Top Ten Favorite Ways to Procrastinate

We all do it, but I think writers have a special gift and flare for procrastination. Here are my top ten favorites.

10. Update blog and visit all my friends' blogs and comment. Tell yourself it's all about networking.

9. Check Fictionwise and other booksellers to see if you received any new ratings.

8. Google your name or the name of your book just in case there's a surprise review out there somewhere.

7. Bake some cookies because your children are 'starving.'

6. Run out to the coffeeshop and get a four dollar ice coffee because theirs is so much better than your own ice coffee.

5. Reply to every post on the twenty-five yahoo groups you belong to.

4. Run a quick security scan on your computer because you really shouldn't let those things go.

3. Just a quick check in with facebook or twitter because it's all about the networking, baby.

2. File rejection letters by date and then decide to do them alphabetically.

And the number one favorite way for me to procrastinate is:

1. Rearrange my workspace including but not limited to: moving my desk, vaccumming the corners where it was sitting, dusting EVERYTHING, throwing out all those saved emails with possible contacts on, logging expenses and earnings, putting receipts in the tax folder, make a written list of all the things I need to do for promo, another list for all the authors and books I want to read, and rearrange my keeper shelf by author in order of publication and finally but not least, find the best spot on my desk for pictures of my kids.

What are your favorite ways to procrastinate?

What's a Writer to do on a Weekend?

I have lots of pals who write and many of them work other jobs. I don't have to wonder what most of them are doing on a weekend. No, they're not catching up on housework or finding the time to prepare that extra special family meal. They're trying to get their word count up for the week on their current WIP. Or they're working on edits, trying to find a bigger slice of time to concentrate on it rather than the minutes here and minutes there they find during the week.
I know one of them was at a booksigning near her home this weekend. (Sorry I couldn't be there, hope it was fabulous).
A mini vacation for a writer is a weekend conference where they can network, smooze with other professionals, have some fun interrupted by moments of terror when they pitch to an editor, an agent or finds one seated next to them at the bar. Good stress, but still a working weekend, not a real vacation.
Some writers use this weekend to update their blogs, their websites and other little time consuming things they've put off for the week.
Often a writer with a busy family packs her alpha smart or laptop in the Rodeo and heads off to a tournament, field hockey at Kutztown University this weekend, and sits on the sidelines huddled over the keyboard while chaos breaks all around her. Those little alpha smarts operate at all temperature extremes including 98 degree baseball games and 22 degree football games.
Tomorrow is the Super Bowl and lots of people have parties and social activities planned. This writer is thinking she'll order pizzas so she doesn't have to cook. Will I watch it? Professional sports don't hold much appeal for me after watching my sons play in college. Those college guys play for nothing and they bleed and sweat as much as those millionaires and seem to try a lot harder. They cry when they lose and are really excited when they win. Nah, I won't watch much of it. But the game is important to me because it will keep everyone else busy so I can write in peace.
So enjoy you weekend, all you writers out there. I hope you had the chance to go out on this Saturday night. Me, I'm uploading this week's toil from my alpha smart to the desk top. That's what this writer calls a great weekend.

It's a Business

Tax time again. Not something I like to think about. Fortunately, my husband is retired, kind of, and takes care of all the meetings with the accountant and just tells me where to sign. With my writing income and my husband's part time business in addition to my teaching income, the whole process gets a little complicated. I love our tax guy. He really looks out for ways for us to save and is really up to date on what we can deduct and what we can't. The stack of paperwork astounds me. How do people ever do it on their own?
It's not only the federal that gets you. You have the state, the local and then all my kids have their own forms. They're all still in school, but my husband pays them for helping in his business so they need to file and pay those state and local taxes.
My husband and I sat down and looked at what we paid in 2008 and decided I'm working for over one fourth of the year to pay taxes and that's not counting the 6% sales tax Pennsylvania charges on almost everything. Where does it go? The country if ever further in debt and I'm paying more and more every year. Can't someone get a handle on the spending, locally, statewide and at the federal level?
Back to my writing income. It's bittersweet to finally be making some money with my books and now have to pay out for it. Sometimes I feel like I'm working a hundred hours a week between teaching and writing. Can I please keep a little more of my money?
I'm sure it's the same for everyone. How does this time of year hit you? Is it as painful for you as it is for me?

