USA Today Bestselling Cozy Mystery Author

Since June, I’ve been trying every day to make the full-time writer thing work. Some of it has been uphill (manuscripts to finish, manuscripts to edit, classes to teach, authors to coach) and some of it has been downhill (social media, chapter leadership, conferences). But regardless of how easy or difficult it’s been, it’s been a great journey.

I’ve done my first booksigning, my first RWA conference as a published author, my first full request from my dream agent, my first editor cold-contact. My first sequel.

What scares me about where I am today is the same thing that often scares me.

 

There is just so much to do, and I can’t always do everything I want to do, and get all of my writing things done. And of course, when it rains, it pours.

Other writers may understand this (or other creative types). You spend a whole bunch of time locked in your room or house or office or studio trying to get a project done before life gets in the way, then life does get in the way. You start doing other things, and all of a sudden, you’re inundated with creativity.

I’ve spent the last four weeks knee-deep in a musical theater production. It’s been awesome. The kids were fantastic, the music was fun, the staging and costumes were amazing, and the people were just plain fun. I had an incredible time. But I found myself, even as I was sitting at the piano between songs, writing new books in my head. Or working on a new musical on my notebook between studio times. Our last performance was yesterday, and of course, I spent part of today catching up with emails and social media, and when I finally sat down, this afternoon, to start writing again, I was almost paralyzed by how much there was I could be working on.

I know I have contracts to fulfill, so those decisions are easy.

But beyond that, I’m having a hard time because there’s just so much. As always, when life proliferates, I get more ideas and more input produces more output. The curse of that particular Strength.

Where I will go from here, I’m still not sure. I know I need to finish the books I still owe out. But from there, I’m still trying to decide. I have some writing friends who are helping me figure it out. I really do wish, at times like this, that I would have spent more time trying to find the right agent instead of doing everything myself. The do-it-yourself option may sound well and good, but I really just want some more perspective. Maybe that’s an answer in and of itself.

What do you think? How do you prioritize? How do you keep from getting paralyzed by too much life? Or not enough time?