The Life of a Writer

Dear friends,

Looking back on what I've actually done this week, I realized that other than editing a couple of short stories, I haven't done any actual WRITING.  For crying out loud!  I'm a writer!  Why am I not WRITING?  Well, let's see---

First, there's this garden that's shriveling up in our Texas heat and drought.  Tending to it, keeping it alive, takes time.

Then there are the kittehs.  We have a whole herd of these critters right now, and they take time--feeding, watering, scooping poop, buying food/litter, grooming (especially these two),  breaking up the skirmishes that occur on a daily basis, playing, cleaning up after them.  We do a LOT of cleaning up after them.  Aren't cats supposed to be CLEAN animals?

Then there are those things that LOOK like writing, but really aren't.  Like tending to blogs, for example.

There's this one----A Murder is Announced---where I feature a handful of small press and indie published mystery novels and their authors.

And this one---Earthly Gardener---my long-time garden blog where I post photos of the garden, talk about organic gardening and sometimes even guest posts from friends.  A recent one was about planting a pollinator garden.

And this one---Two Sisters 1930 Cottage---where I am chronicling our efforts to remodel an abandoned 1930s bungalow/cottage that we named "Two Sisters Cottage" after the former owners.

Isn't blogging writing?  Of course it is, but it seems I spend more time tweaking colors, fonts and wrangling other little bits 'n bobs of problems with them than I actually do writing them.  Then there's the promotion of them, getting the word out that you've actually written them.

What else?  Oh yes, there was the cover design work I did for my next published book, PRINCESS PRIMROSE & the CURSE OF THE BIG SLEEP---a crazy P.I. noirish fairy tale spoof mish-mash of at least five different tales turned on their heads---the novelization of my award-winning play.

Not to mention the last, final edits.

Here's the first cover, which friends and other authors said was too pretty.  I kinda liked it.  The little froggy is a clue to what the book's about, but otherwise, not.  I wanted to put the two sleuths on the cover somehow.

Then there was this one---book cover two.  I think it's a bit too dark and drab.  This is supposed to appeal to middle graders and those "tween" creatures, so it needs to be bright and colorful.  I kinda like that whole noirish P.I. vibey-thingy, but it's not quite there yet.

Book Cover Three.  Brighter and more colorful, for sure, but a bit too shabby chic for what I want.

Ah, now this is more like it.  Cover four, which one children's author said looks like a cross between the Lemony Snicket books and the Purple Fairy.  Hmmm, I'm kinda diggin' this one.  And that little bit of the castle that you can see through her magnifying glass?  TOTAL SERENDIPITY, due to a quirk in Photoshop.  Damn, I love it when things like that happen!

(By the way, that's  R. Rapunzel and S. White on the cover.)  I'm sure you're wondering, when will this book be OUT?   Soon, very soon!

In between all that frenzy, I read three new books, read samples of dozens more, made notes for my new mystery novel,  participated on at least six online list-servs and forums, posted links, tweeted a few things and yacked it up on Facebook.  Drank a lot of coffee.

Then, on Tuesday, I....LOL!

All I can say is I'm glad Husband loves to cook, or we'd all starve.

OK, so I didn't do any real WRITING this week.  But you know, this is what the life of a writer who decides to go the self-publishing (or indie publishing) route looks like. There are all those other things that you MUST do in addition to the writing. And it's so different from that fantasy we all had at one time about what it would be like when we were finally able to write full-time.

Maybe I'll start that new story next week.

Is she mocking me?  Looks like she's mocking me! 

Happy trails from La-La Land!

bobbi c.