Tidbit: Reality Check

To all you newbie writers out there with stars in your eyes, here's a dose of reality. Writing books sounds grand and glorious, and honestly it is, but there's oh-so-much-more that makes up an author's life. Here's what's currently on my writerly plate:

• Read through and send off final galley for a book coming out in January.
• Receive an ARC of my non-fiction and read through for errors.
• Write guest blog posts for January blog tour.
• Oh yeah, arrange for a January blog tour, so start emailing bloggers.
• Editor asked for more story ideas . . . come up with some and send them off.
• Prepare for speaking gig on Monday night to talk about plotting.
• Plan for Writer Off the Leash's Anniversary on Oct. 17, as in conjure some zany promotional idea.
• Write a book review for the novel I recently finished.
• Try to finish reading the other 2 books I need to write reviews for.
• Send off a chapter of my writing for a critique group meeting on Monday and critique those I receive in return . . . before Monday, of course.
• Decide if I should sign a contract for a particular project or hold off for a bigger offer or self-pub the dang thing.

And that's just off the top of my head. I'm sure I'm forgetting at least five other writing-related items. Notice what's not on there? 

Write for the sheer love of writing.

And that, newbies, is the one thing you need to hold onto for as long as you possibly can, because the Creeping Charlie of extraneous writerly duties will eventually choke-hold your writing time.

Yeah. Be careful what you wish for. It might come true.