I've learned something absolutely terrifying the past couple of months. The hard, gut-punching reality is that I now irrefutably believe that authors don't write as much as we manage piles of things to do. Shocking, I know.
Way back when I had this grandiose vision of becoming a writer, I envisioned myself in front of a keyboard hammering away madly at my precise prose. There were never any edits to contend with, never any emails, Facebook accounts, twitter accounts, group blogs, personal blogs, promotional materials to order, local chapter responsibilities. I could go on and on and on.
The sad reality is that I have recently studied how much time I actually spend writing versus how much time is spent doing other things related to the writing I've already done. Let me tell you, it's easy to become depressed as the responsibilities mount and you find yourself sitting before a behemoth mountain of stuff to do that doesn't remotely resemble what you want to do.
Write.
So what do you do? Well, this is when we need to get our big girl and big boy panties on, tuck in our lower lips and suck it up. All this shit that we cringe when faced with handling is part of the business. Sure, some people love edits. Some adore blog hops and social media schmoozing. I do too.
To a certain extent.
But it's easy to lose track of what's the most important thing, IMHO. The writing. The stories. The readers.
So, if you find yourself drowning in a sea of shit you don't want to deal with, look around. I guarantee you aren't floating alone in the muck. Take a deep breath, smile, pull your big girl britches up and get back to work. I'm gonna have to put that last sentence on my monitor. Maybe it'll make it easier to remember. :)
Take care everyone!
Oh! And if you haven't checked out my Pleasure Brigade series at Ellora's Cave, Book 1--Passion Next Door--is up for FREE at Barnes&Noble right now. Check it out!
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