Oh help – I nearly missed the date!
I’ve been so very busy this past couple of weeks that I barely registered the fact that it’s June, let alone the way that two weeks – two weeks! – of the month have already gone by and here it is June 15th already. And that means it’s time for my Kate’s Corner blog and – oh help again! – I haven’t got a subject to chat about prepared.
Unless – well, let me tell you why I’ve been so very busy – It’s the sort of thing that people don’t realise happens when I say that I’m a writer. Writers write, don’t they ? That’s it? That’s what people think is all there is to being a writer. You sit down at the desk and you write. You write until you finish the book – and then you send it in to your editor. Most people realise that then there are revisions – and then the editor hopefully accepts it – and then you wait till you get the book in your hands. And in the meantime you sit down and write another book.
I wish!
Looking back at the past few weeks, it’s a bit of a haze – a haze of busyness. Let me see, I have (with Heather’s help) updated my web site. There’s a new book coming out. The Good Greek Wife? is out in the UK on July 2nd so I have to plan for that and publicise it, let readers know it will soon be on the shelves. This book is a bit special – it’s a special commission that my editor gave me and it’s based on one of the Greek Myths so I had an article to write about that. You can see that on my web site if you want to read about it. Then there was a new contest to plan.
This time I have a special contest – well, it’s special to me. I’m running this one jointly with my special friend and wonderful writer Michelle Reid. We both have books out in the UK at the same time – Hers is Mia’s Scandal and mine is the one I’ve already mentioned The Good Greek Wife. This has happened before about this time of year so we’ve run a joint contest to celebrate – and this year we’re doing the same. You can find the details on my blog or my web site if you’d like to enter and have a chance of winning a signed copy of each of these two great books.
What else? Well, there were home and family things – visits from friends and from my MIL – and, well you know how these things happen. You have visitors coming and suddenly you look at the room they’re going to stay in and it looks a bit shabby – so we’ve been painting and redecorating – and adding new curtains and bed linen . . . The same with the dining room. These are the things I don’t get time to do when I’m writing. I’ve also had a complete sort out of my office, moved everything round, cleaned, reorganised.
I’ve also had boring things like accounts to do, even more boring things like visits to the dentist, eye tests . . The cats had to have their booster injections and the garden was getting terribly overgrown (that’s what happens when you concentrate on the passionate love life of a sexy Sicilian instead of what’s happening behind your own back door!) . And next month is a really busy month (is there anything different?) In July I’m teaching at the Romantic Novelists’ Association Conference in Greenwich London – and then two weeks after that I’m teaching a course on Writing Romance at the wonderful Writers’ Holidays in Caerleon in Wales.
I have critiques to do – for the RNA’s New Writers’ Scheme and one I promised for the Brenda Novak Auction . There are letters to write, new bookmarks to plan – and oh yes, posts to create for blogs! Like this one.
And the truth is that I’ve been so very busy that I really hadn’t thought of a thing to write until I sat down here and started to tell you what’s been happening. But at least I’ve created a blog out of that. And just listing everything that’s been going on (and believe me this is only part of it!) has given me some sort answer to that question – just where has the time gone?
So that’s what’s been happening to me this month – how about you? Has it been busy, or frantic – or quiet (if so I envy you!). Have you had time to relax or like me have you been chasing your tail?
The problem is though – now all this is done and I finally feel like I’ve caught up just a little but, there’s a new book to write and another deadline way too close . . .and I’m going to have tp sit down and writer. That means that everything else will get neglected and when I finish, I’ll have to try to catch up all over again!
But I wouldn’t really have it any other way.
Kate’s latest Presents EXTRA The Konstantos Marriage Demand is still available and in the UK she has The Good Greek Wife coming soon. Look o0ut for this book in Presents EXTRA in October 2010.
You can find out more details on her web site or on her blog
