Okay, the last time we met, I had arrived at July 1998 and the RWA annual conference. Now I’ll give you a glimpse of what happened in the last five months of the year.
August
- Went on 8 day vacation with my laptop (meaning I relaxed and worked).
- Wrote 134 pages on Silhouette Special Edition #2 (which I started writing in June).
- Wrote opening 28 pages on second CBA novel, Whispers From Yesterday.
- Wrote proposal for SSE #3
- Received copy edits for The Forgiving Hour on the 31st.
September
- Completed copy edits of The Forgiving Hour.
- Received and completed page proofs for SSE #1.
- Wrote final 53 pages on SSE #2; did final revise and polish and sent to editor.
- Traveled to Nebraska to speak at a writers’ conference (four days).
- Traveled to Wisconsin for a Power Plotting retreat (five days).
- Received page proofs of The Forgiving Hour.
October
- My final HarperPaperback novel, In His Arms, was released.
- Returned to writing Whispers From Yesterday, adding another 189 pages to the total.
- Received, completed, and returned the copy edits for SSE #2.
- Completed and returned the page proofs of The Forgiving Hour.
- Began the “Experiencing God” Bible study (on my own, not as part of a group).
November
- Wrote 97 pages on Whispers from Yesterday.
- Traveled to Denver to present writing workshop (three days).
- Began hosting a women’s Bible study in my home on Saturday mornings.
- Sold SSE #3.
- Hosted family Thanksgiving at my house.
December
- Wrote the final 85 pages of Whispers From Yesterday; completed the final revise and polish (adding about another 20-25 pages to manuscript in the process) and sent to editor.
- Hosted the local RWA chapter’s annual Christmas party in our home.
- Received author copies of The Forgiving Hour. (What a moment that was, holding my first CBA novel in my hands. Ten times better than the publication of my first book almost 15 years earlier.)
- At request of an Oscar-winning screenwriter, sent a copy of The Forgiving Hour to her for consideration for film.
- Christmas with the family hosted in our home.
And thus ended 1998.
I think those five months gives a good glimpse of what it is like to be a “working writer.” Constantly juggling projects in various stages. Trying to have a life outside of writing, too. For if one fails to “have a life,” one will eventually have nothing to write about (or about which to write, for the purists among my readers).
