Burning the Candle at Both Ends

It’s what I tend to do. But I also noticed it’s something all the hardcore magicians I know do, too. What I’m saying is I’m not exclusive in my bad habit to bite off more than I can chew and burn the candle at both ends. It’s a delicate art of balance to have so much going on and to keep up with the forward momentum.

I have learned over the years that if I’m producing books like crazy, my domestic life suffers, and if I focus on the domestic, my writing production suffers. Evidently I can’t walk and chew gum at the same time.

Early this summer I decided I was going to be awesome and wow my husband (and myself) with several BIG projects around the house that have needed doing for a few years now (redoing a bathroom, garage sale, de-cluttering, along with my annual vegetable garden) while simultaneously working the p/t day job, writing, and doing all my Daemonolatry to-do’s (like readings, designing divination decks, and making custom items for folks). I also decided I was going to delve back into teaching after MUCH debate and discussion with myself and friends. On top of that, I decided to take on the Daemonolatry Necromancy event over at demonolatry.org since I’ve somehow become the rather unofficial events coordinator for TTS and the .org. To throw a little more wood onto that fire, I also decided to get the YouTube channel rolling again. This time with longer “intro” class-like videos instead of just boring 5-6 minute Q&A’s.

Add to that all those things that go with spring/summer – birthdays, bbq’s, weddings, graduations, vacation and family gatherings — Agios Daimon!

But I didn’t stop there. I somehow managed to still put out a short story (Dead Man’s Knock) and do a huge promotional campaign there, and through it all I wrote on Black Lily. Yet, Black Lily isn’t ready yet. It’s close – REALLY close. But not quite there.

So here’s the thing — I am putting the finishing touches on the bathroom remodel this week since it has to be done for end of summer BBQ this weekend. Some touch up to the walls, new cabinet door pulls, and another coat of paint and some decorative touches on the cabinets. I just put the finishing touches on the Necromancy Packages and they’re all ready to ship. I’m going to finish that up this week. I have to make a ton of zucchini bread for my mom, which I will also have done this week (because I have a TON of zucchini from the garden). I also need to process all of the tomatoes from the garden (whatever doesn’t go into this weekend’s salsa is going into the freezer as sauce). Once all of this is done — my focus is Lily. I thought I would have this book out the beginning of summer and that I’d have Her Demon Wedding out by this autumn, but again my schedule is off.

It’s entirely my own fault. I am constantly working on too many things at once. At least it all eventually gets done, just not always in the time frame I (or others) expect it to. I expect some readers will be upset at Lily‘s late release and I expect others won’t mind one bit. Don’t worry – at some point I’ll go into a writing upswing where I release 1 short story, 2 novellas, and a novel in the span of 4 months. It happens. The tides of my productivity ebb and flow with creative manic episodes because that’s how my creative mind works.

Thanks for reading and thanks for being SO patient with my creative process!