On my Finding Fran blog, I had recently written a post about how different it is being an author today versus what it was like 10 years ago when my first book came out.
For example, tomorrow is the first stop on my virtual book tour for my fiction collection, TRAVELING LEFT OF CENTER AND OTHER STORIES. Now, a decade ago, I would have spent today packing my bags, giving last-minute instructions to my pet-sitter (and warning the cats that if they misbehaved, they were in deep trouble!), checking flight information for the hundredth time and in general, being totally stressed out.
But since this tour is online, there is no need for any of that. I did all my work in advance, furnished my wonderful blog hosts with all the materials and just have to drop in off and on all day to say hi. I am still planning on doing some real-life, in-person events, but virtual touring is a great way to meet lots of potential readers of my short stories without having to go through security or customs. (Although, since some of my tour stops are overseas, I wonder if I need a virtual passport.)
Not that it means I don’t have anything to do. I’m reaching out to reviewers, planning my book launch party on September 21st at Peaberry’s Cafe—no, this one isn’t virtual!—and contacting bloggers who are looking for authors to interview.
And, strange as it may sound, in light of the fact that TRAVELING hasn’t even hit the shelves yet, I am thinking about what I want to work on next. Part of it is self-protective: if this book sinks into oblivion within a few weeks, I need to have my creative juices flowing on the next project. And, if it does well, I better have a new book in the works in case my success sparks interest among the publishing world as to what else I may have up my sleeve—or on my computer’s hard drive.
So I have set myself a schedule—four hours minimum each weekend to work on one of the book projects that are in varying stages of completion. (I know it doesn’t sound like much but my life is, shall we say, a little complicated, give that I have added full-time caregiving to my schedule. Not to mention that I write full-time for magazines and corporations. One must earn a living, you know.)
I also want to return to my pre-TRAVELING routine of spending 30 minutes each morning working on short fiction. For the past several months, that half-hour timeframe was taken up with all the pre-pub tasks, from reviewing and editing the book to creating a marketing strategy and all the associated materials that go along with it.
But as much as I have been thrilled to work on getting this book ready to launch, there is a part of me that wants to go back to where I started: writing fiction. Making up stories. Hearing a character whom I have never met speak a line or two of dialogue and then following along as the story unfolds.
I miss that. I miss writing.
Next time (and there will be a “next time,” God willing) that I am getting ready to “birth a book,” I will do my best to make time for writing, too. After all, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it?