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Showing posts with the label write

While the Nation Sleeps

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I've been up for two hours. Actually, two hours and twenty-three minutes. Why? I don't know. I'm lucky if I sleep until 5:00 a.m. There's no pressure on me. There's nothing I have to get done. Yes, I go to bed early, but it doesn't make much difference what time I go to bed, I still wake up early, and if I've stayed up at night, it just means I'm groggy all day. I like working in the morning. I feel fresh and ready to tackle anything. The problem is that no one else is up. That request I sent yesterday hasn't been answered yet because every sane person is ASLEEP! So I putz. I check my sales. I clear out my spam folder. I do some laundry. I write a blog. While the rest of you sleep. Note: John is as bad or worse, and the upside of that is twofold. First, we agree on getting up early, and second, we get some great shots like the one above: sunrise over Grand Canyon.

Feet on the Ground, or Butt in the Chair?

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One of the crazy things about being an author is the wide disparity in what's expected of you. The writing part requires long hours of--well, writing. Composing, revising, re-writing, and editing take time and concentration. On the other side of the coin, you're expected to promote your work in order for publishers to have anything to do with you. That means public appearances where you smile a lot and try to stir up interest among readers. I don't mind the public stuff, but it often feels like time I might have spent writing. Let's say I sign up to visit a bookstore on Friday (This Friday it's Purple Tree Books in Cheboygan, MI.) There's no way to tell if there will be people in the bookstore. If the sun is shining or if it's raining really hard, probably not. There's no way to tell if they'll be mystery readers, either. So two or three hours plus travel time gets me no guarantees that I'll even meet a prospective buyer, much less convince him