It's Amazing What A Little Motivation Can Do...

I won't even begin to tell you how long ago I started the 'Poker Book.' Okay, I will. I wrote the first chapter to enter the Feel the Heat contest for the Modern Heat line. I want to say 2008. I didn't win, of course, and decided I was going to make it fit the line I was targeting instead. Revised the plot and synopsis and started over. Got it about 3/4 finished, then realized that line wasn't where the book, or I, belonged. Then it sorta fizzled. There wasn't much sense finishing it when I wasn't sure what it should be when it grew up. It could end so many different ways.

So I moved to something else. I want to say the 'Mummy Book.' That sucked up my time until I found myself miserably flailing in nothingness. Honestly, its stunning how much time slips away while you're working (or avoiding) a project. Ideas that pop into your head might take a year before they're anything close to a book and another year before the book is close to publishable. Then, of course, is the waiting once its submitted.

If I just sat down and wrote a book start to finish without straying, I'd be ok, I could wrap it up in a few month's time, but I wander. I get a request and stop to work on something else. I piddle. I work on a different project. Start a new book. Pick it up and put it back down a dozen times. It's especially bad if I'm just sort of writing without a driving force like a request behind it. Even worse if I don't even know where to market it when I'm finished.

Last week I told you about the newly arrived force in my career. 3 requests patiently waiting on me to get off my kiester. I am proud to admit I have snapped into line! The first book is finished, revised and out for review. The second book is completely overhauled and sitting because its tacky to send two books out for review at once. I'm going to gather comments, run through the first one again, and off it goes. The second won't be far behind. Books that have just sort of hung around on my flash drive for months or years are suddenly finished and ready in two week's time. Whether its a carrot or a stick, its chasing me down and I'm running.

Maybe its the warmth of summer or the threat of failure. I don't know. But I'm finally amped up about my writing for the first time in a long time. What are you excited about these days?
SP