FINDING TIME TO WRITE

       With the demands on a published author - and for that matter an unpublished writer looking to get published - to brand and promote oneself, the serious question arises: when do I have time to write?

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I can't begin to name all the social and professional networks I belong to that give me a web presence, including writing blogs like this one, but I will list a few. Twitter and Facebook, of course, KindleBoards, Goodreads, Shelfari, LinkedIn, Red Room, Sisters in Crime, Mystery Writers of America; then there are the listservs like DorothyL. I've been on and off DL for ten years. Like me, book people come and go.


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I don't know how many readers I've acquired through the listservs and groups like Murder Must Advertise, but I get a lot of good information and I conduct free book drawings from time to time.  It's a way to stay connected with the reading and writing community, not just for sales but to interact with friends I've met online and in person.

So, when do I write?

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On weekday afternoons unless on a tight deadline. There are so many things to take care of in the morning - housewifey stuff, returning put-off calls from yesterday, reading and answering emails - that I've designated morning as taking-care-of-business time.

At one o'clock (if I'm not playing golf), I write until five with necessary breaks - for me and Bogey, the demanding standard poodle who adorns my book covers.


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 Unless for research, I don't crawl the net or answer the telephone. I research, edit, write. Period.

About golf. I play on Saturday and Sunday - again, unless on a tight deadline. One day during the week, I play and usually I'm finished and back at my desk by one-thirty. Two at the latest. Then I extend my work day until six o'clock.

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Writing is a demanding master (aka self-flagellation), but publication is vindication for the blood and toil. Then I have to address an even more demanding master: promotion.

Gerrie Ferris Finger
THE END GAME
THE LAST TEMPTATION released 2012
THE GHOST SHIP  released 2011
HONORED DAUGHTERS
WHEN SERPENTS DIE
WAGON DOGS
http://www.gerrieferrisfinger.com/
http://www.crimewritersblog.blogspot.com/


COMING JUNE 2011