I’m in the midst of writing the Next Historical and it seems like this book is going to be a time management challenge. I sat down at the computer with full knowledge that I had several tasks to take care of before I opened up the book.
Every single one of those tasks turned out to have several subtasks. Like, someone ordered a signed copy of a book, easy enough to deal with. But I offer a free digital copy to purchasers of a signed book (because they have to spend almost 3x the cost of the digital version for the print version) and this order came with a request for a copy. Which was fabulous! But it did mean I had to confirm I had the right file version (omitting some key facts here, just roll with me on this) so to be safe I had to generate a new file and then email it to her.
And then I remembered I owed a reader who designed the world’s most awesome Cat Woman T-shirt and sent one to me. (I have the ONLY one in the US of A! And she has the only one in Australia) and I said, well, in return I will send you books! And I waited on that until I had print copies of My Darkest Passion so I could send her 5 books instead of just 4, and I had to get that ready to be mailed.
And then I had to book my flight to Orange County because I’m speaking at the Orange County RWA the weekend before RWA, and I didn’t know which airport to fly into and I thought they’d told me, but after looking at all the emails, I couldn’t find that info, so I had to email them. They got back to me quickly so I booked the flight which entails a lot of staring at departure and arrival times and trying to figure out the whole, get up early or stay up late thing, and how long do I want to sit around at the airport.
I’ve come to realize that I am incapable of dealing with uncertainty and would actually rather sit an hour at the gate than freak out over the possibility of being late or lost or both. So, yeah.
And then I had to organize some important emails (seriously, if I don’t file away the important emails the day they land in my in-box, it’s hopeless.) AND I had to log income in the spreadsheet — because I live in fear of under-reporting income during the year and having my accountant calculate the wrong estimated tax (I paid the June taxes and now my bank account is gasping…) because if you end up owing more taxes than you thought, it’s just not pretty. So income gets logged the minute the deposit notices hit.
Then I had to email a woman in Hong Kong about the PO returning the books I mailed her back in OCTOBER. I am not kidding. The Post Office returned the books by mule, I guess.
Then I had to post here.
And now it’s 9:37 pm and my bedtime.
Thank goodness I wrote on my lunch hour. If I get cracking I might make word count before it’s too late….
Also, the dog, bless her little black heart, CHEWED UP MY COPY OF Epicure’s Almanack that cost me $50. It used to be in pristine shape and though I think it’s still kind of readable, I’m not sure if a book with the binding chewed off is going to last very long after I open it. I don’t think she ate any pages, but I’m too depressed to check.
::sob::
Do you ever have days like this?
Big ouch on the chewed book. My late, beloved dog ate the front of a couch arm once. After I saw it, we had the most quiet evening ever, because I was SO, you know, not happy with either of us. On the up side, she always brought me the squirrels she killed while I was at work.
Wow. Deceased squirrels. What a considerate dog!
The last time one of my dogs chewed up one of my research books I sat down in the middle of the floor and had a very long, very loud, very ugly cry. My furry crew saw and watched me in complete silence. After that, I have never come home to a chewed up book again. I think they thought I was going crazy and thought “If they cart her off to the looney bin who is going to operate the can opener? Who will get the cheese out of the refrigerator? Who will drive us to Nana’s? Who will fill our water dishes after we drain the toilet? YIKES!”
that would be SAT and watched me. It has been one of those days. I swear the place where I work is one cross-dressing doctor shy of a Rocky Horror Picture Show!
Oh, sorry about the rotten job. I have one of those too, except instead of Rocky Horror, it’s just horror.
I work at Walmart. Have you SEEN what those people wear??? There are days I have to come home and run my eyes through the dishwasher.
Totally know how you feel! Some days I put those little, supposedly quick tasks on my To Do List just for the satisfaction of crossing them off. I know it’s faking myself out, but it helps me feel a little better about not getting enough of the big stuff done.