The life of a fulltime novelist. Ah, the life.
“Don’t you just sit around in your sweatpants all day, write a little, listen to iTunes, play on Twitter and Facebook, hang out with the family and watch television, write a little more, then call it a day?”
Yes, this is the image of the fulltime writer, and while some of this can be true on some days (except for the sweatpants thing), here’s just an overview of what’s on my plate. I don’t share this to either brag (I’ll brag when I have a NY Times bestseller or Oprah calls) or to complain. I just want to show what is keeping me busy.
Stuff for a book I wrote a year ago (Ghostwriter):
–Need to figure out who gets free copies (influencer copies) of Ghostwriter
–Have already booked around 20 signings for Ghostwriter. Just spoke with the Community Relations Manager at the Rivertown Crossing Mall in Grandville, MI about a signing. Communicated that to my publisher and publicist. Need to send the CRM an email with book covers and photos
–Getting ready for my first signing this weekend
–Need to work on promotion efforts for Ghostwriter (my next author newsletter, online stuff)
–Getting a call sometime this morning from a reporter from a local paper to talk about Ghostwriter (actually just got off the phone with him–he called as I was writing this)
Stuff for a book I just wrote that’s being edited (Broken):
–Got the four page editorial overview for Broken a couple of days ago. I’ll be sharing more on this. Feel really good about the editorial input. Lots more work to do on it. Usually I try to go over the notes a dozen times, making notes for myself and trying to make sense of it all. I’ll talk with the editor next week with a plan of rewriting the novel.
Stuff for a book I’m writing now:
–I’m not going to say too much about this. But I do have almost 50,000 words on a novel I’m writing. I never work on writing two novels at a time. But the good thing with this and Broken is that the work I have with the latter is now in the left-brain category, while the actual writing I’m doing is all right-brained. Hoping to finish the first draft next month, then send to my agent for her comments. It’s going to need a lot more work, but I’ll have a good starting point for something very–interesting.
Stuff for other stuff:
–I’m writing a book this summer, and am getting things ready for that. I take off for a book tour in the middle of June, and this will serve as some great inspiration since this book will be taking place in South Carolina
–Working on my next writing workshop in July
–Preparing to meet with my agent who comes next week to visit
–Waiting to hear on other stuff
–Adding notes to down-the-road stuff
Those are the big things I’m working on, and that doesn’t include the little things that pop up on a daily basis.
Hey–I’m so thankful for the opportunity to do all of this. Just wanted to give you a little insight on stuff.
Reading “Admission” right now. Amazon has shipped “Ghostwriter.” Ok, so I’m a fan.
“Admission” is good, by the way. So was “Isolation.” But I loved “Sky Blue.”
Glad you’re a fan, Glynn. All my books are different–they each have their own unique personality, for better or worse. My favorite is still Sky Blue, for the moment. The next book I hand in to my publisher might take its place. We’ll have to see!