On The Road Again...

In about six months, my debut novel will (finally) be released.

In about six weeks, I’ll be moving to another state (again).

Relocations are a natural consequence of my profession, and this will be the seventh in my twenty year career. You’d think at this point I would be used to them, but I know I can expect a couple months worth of disruption at a time when all I want to do is focus on THE FAR EMPTY release and keep working away on the new book. The timing isn’t perfect, but as so often in life, when would it be?

That’s why I’ve preached here and elsewhere about always making the novel the priority. You have to bend your life around your writing, rather than hope your life eventually accommodates it. There are very few “good times” to sit down and put words on the page, most often the best you can hope for is that the time is merely “good enough." I never write when I feel like it, I just always write.

Maybe - eventually - I’ll feel differently. Or I’ll get to a point in my craft where I can get the quantity and quality of work done without a such a rigid adherence to a daily commitment. Many writers are completely successful with wildly different and or even less regimented approaches, and although I don’t necessarily envy them, I can appreciate the advantages some of those writers enjoy.  That being said, I can only work the system that works for me, and that brings me back to my move. I’ll still be cranking away at the words, even while most of my life is being boxed up and carted away.

I also wanted to give a small plug to Elena Hartwell's Arc of A Writer blog. All this month she's profiling Thriller authors with 2016 debuts, focusing on the things they're most looking forward to on release day. Take a moment, it's a great read.

As always, keep writing - JTS