What I've been up to

This week and last week have been crazy busy at my day job at the advertising agency. But hey, I'm blessed to not only have one job, but two. Yep, book writing definitely qualifies as a full-time job.

So when I come home from work at 5:00, I fix dinner, throw in a load or two of laundry, and get upstairs to Job #2. Bewitched & Betrayed is going precisely as all of my books have gone. Apparently I get halfway through the first draft, realize that something's missing (several somethings, actually), so I go back to Chapter 1 and start filling in the blanks. That's what I've been doing for the past two weeks. I'm up to Chapter 12, and my schedule is to be back up to Chapter 15 by this Sunday evening. I'm taking a well-deserved night off tonight to go out to dinner for a "date night" with my husband. So no work tonight, but starting tomorrow, I push, shove, and struggle to get the rest done by Sunday.

Hopefully when I pick back up where I left off, I'll be able to write straight through to the end, which I'm aiming will be 25 chapters. My plan is to take no longer than four days to write each chapter, which will put me finishing the first draft by the end of March. That'll give me one month to whip it into shape to send to my editor on May 1.

I'll be cutting it close, but then I always do. ; ) After going through the same drill for the past three books, I've accepted that this is the way my writing brain works. I'm glad I can see a pattern to the madness, because I know that the book will turn out just fine and there's no need for me to freak out. Me freaking out -- while highly entertaining to anyone watching -- is counter-productive to writing. It doesn't give me a better book, it'll just give me ulcers. I love J.K. Rowling's home page. Her "desk" is covered in "Acid Pops." Oh boy, can I ever identify with that. ; )

Pop back by tomorrow for the Saturday Fun Pic. And I promise next week I'll try to get to some of the wonderful questions you've sent me.

Happy Friday (Whew, I made it!)
Lisa