• Blog

    Deadlines, set backs and expectations on #MusicalMonday

    3/1/2015

    Monique McDonell Upper Crust Series Banner

    These are so pretty aren’t they?

    I really am working very hard to get the rest of these babies on the shelf soon. I was hoping to have Any Way You Dream It out in March but I think April now looks more realistic and Any Way You Fight It Will Follow in May.

    As some of you know I write under two names and as my pen name I also have two new books coming out in the next two months. It isn’t like I’m not trying very hard. It takes a long time to write a book and honestly, the e-space, which makes everything seem instant required speed. It’s hard to get a balance. Not enough books and you lose readers. Too many books that might be under-written or under-edited and you will also lose readers.

    As you can see by this little ticker I am writing. This is my word count so far this year. I am a little behind where I wanted to be because I lost a whole chunk of a novel (10,000 words) and had to rewrite it to meet the deadline. So I lost 10 days. When you consider that I’m only one day behind so that’s not too shabby.

    58,000 / 365,000 words.
    It’s really hard to maintain your momentum after something like that. Picking oneself up and the dusting off are not really my personal strengths so the fact I did it so well this time I’m taking as amoral victory. Maybe I’m finally growing up? Yeah, I doubt it.

    Anyway I’m busy writing book 4 in the Upper Crust series while the Beta readers work on Book 2 and hopefully Book 3 this week. I always feel so nervous sending the books out and usually they tell me what I already know to be true. You can usually feel where the lags are or where the story doesn’t quite gel but that outside voice saying what you already know is so very helpful

    I really need to get a newsletter out. The mailing list is the big thing so I better do something to grow mine. It would be nice to go back to the days where writing was all about the writing I sometimes think. There are aspects of the marketing side that really don’t overly appeal to me.

    Enough of my ramblings (I should be writing anyway). It is of course Musical Monday and I heard a great song yesterday and of course now I can’t remember the name. In my defense I’m just home for the doctor and we established I’ve probably been living with a sinus infection for six months so I think all in all I could be a lot more ditsy.

    And because there is indeed a school reunion in Any way You Dream It, here is a lovely schoolyard song for Musical Monday – we’re kicking it old school today.

  • Blog

    Procrastinating on a Musical Monday

    10/26/2014

    Sydney Harbour BridgeI often say I could procrastinate for Australia. so accomplished am I at this under-rated skill. If there were state selections I’d definitely final.

    To me procrastination isn’t putting stuff off forever or never doing it, but rather putting it off until it wakes you in the night, distracts you from other things and gives you a cold sweat at the mere thought of it, whatever it is.

    This I am amazing at this.

    The things I procrastinate about fall neatly into two categories – things that scare me and things that bore me.

    I think we all have things in that second category. Mine includes folding laundry, sorting mail, anything tax related and anything involving the more technical aspects of the computers (as this translates to my writing anything on Amazon or Createspace). It makes that we don’t relish doing these jobs but like them or not they don’t go away.

    The first category – the scary stuff – also makes sense but putting it off usually doesn’t minimise the fear. My experience of doing this for MY ENTIRE LIFE is that the fear grows bigger, it’s shadow looms larger and it’s weight grows heavier.

    Often the things I’m scared of are new things.

    The truth is it usually takes longer to master something new so one really should take all the available time not leave it until there’s simply not enough but logic and fear have never been logical companions. Sometimes the new things are even opportunities and then you have to add in that little voice that asks “do you deserve this opportunity?”

    Procrastinator and self-sabotage – what a charming picture I paint.

    My to-do list this week is alarmingly long because of the above but today I have scratched my big black pen through quite a few line items. That’s terrific but it leaves me asking as it does every time – ‘when will you learn?’ My guess is never.

    (FYI -I don’t consider flaking out and not completing tasks procrastination. I do eventually get everything done. I don’t miss deadlines that affect other people because at my core I’m embarrassingly polite and it’s rude to mess other people around.)

    So after that we need a perky tune for a Monday. This song is one of my current favourites. Yes it is about a breakup but it is also about a girl going after what she wants and I like that a lot.