Samantha Perry was all dressed up with someplace to go. Yet it was closer to midnight than dawn in her winter world. Amidst what wouldn’t be a flowering garden for several months, as if a July morning’s warmth surrounded her, she paced another lap around her community’s park.
The sun was due. It would soon be another January day like any other day in their northern suburb of Atlanta. Another harmless moment to get through. Nothing yawned more threatening than getting her sleepy family ready for their Mimosa Lane Monday. But on a scale from nervous to freaked out, Sam had been silently racing toward a meltdown the entire weekend.
Somewhere around three o’clock last night she’d risen from beside her still-sleeping husband, showered and dressed for the day and bundled into the heavy coat Georgia demanded from only a few months each year. Heading downstairs and through her cozy kitchen’s French doors, she’d escaped into the peace that being outside and alone brought her. She’d been night walking for hours.
Opening Draft
Sweet Summer Sunrise
Seasons of the Heart
Book Two
***
It’s a crazy work and personal weekend.
I won’t go into the details, except to say that opportunities are taking off all over the place, and so is the stress, and so is the upheaval in my “away from work” life. It’s usually like that. You never see the good or the bad stuff coming, and you never appreciate the calm until the storm’s upon you.
So, of course, I owe my publisher the second book in the series that’s taking off like no one expected, with it’s Christmas novel launch.And on top of my life being overwhelmed with back-to-back holidays AND promoting a book release that keeps (YAY!) going strong, I’m facing the rewriting of a 380 page rough draft that means so much to me–but isn’t at the point where I think it’ll mean anything to anyone else unless I recraft it over and over and over again, until it’s talking on it’s own.
Publishing isn’t for sissies, my friends.And it’s always about the next book. And the next. And these days, success in digital publishing about having an ongoing series with lots of backlist titles. The only way to do that is to keep writing forward and building into what readers are buying–and somehow maintaining the integrity of your work and stories and characters, so you keep pleasing the fans who are loving what you’ve already done. It’s a never-ending circle of working and finger crossing and doubting and celebrating, only to work, cross your fingers, doubt and hopefully celebrate all over again with the next release. Only there are no guarantees. Until, at times, say on a too-busy Sunday like today, your business and creative and “real life” selves collide until your consciousness begins to resemble something more than a little undead.
There’s only the work, and knowing how YOU work so you can keep producing amidst the craziness and the temptation to take time off just when you need to work the hardest to propel your career forward.
The above opening quote is my bookmark, my note to myself. I DO have something good here, even if it won’t be good for anyone else until early January. And the only way it’ll have a chance to be good by then is if I write and rewrite my fingers raw amidst the crazy coming for me from every direction this December.
I will work my ass off this month. I will make the time despite everything else I need to do. I won’t squander this opportunity to share more story with readers who are loving this series and demanding daily for the next book. In fact, I want two more Seasons of the Heart novels out in 2013. And I’m going to make that happen. Somehow.
If you’re a writer, join me in making the next celebration in your career happen–by working harder on your WIP than you ever have on anything else.
If you’re a reader, support the dreaming and drafting and rewriting and determination of the talented writers you love to read!
Write on, my friends!
Tags: Anna DeStefano, anna’s world, best-selling romance, Christmas on Mimosa Lane, Contemporary Romance, creativity & inspiration, draft writing, drama, dreaming, editing, Emily Dickinson, freelance editor, holiday memories, holiday romance, hope, improvisation, manuscript planning, NANOWRIMO, poetry, revision, Women’s Fiction, writer, writer resource, writing, writing coach, writing craft, writing process, writing resources
I tried “work harder” for four years and ended up unable to write a word for well over a year. For me, the key is not working harder – it’s finding balance. And that includes giving myself permission *NOT* to write so that I remain ABLE to write. THAT is my never-ending battle…finding and maintaining balance. So try to celebrate each new/revised word and stop beating myself up if I don’t produce enough, or don’t produce perfection, and just try to make some measure of progress every week.