I recently went on a month long road trip (one of the top reasons to become a writer - your schedule is your own and you can write anywhere, but I digress), and while it was a hell of a lot of fun, it was a bit of a double-edged sword.
It took me a day when I got back to go through my mail. A day to do my laundry. A day to figure out what my next step as a writer is. Okay, that's taking more than a day. But I think I finally have a plan.
I started my trip with the unusual circumstance of having no deadlines in my future. All my projects were wrapped up; I have no outstanding contracts. My time was once again my own.
So, what to do with it? I have so many ideas for books, it's hard to focus on just one. But my immediate game plan is to write the first in a series contemporary romance and send that to my agent to shop around. While that process is ongoing, I have a half-finished first in a new series small-town romance to finish. I plan on self-publishing that, so I'm sure it will come out before my straight contemporary book does. And then start plotting my new series in my historical world, a world full of spies and dominant men. And while that series is percolating, I hope to publish short stories in that world, a satisfying tease if you will, with two characters who will feature prominently in the new series. Anyone remember Cerise and Wilberforce from PLAYED BY THE EARL? These short stories are going to be all about them.
And I also might have a historical fiction book I want to research and write. So even though I have no deadlines, I have plenty to do. That road trip might have to hold me vacation-wise for a good while. :)
Anyhoo, here's a pic from my recent travels. Apparently a writer built a shack on a tiny island off the New England coast which has now been abandoned. He must have had crazy deadlines to meet.
