I Can Tell You What I've Not Been Doing

Today after yoga someone asked me what I was working on. I told her about a novel I've been writing now over for over two years, on and off. I finally got up the courage and strength to complete the manuscript so I could submit it to a writing contest. It is historical fiction, set in the 1990s and has multi-cultural characters, a lot of legal case studies, and diverse settings, which has made writing it a challenge.

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While writing doggedly almost every day but the one day a week I go into my office for meetings and grading online classes, there isn't much time for me to do anything else pertaining to my goals as an author. For example, I haven't been promoting my books. I haven't been blogging about my research (especially for this book as I want it to remain under the radar for the contest). I haven't been checking my book stats every day like I used to do when my last book came out in May 2016. I haven't even cared. I've been in the zone, trying to get this manuscript done in time for the contest deadline.

And it's been kind of nice-this getting off the treadmill of self-promotion. I'd love to tell you I'm letting the books sell themselves. But that really wouldn't be true. I'm not that famous. I don't really care. I just love what I do for pleasure: write until my arm aches. Write until I'm running through dialogue in my head at night while trying to sleep.  Write until I can type The End. And know it may not be perfect yet, but I did it. I finished a manuscript.