

February 23

I wake up, do some of my normal morning routine and start the last half(ish) of my read through of Amazing Grace.

10:15-I hit the send button on the emails that deliver my manuscript to my proofreaders. Relief floods into me. My fingers are ready to fly again, but I have no story ideas. Then I remember the secret project I’ve been thinking about the last couple of days. I hurry to get a good start on it because I need to be done by 11:00 to join the real world for awhile.

9:30 PM-Blog post? check. 1,000 words in secret project? check. Alarm set for the morning? check. I collapse into bed and take a deep breath. Sleep. Yes, that’s exactly what I need. Now to just turn my brain off and try to stay out of the world of my secret project. Or the world of the novel and three novellas I need to edit. Anybody have a brain remote? If you do, could you please push stop? Thanks!