Time Management, or "How the HELL did I get so Busy?"

2:30-ish AM

I started off with an idea that became The Prodigal's Foole - my 'work in progress' for all you newcomers out there.

So I wrote the book, it's going through revision 5 - which sounds like a lot but there are only three scenes I'm unhappy with. So it's getting close. Great, right?

Absolutely. But (and you KNEW there'd be a 'but').

How the Hell did I get so busy in the writing world?

Of course I'm doing writing part time...because I like to eat and child support/alimony are due every other week. So there is the real job that takes up 50 or so hours weekly, plus the 'non-billable time' such as answering work e-mails at 2 AM when I can't sleep.

Then, beyond the book creating/editing/pulling-my-hair-out part of writing, there is the networking side. And I know I'm rambling, but it's two-thirty in the morning and the coffee machine is BROKEN.

Where was I? Oh yes--weeping over my Krups coffeemaker and the networking side of writing.

There are a LOT of people who want to be writers. Search the internet for unpublished writer blogs or play in groups on twitter (such as #amwriting or #storycraft or #litchat...et cetera).

Oh and conferences. I did ReaderCON last month and I'm looking at attending the World Fantasy Convention in October. I could go on but I'll lose the rest of you who've hung on this long for my point.

I was looking at my calendar and to do list and I was amazed at the number of writing related "stuff" I've got going:

• I still owe Marty Halpern a review of the anthology 'Is Anybody Out There?'
• I'm working on an alternate beginning for a friend's book--just so she can see what it might look like
• Two short stories are being tweaked for submission (and an online mag has asked me to do so...so I really should)
• Working with an editor on TPF--well ok. I'm working with crit partners and editors...
• The ever elusive 'QUERY LETTER SUPREME (QLS) is in it's seventh revision.
• I have 5Minutefiction each week (announcement about that coming as soon as Leah gives the go-ahead)
• I participate in a series of weekly chats about writing
• I have a book cover mock-up I'm working on
• I owe Emmett Spain and review of his book Old Haunts
• Then there is the miscellaneous stuff, like building my website, updating Goodreads, the blog...oh and the 3k daily word count...

And that's just this week. And it's Wednesday already. Just barely.

I need coffee.