Back to Work

After publishing A Harmony for Steve last September, my life got incredibly and overwhelmingly consuming and writing just stopped for me. I would sit at my computer every day and just.not.produce. I plotted out three different 4-book series and wrote the first three chapters of the first three books of each series and found myself totally unable to go forward. Every word that came out of me was forced in an agonizing way.

But, in all fairness, I was exhausted – emotionally, mentally, spiritually exhausted. I’d traveled for almost two years, speaking and teaching to various groups. Right after Harmony’s release, during the months of just September through November, I traveled back and forth from Kentucky to Tulsa, Oklahoma; Nashville, Tennessee; Knoxville, Tennessee; Portland, Oregon; Maui Hawaii; Washington, D.C.; and Sydney Australia. On top of the travel, I’d had some personal things that going on that drained me emotionally.

I needed a break, and sometime around March I realized that forcing myself to work wasn’t going to do anyone any good. I thought if I just stopped writing, I could maintain everything else, but I found that I couldn’t. Blog posts were hard, newsletters were hard, even maintaining my interview schedule was hard. So, around June, I let myself off the hook.

I had two years’ worth of annual calendars on my office wall with my writing schedule strictly outlined that I took down and tossed. I turned my computer off and put away writing and research books and closed my office door.

We had an amazing summer and I did very little in the line of “work” during it. I attended two conferences (and only taught at one) and did maintain a social media presence, but it was lighthearted and fun. We enjoyed pools, museums, family, and mini golf.

Today is the beginning of the first full week of school. I am finally excited about getting back to work and producing a new book. I have a new calendar (this one started in July so that I don’t see a whole 6-months of emptiness when I look at it) that has been filled out with a little bit less strict schedule. Since I usually don’t write during summer months, having an academic year calendar makes more sense for me, anyway.

I have a daily blog plan, and pray that I am able to get that into gear. It will include weekly recipes (yay! everyone’s favorite), and a weekly devotion from me, along with continued articles about parenting a child on the autism spectrum and my weekly interview with a Christian author (always with a giveaway!). I’ll also be back to contributing at the Faithful blog on a regular basis.

If you aren’t already subscribed to my blog, you might want to subscribe just so you can keep up. My next release should be Hallee Crockpotter and the Chamber of Sacred Ingredients, a slow cooker cook book. After that, I have a box set coming out with some amazing other Christian romance authors with an exclusive, never before seen book that will help launch a series that will publish sometime this winter. And — for those of you fans of the Jewel Series, look for another second generation novella – this one about Barry and Maxine’s daughter.

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2 comments

  1. Glad that you are back at it. It sounds as if you truly deserved a break. Looking forward to your new works.

    1. Thank you! I’m looking forward to them, too!

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