Deadlines. Who needs them? I DO!!!

In May 2005 I started writing my book. What a fun adventure I was having! It was so much fun writing and having my family brain storm with me. I loved the family discussions we would have about my book.

Then my book took on a life of its own, and what a ride it has become. This has been my dream since high school, and I am finally living it! But life has a tendency to get in the way. Homework, cleaning, jobs, family time, all take a part of my time. And I wouldn't have it any other way. There was one summer that I was so busy that I didn't get a chance to work on my book at all. Sigh.

Once, I thought I was nearing the end, but while I was walking my dog, my brain decided to play havoc and took my story in a whole different direction. How cool was that??? That was the beginning of book 3, and my fun little story became a trilogy. Now that I am half-way through the third book, and I see another busy summer just a few months down the road, I really need a deadline. So I've made a few short deadlines for myself.

I wanted to finish a rewrite for the first two books, just to make sure everything was lined up and in order to pull it all together in the third. Yesterday was the deadline and I still had about 45 pages to go. The only thing was, I had a writer's conference to go to in the morning and early afternoon, then I had a bunch of embroidery to trim for work. (My husband and I have a promotional products and embroidery business, and we had a bunch of orders to get out.) So at 9:00pm I finished trimming, John does all the sewing - those big machines just stress me out - and I was able to start on my book. Bedtime came and went, but I kept at it, and I'm glad I did! I finished working at about 10:45, which wasn't bad, and I was able to make my deadline. Whew! Since I don't work on Sundays, I get to start on Monday on the third book. I feel there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I have been able to get this far by making small goals/deadlines for myself, and I'm not about to stop now. So, I think I'm going to post them here, so they're down on paper, so to speak. I want to be done with my book by May 31 because with another summer coming up, I don't know how much time I'll be able to spend writing. I know I'll do at least 15 minutes per day, because that's one of my goals I've made for myself, but any more than that? Who knows? So if I'm done writing by May 31, that will give me the opportunity to rewrite the third book doing my 15 minutes per day during the summer. The final project should be done by fall. I think Sep. 30 would be a good deadline. That will give me the fall/winter to find an agent and publisher.

Wish me luck!

Technology stresses me out!

After setting up this blog, writing a query letter should be a piece of cake. Thankfully my husband and son were here to help me. Thanks guys! Now only if I can figure out how to make my list of favorite authors not show up so strange. Well, enough technology for now, time to fix dinner for the family.