Favorite Snow Day Activity

Once again the prospect of a snow day hangs over the head of central Pennsylvania school children and their teachers. Or is it a dangling carrot? Those unexpected days off are also such a pleasant surprise and it's very tempting to sleep late, laze around and do nothing. I hate to waste the gift of a day though so I already have plans.
First I will fill the bread machine with the ingredients I have had sitting ready for almost a week. I also have plans for a new oatmeal cookie receipe I must try. Cookies with oatmeal in can't be fattening, can they? While I'm baking those, I'm going to get put together some chicken corn soup. Perfect for an icy, snowy day. Of course, all this is dependent on the electricity staying on which is not a given whenever we have an ice storm.
My daughter has brought a nice stack of wood into the garage so we can get that fireplace roaring tomorrow. A pot of hot tea and maybe our favorite version of Jane Austen in the DVD player and I'm set.
Between taking batches of cookies out of the oven, I'm going to do my daily blog visits and check in with facebook and twitter. Then while the soup simmers and the bread rises, I'm going for a 5K day on the WIP.
So I'm doing my 'snow dance' this evening and hoping for that unexpected vacation day. Be safe.

A Ruthless Good coming in Print

I am so thrilled to learn my publisher, New Concepts Publishing, is releasing my latest futuristic romance in print this June. A Ruthless Good, will join the first two books in my series, The Greater Good and The Lesser Evil as print releases. Three books to have for book signings!
Now if I can only figure out what to do about that cover. It's a little too hot for many signing venues. It's too hot to have around the house when my daughter's friends visit. I have mixed feelings about this latest cover. I didn't get any chance to preview it and actually never saw it until the day my book was released in ebook. I know hot covers can be a great selling tool, but I'm afraid the cover may lead some readers to expect a higher sensuality level than the novel actually contains.
What do you think? Have you ever bought a book expecting something carnal and bold and found it to be rather mild instead? I don't want my readers to feel cheated.
But again, I'm so happy about this book coming out in print. My publisher only puts out a few books in print each month so I'm excited that mine is one of them.

The Kids

I love them. I really do. All four of them were planned, three years apart and born in the spring. They're the source of my best memories, most wonderful moments and eternal pride. But, I need a few hours alone. I grew up in a large family and always wanted one of my own. My children are hard workers, intelligent, respectful, well-adjusted teenagers and young adults, but I need some MOM time. That stands for Me Only Me time. To write, to read, to watch a TV show I want to watch all by myself without their young, arrogant male POV about the story, the characters and the feasibility of the action.
This past week I've been so busy promoting, updating my website and my blog as well as working on the WIP because the characters won't be quiet in my head and I have to get it down before they stop talking to me.
And they've been invading my work space. Each one has a tale to tell, even while I'm writing this. My daughter wants me to listen to some really cool, Celtic music she found online. It's really nice. My son that is a teacher in the same high school where I teach had a tale of one of his students that made us both laugh. My twenty year old son came in to tell me about the youth basketball team he coaches and how badly they were beaten today. My son that is at Penn State for a big indoor track meet text messaged me to let me know they're safe in their hotel room and playing monopoly. Gosh, I love them.
Each child that passed through my office took a sip of my ice coffee. That's too much for any mother to take. When they were little they went to bed early and the majority of my writing took place while they slept. Now I'm waiting up all hours for them to get home from dates, typing on my alpha smart in gymnasiums and on sidelines of baseball and field hockey games. If your children are small now, don't think they're going to need you less as they get older. Even if your just the sounding board, they need their dear old moms.
Oh well, things seem a little quieter now. It took almost an hour to type this amid all the interruptions. I'm going to get back to that WIP just as soon as I order some new shin guards for my daughter. I think in about ten more years, I'll have some MOM time.

A Ruthless Good Released Today!

After much frantic preparation, somehow my publisher ironed out most of the last minute details and A Ruthless Good was released today from New Concepts. Here's a little detail and a short excerpt. Try this link to see the smoking hot cover and read another excerpt.
http://www.newconceptspublishing.com/aruthlessgood.htm


A RUTHLESSS GOOD is out today!
A RUTHLESS GOOD is the third exciting futuristic romance in The Solonian Chronicles series. Realm warrior, Claudia Turan leads an expedition into the northern wilderness in hopes of finding the lost city of Parlania with its universities and libraries. She expects to find ruins and hopes to salvage some knowledge from the remnants. Instead she finds survivors and a warped society in the midst of revolution. Roth Celebria is the leader of a ragtag band of desperate freedom fighters. Should Claudia risk the safety of her own colony to help Roth? Or is her desire to help him more of lust than concern for the welfare of his people? Both of them learn that the battle for what is right can be merciless and one must be ruthless in the fight against evil. And sometimes sacrifices of body and soul must be made in the hope for a better tomorrow.


