After a 10 day vacation and an instant return to my day-job which pays my bills, I'm fortunate enough to get a catchup day in the middle of the week. I've sorted and thrown out mail, paid bills, discarded the ads from the papers and put them in a pile for later reading. Maybe. I've finished a load of clothes and another is washing. All of these everyday chores needed doing.
Okay, those were my household tasks. Now, I need to get down to business and finish my writing chores. Writing is a business with many aspects that need attention and often interfere with the actual creation process.
I've got tons of e-mails with contest entries, all hoping for a chance to win Rob Walker's book, City For Ransom. For each of them, I print out a copy, send a reply and also an invitation to join my booklover's network at Book Place at http://bookplace.ning.com where membership is open to everyone who is involved with books in any way. After June 14, I'll close my eyes, shuffle them all up and pick a winner.
After receiving a helpful hint from one of Karen Syed's blogs, on vacation I used up my store of Book Place business cards, handing them out when paying bills at restaurants and even at the physical therapy department of Howard Young Hospital while visiting a friend. So, I'll be printing up more Book Place cards today on my own printer. I'll gather those together, along with the author cards I'd already obtained from Vistaprint.com and I'll pack them along with the other items for my next vacation around Memorial Day. While I'm at it, I'll replenish my purse supply for the home target area.
Last night I uploaded vacation photos to various sites where I belong, so people won't forget who I am. I still need to go through the e-mails I skimmed, but didn't get a chance to read on vacation. If I have extra time, I'd like to gather more friends on myspace and the ning network.
All of these author publicity chores are actually fun and I enjoy doing them. That's a good and bad thing. At some point, I need to tear myself away and produce. Writers write.
I was very encouraged to note I'd finished 5000 words on vacation. I'm determined to continue and expand that trend. While some authors write prolifically, I've got the opposite problem. My wordage is sparse, which means I often go back to places in my story and expand on description and/or plot points.
My usual writing area is the commuter train on the way to and from work, because it's peaceful there and I can concentrate. Since I'm making a push to get my work-in-progress done this summer, I'll be spending more time writing at home as well.
Gotta go now. The dog wants a walk. Another thing that needs doing.
So, that's my life as a writer.
Morgan Mandel
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