Busy

Maybe I'm just a little tired/frustrated or whatever, but I've gotten a lot of questions/comments/smart remarks via various websites and through life over the last couple months that have finally galvanized me into replying. Since Twitter doesn't accept long, rambling rants, I figured Facebook and my blog are the best places to just get stuff off my chest.

Just because I'm unemployed doesn't mean I'm not doing anything. It doesn't mean I have a lot of free time. It doesn't mean I'm goofing off all day. It doesn't mean I'm wasting my time having fun and not doing anything productive.

My husband plays a lot of video games. So does my roommate. I haven't played on *my* PS2 that I earned by getting a 106% for my semester grade for English back in 2006 in over a year.

The only time I go to the movies is with my parents or with my editor because she says it's relevant to my work (like when we went to see John Carter of Mars). Not that I don't enjoy the movies I see, but I never go to a movie purely for pleasure.

Whenever I go to Lorien's house, we always do some editing. Always. I edit her book if she's got a new chapter waiting, and she edits my chapters. We don't go to Blockbuster or Redbox or order stuff off Netflix except through her, and it's usually already there when I get there (and again, is relevant in some way to our work).

My fun time involves watching a couple hours of TV a week with Lorien, maybe.

Reading is work. Writing is work. I write more than 6 hours a day usually. Every day except Sunday, and even on Sunday, I'll write blogs or read over something. I don't edit things, because it's the Sabbath, but everything I read is relevant to my job, so anytime I read, it has an impact on how well I do that job.

Just this past week, I pushed out 4 chapters of Obsidian and 8 chapters of The Shepherd's Daughter. That's not counting chapter 72 (yes, 72) of Once Upon a Time that I finished, either, or chapter 73 that I've started. All told, that's about 40,000 words. In one week. That's 2/3 of a full novel.

I am currently working on more than 10 novels and 4 very long stories. I also juggle:

- looking for a job in a crappy economy

- editing Warrior for Lorien (which everyone should read)

- reviewing other people's work to build networking relationships in the writing community

- doing some household chores

- mediating between my husband and my roommate

- visiting with my parents

- strengthening my marriage

- trying to be active at church

- budgeting

- reading

- answering fan mail

- spending time with my cats so they don't forget me

- working out so that I'm at a healthy weight when my husband and I decide to have children

- trying to maintain healthy relationships with a few other friends/acquaintances and my in-laws

- hanging out via phone with my sister

- sponsoring two people with addictions

- keeping abreast of the current writing market and market trends

- counseling/mentoring aspiring writers online (without any internet at my house).

I'm not goofing off at home. I'm working. I just don't have an employer. So except for really important occassions, I don't really have time to do much. I can't afford to invest a lot of time and energy into something unless it's going to be worth it. Which is why I am on Facebook - so I can talk to people once in a while that I don't have time to see in real life.

And in case you guys are wondering what I've been doing the last 13 months, I have:

- written and published 2 novels (Glass and Their Forever Family)

- gotten (and lost) 2 agents

- started a blog

- finished about 4/5 of a 3rd novel (Obsidian)

- finished about 2/5 of a 4th and 5th novel (The Shepherd's Daughter and Where the Heart Is)

- written the prologues for 3 novels

- written at least the first chapter or two of 8 of those novels

- gotten to or past the first 3 chapters with 7 of those novels

- have written 833,351 words of an internationally acclaimed fanfic that has boosted my book sales and spreads the Gospel (that word-count does not include any words written for any other work, and does not include the scenes and chapters I have written and then cut)

- mentored at least 3 aspiring authors

- edited Lorien's amazing book

So just so we're clear - I may not be working, but I *am* incredibly busy.

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Books I'm Working On Right Now

1 - Obsidian: Book 2 of the Twilight Chessboard (sequel to Glass; urban fantasy based on Alice in Wonderland)

2 - The Shepherd's Daughter (high fantasy inspired by The Nutcracker)

3 - Grimcat (urban fantasy inspired by fairy tales)

4 - I Hear the Bones Singing (urban fantasy inspired by various fairy tales)

5 - a steampunk "Snow White" novel

6 - a science fiction novel based on the Scandinavian folktale, "East of the Sun, West of the Moon"

7 - Off the Traditional Path (science fiction inspired by fairy tales)

8 - Where the Heart Is (inspirational romance inspired by "Rapunzel")

9 - The Heart of Three Bears (inspirational historical romance inspired by "Goldilocks")

10 - Anne of Zombie Gables (classic/monster-mashup)

11 - Garnet: Book 3 of the Twilight Chessboard (sequel to Obsidian)

12 - Destiny: The Soul-Shifting Adventures of a James Dean Rebel Girl (a paranormal YA novel based on the Irish myth of "East of the Sun, West of the Moon")

13 - Acid Splash (a contemporary realistic middle-grade novel)

14 - Royal Moons (high fantasy novel about werewolves)

15 - Lilies in the Boneyard (urban fantasy inspired by the myth of "Hades and Persephone")

Stories I'm Working On Right Now

1 - Once Upon a Time (for Hellboy - this one is 963,547 words long)

2 - "A Curse as Dark as Night, and Cold" (for Thor)

3 - "Snow White, Blood Red" (for Hellboy)

4 - "Pokemon Ivory" (for Pokemon)