Karen Bass

I love how supportive YA and children’s writers are. Canadian writer, Karen Spafford-Fitz, has posted a review of Drummer Girl over on Amazon.com. Check it out here. Let me know if you agree or disagree, … just make sure you read the novel first.

So I quit at the library in June and had planned to dive in to this full-time writing gig. Timing is everything – and my timing was terrible. Mostly because my hubby is a teacher. I hadn’t even started to settle into my new schedule when he was off for the summer. There went my summer. Seriously. What is it about someone being in the house that distracts me?

Then we went on holidays (which were fantastic … except for the cool weather), and as soon as I arrived home so did boxes of books. My new book, to be exact. This was exciting but way earlier than I’d expected. Suddenly I was having to focus on promoting and figuring out launch details and all sorts of fun stuff like that. It has consumed me.

Now my hubby is back at school, and I am in need of balance. Something like, promotion stuff in the morning and writing in the afternoon. Of course, this will go out the window when I hit the road on the 14th. I’m very excited to be expanding my usual launch territory into Saskatchewan (my publisher’s home province) and southern Alberta. So far I have school/library stops scheduled in four cities and have launch readings in three. For the record they are: Edmonton, AB on Sep 14; Calgary, AB on Sep 24; and in Grande Prairie, AB on Oct 1 as part of Alberta Arts Days.

But none of this helps me get into a writing schedule. It’s way too easy for the promotional activities to bleed into my writing/revising time. I’m guessing this is why writers who can afford it hire people. In the meantime, maybe I’ll try Sara Zarr’s approach of “Building Blocks”.

How do you structure your time so that writing is still your primary activity?