A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to My New Book Release

 

For years and years and years (and probably years) I've been saying I wanted to come up with a sane and healthy work schedule. To find that balance between creativity and productivity--which are not always the same thing.

And year after year I have failed to do that. Which has resulted in burnout (TWICE! YIKES) and a reputation for missing deadlines (which once would have been flipping unthinkable). 

And still I couldn't seem to figure out a way to...well, get everything done and still have time for anything resembling a normal life.  In fact, never mind the "time for anything resembling a normal life," because that wasn't even a consideration. Basically I couldn't seem to figure out how to get everything done. Because when you're running a publishing empire by your lonesome there is a LOT OF EVERYTHING that has to be dealt with. 

It's not that I didn't have help. God bless all my moderator-friends (they're pretty much the only reason I still have a presence on social media). And I did periodically have help from a succession of "Eves." The Evies were great but A - I really need someone onsite for at least part of the time and B - I'm a total control freak and it's very hard to ever let anything out of my hands, oh and C - The old trap of I-Don't-Have-Time-To-Teach-You-All-This-It's-Faster-If-I-Do-It-Myself. 

I had two speeds: panic and crashing. Unsurprisingly, I started to get sick. A lot. I'm sure it didn't help that as my stress and anxiety mounted, I became increasingly terrible about my eating habits and my exercise. 

I'm honestly not sure how this would have ended if it had not been for the pandemic. 

The pandemic (and escalating anxiety about the election) triggered--well, honestly, I'm not even sure because I was already heading for burnout. But basically I couldn't write for ten months. I did manage toward the end to complete a short story, and that was a great sign. That was a sign I was coming out of it, and thank God for that. 

(And yes, thank God that between my dear Patrons and my backlist, I was still able to support us even while not being able to support us--our health insurance alone is over $2000. a month. ) 

I'm not saying the pandemic was a good thing or that I'm happy about it, but it did force me to reevaluate, and I'm trying very hard to be conscientious about well, eating properly and working out even when I can't swim and creating a reasonable work schedule. I'm currently trying to take weekends off. I feel guilty as hell about it, but I think it's one reason I'm loving writing Mystery at the Masquerade so much. And I am! I'm now in the final third of the book, it will come out this month, and I LOVE it. I think it's the best of the three so far.

OH. I have to digress. I received a nastygram from a reader this week complaining that he was tired of waiting for Mystery at the Masquerade and I shall darken his bookshelf no more. And of course I wrote and tried to apologize and explain--you know, I hate that I have missed so many deadlines that I've now become notorious; this is not something I'm happy about or okay with, I know it's a problem, which is why I'm trying hard to create a realistic work schedule. Anyway, after I emailed him I realized WHAT THE HELL the book was originally scheduled for May 2021 and I'm trying to push it FORWARD. :-D :-D :-D  I mean, it's bad enough without yelling at me for the books that AREN'T late. This one is coming in nearly three months early. :-D

Anyway. 

The other helpful thing happening in my life is I have a new Eve, and it's a match made in heaven (She's my niece and she's taking a break from college.) So I have a new schedule, a new diet (Yes! We're learning to "eat clean" which is...hard BUT we're already seeing the benefits) and help. I HAVE HELP. And I'm even trying to take advantage of that. 

So this is a long and winding way of explaining that I know there has been a problem with my book releases--I own it--and I'm doing my best to fix it. But more to the point, I'm happier and healthier than I have been in literally years, which is a terrific way to start 2021. I even created an Inspiration Board, so what does THAT tell you? ;-)