A Day in the Life

A list of the unfortunate daily rituals of one unpublished writer:

• Wake and identify excellent new plot points for story. Feel enthusiastic.
  
• Drink coffee while waking household to a bright new day. Think about exciting new ideas for story.
  
• Make 3,478th sack lunch for child.
• Argue heatedly with boisterous 10 year old son about weather appropriate clothing, politics, God, the pros/cons of sword fighting near a hot stove, the NerfGun dart that is stuck to the back of my neck, and what shoes he will wear (he will make the WORST choice).
  
• Use threats, coercion and bribery to successfully send son off to school.
• Chastise self for good measure.
  
• Search memory for new plot points identified that morning. Fail to locate them.
• Chastise self for good measure - again.
  
• Despair over writing career.
  
• Drink coffee and read email.
• Open Story on laptop.
  
• Suddenly think of something else that needs to be done right away.
• Do that other thing.
• Return to desk.
  
• Read Huffington Post.
• Consider blogging but feel inadequate for the task.
  
• Stare interestedly at toenails. Consider seeking emergency pedicure. Remember vow to stop all self-indulging behaviors until first book is published. Ha.
  
• Talk to dogs about problems.
  
• Think fondly of the days when cigarette smoking was cool. Pat self on back for quitting years ago while secretly fantasizing about making smoke rings.
  
• Pluck eyebrows thoroughly (as if this is actually possible).
• In an effort to justify lack of creativity (and to avoid having to actually WRITE), read and edit Story pages written to date.
  
• Have a snack and wonder if it is too early for a glass of wine.
• Experiment with new Epi-Lady on legs and armpits. Yeouch!
  
• Have another snack.
• Drink coffee.
  
• Drink coffee.
• Drink coffee.
  
• Re-read Huffington Post.
• Day dream.
• Nap.
• Drink coffee.
  
• Call a friend to talk about her problems.
  
• Go for walk or run or do yoga and day dream the entire time.
• Use positive self-talk to pull myself together.
  
• Sit down at desk again and disconnect from the internet.
• Despair of ever writing a complete story much less publishing one.
• Take a deep breath. Exhale.
• Begin, finally, to write.
• Write and write and write until that subtle shift occurs and I am lost in the sea of my dreams.
• Start over the next day.
  

Where am I? Day One.

Hi. So I'm starting this blog very unsure, really, of what "blog" means. I suppose then I will have to define it for myself. Story of my life.

Here I am. Lena. Writer of Romantic Fiction. How did I get here?

It started with a premature mid-life crisis (very premature if you please). Suddenly overcome with the desire to be The Real Lena, I quit my job as a rising star in my profession (read over-achiever, perfectionist, exhausted martyr) and turned instead to the work I've always wanted to do: writing romance novels. It was and is so very hard for me to strive for this dream.

I was raised to believe that love, sex, humor and joy are not valuable. Drudgery, hard work and loneliness are real, according to my teachers. Like a good little pupil, I tried very hard to cover up my own innate sensuality, my loud laugh, my flirtatious smile and my womanly curves. And I most certainly hid my love for romance novels.

What a drag that was!

Off with the disguise, I say! I am a sensual woman who loves laughter, food, drink, friends and sex. I love to curl up with a steamy romance novel and know that it'll all turn out just great in the end. I love to read about strong women, strong men, strong emotions and titillating sex. Not to mention adventure and intrigue.

How could I have avoided myself for so long? Thank god I came to my senses.

I am writing about a gutsy and somewhat goofy modern day woman who is kidnapped and taken back through time to the antebellum south. Turns out she's the long lost heiress to a plantation! This is rather disturbing to her for so very many reasons. I'm sure you can imagine at least a few of them. In the process of figuring it all out, my heroine meets this really hot guy who is way too serious and loyal and really needs to have a good laugh. Somehow they manage find happiness together. I'm not entirely certain how it works out but I assure you, it is going to have a happy ending. I guarantee it. Because it's a romance novel!

This is the first full-length novel I have written. I hope to finish it soon but it's excrutiating. Like pulling teeth. And then there's the re-writes. Groan. So, to manage my own sanity, I've decided to blog about the ups and downs of being an unpublished writer of romantic fiction.

I'll try to post daily but sometimes I cannot go near the computer for fear of _______________. You fill in the blank. Please. Blank space is very scary to a newbie like me.

love - Lena