Balancing Life and Launch

I actually have a lot to say about balancing life and writing, about how it’s something I’ve struggled with for years, about how for a period, I stopped writing because the balancing act was too hard, and then how I came back to writing because I realized my life felt a whole lot emptier without it.

But right now, what I’m really having trouble balancing is The September Sisters book launch, with, well, everything else. It’s not the launch itself so much as the anticipation, the jitters, the excitement, and of course my own attempts at publicity and marketing. In fact all of this has pretty much dominated my life for the past month or so. Not much balance there at all.

My husband, who I’ve coined my unofficial publicist/head marketer/website designer is almost worse than I am. Our dinner conversation has been something like this lately.

Him: “How was your day?”
Me: “It was . . . Oh my god! Only (fill in number of days here) until the book comes out!”
Me: “I’m sorry. How was your day?”
Him: “It was. . .Hey, I Googled your book during lunch and found a new blog review. Did you see it?”

And it gets worse. At my son’s birthday party a few weeks ago, I found myself fielding questions about the book. While I was working out a few days ago, my husband interrupted to get my opinion on the bookmarks he was designing for me (which are awesome, by the way.) Kids go to bed, time to work on my revisions of my latest book? Not exactly. Instead, I’ve been answering interview questions, writing guest blogs, and trying to figure out how to use features on Goodreads and Facebook. My husband? He’s been hanging out in the office with me reading his very own copy of The September Sisters, and of course, stopping every so often to comment on a part the he hadn’t remembered reading in an earlier draft. That is, when he’s not working on my website or designing those aforementioned bookmarks!

Yeah. No balance. At all. It kind of reminds me of the way life was when I was nine months pregnant with my first child, when every single conversation or thought seemed to revolve around the baby or the birth or the nursery or how we were planning on caring for the baby. But in a lot of ways, isn’t a book coming out kind of like the same thing? With this book launch, I’m getting ready to put a piece of myself, out there, into the world, and once it’s out there, everything might be different than it was before. It’s an idea that overwhelms me with excitement (and sometimes, terror).

I am sure in a few weeks things will die down, and life will go back to normal, and then I’ll be happily back to juggling only life and writing. But for now, I’m okay with letting the book launch consume my life, for a little while anyway. After all, your debut book only comes out once!

PS. I’m all over the blogosphere this week and next, talking about The September Sisters. Click on over to my personal blog to find the links!

Balancing is tough stuff

I've started this post five times now. And I've finally decided to backspace through the last one and throw in the towel. (I know writers are suppose to be more creative than to use age-old trite expressions but it's going to have to do for now.) I could attempt to write a humorous post about balancing my life and at best I might eek out a little self-deprecating summary of all that's making me crazy. But I'm not even going to try.

Here's the deal. I have a really hard time balancing everything that's going on in my life. I try as hard as I can to keep the pen moving, the kids on track and the day job paying the bills, but it's tough stuff.

Tracy and Jill - I can't wait to read your books. Congratulations to you both! Please don't forget to set aside enough time to enjoy what you've worked so hard to accomplish. That's the part of the balancing act that is the most crucial.

Writing = Must Do

It's ironic that we're doing the topic "Balancing Life and Writing" this week--since I feel like my life has been going at mach ten speed the past few days. By day, I work in fundraising and worked a huge black-tie event all day and night on Saturday. I think I'm still recovering.

Many people look at me like I have six sets of eyes when I mention that I still work full-time and have a husband and son in addition to my literary "children." Often they ask, "How do you find the time?" And I usually stammer out, "Oh...you know...zero sleep...write on my lunch hour..." because I honestly don't know how I find the time. Between the demands of the day job and the regular boring tasks like laundry, cooking and cleaning, I have very little creative energy at the end of the day. But I somehow managed to write three books in two years, so I must be sneaking it in somewhere.

But what I do know is this: I HAVE to write. It's not just a hobby or an item on the to-do list. And while it's not always something I find easy--like when a character won't do what I tell them to do or a plot hole is staring me in the face, it's part of me. It's who I am. And I might not get a chance to do it every day, but it's always there, like a silent, ever-present piece of me, much like the freckles on my arms.

So finding time, while difficult, isn't really an issue. Because NOT doing it simply isn't an option. Much like brushing my teeth or putting on mascara.