Read a short excerpt here and visit my website for more:
Roth struggled toward the warmth. Even if it was the fires of hell, he wanted to reach it. But something heavy weighed on him and held him back. Was he buried? Dead and under the dirt. Why couldn’t he move?
…….
"Hell’s shithouse. They’re ruined!" a strangely accented female voice cursed. She uttered more odd phrases in an angry tone.
A woman displaying anger? A woman cursing? Beyond the fire he saw trees. Roth slowly shifted his head a little to widen his field of vision. He was outside. Not far away he heard the purr of the river.
The woman wore a man’s shirt and pants. She held a boot in her hand and glared at it with a ferocity that shocked him. And her face, beyond the fierce scowl, was unlike any he’d ever seen. Angles and dimples, evident even now with her frown, combined into a work of art. An image of a goddess. And to heighten her divine appearance, her hair hung long and loose to her waist. It was made of silver. Not the dull gray color of old age, but the silver of a deity gracing Parlania with her presence. Her brows were dark, almost black, and her face unlined in youth. Her hands as she turned the boot about were long-fingered and strong while her wrist looked fragile. But a sword lay at her side.
She glanced over at him and shocked him into a gasp. Her eyes were the same silver as her hair, a color that could not be mortal. Perhaps he was dead.
"So you’re awake."
Her voice poured over him like the warm honey produced by mountain bees. And something about it made him very aware of his nudity beneath the mountain of blankets weighing on him.
"Can you speak? Do you understand my words?" She rose with a grace to mirror a dance move and walked around the fire to kneel by his head.
Roth tried to sit up, but the world spun sickeningly when he lifted his head.
"Whoa there, stranger." She pressed him back with a strong hand.
Not that she had need of strength. His muscles were as soft clay.
"Here, roll to your back and let me put something beneath your shoulders." She picked up more blankets from beside the fire and moved around behind him. She lifted the covers from his back to add the new.
"Son of a damned Savage bitch!"
Roth closed his eyes. Somehow having this lovely goddess see his ravaged back shamed him.
He heard her take a few deep breaths before she scrambled around to where he could see her again. She pointed to her chest. "My name is Claudia."
"Roth." It hurt his throat to produce the one rough, quiet word.
"Roth." She smiled and it did a funny thing to his insides. "Mia told me I have to get you to drink something as soon as you woke up. Do you think you could sit up enough to have something?"
He got his elbow under him enough to lift his upper body a little. The lash had curled around his side on some of its strokes, so it hurt to be on his side though not as much as being on his back would.
Claudia held a warm cup to lips while her other hand steadied his head. A fragrance foreign to him rose in misty tendrils of steam from the mug. He’d expected water or tea. He pressed his lips closed.
"It’s all right. I know you Solonians never had chocolate before, but I promise you’ll like it. It’s very reviving."
Roth liked the scent already, and what harm could a drink do? He was helpless. The woman didn’t need to poison him. She could strangle him or beat him to death with a piece of wood if she wished.
It tasted better than it smelled. It slid smoothly over his tongue and teased him with an unlikely combination of sweet and bitter at the same time. He took a few more sips before his strength failed. Claudia helped him ease down to his side.
She returned the metal mug to a spot near the fire and then settled unto the ground where he could see her. Her long slim legs folded beneath her in a move made erotic by the tight pants clinging to her thighs and hips.
She stretched out and picked up her wrinkled looking boot again. "I hope you can say more than your name, Roth, after I ruined my best boots wading out into that ice flow to save you."
She had rescued him? A woman? "Thank you."
Her frown changed to that breath stopping smile . How quickly her emotions changed, and she hid none of them.
"You’re welcome. I think I’m actually thrilled to meet you. We’d almost giving up hope that you existed. You’re worth a pair of boots. Maybe."
Her every sentence confused him. Who was she?
She reached out again and picked up the sword. "But first, you should tell me what happened to your back, and why you were drowning naked in the river."
She spoke with such authority, Roth didn’t know how to answer. She was a woman yet spoke with the stern command of a senior shepherd. "What are you?"
Her quick smile flashed at him again. "What? I’m the Realm captain who’s going to decide if you live or die if you don’t answer my questions. I can only think of a few reasons a man would be whipped almost to death. Might be I should have let you drown so you better start convincing me before we throw you back in that ice bath."