How to Write a Book in a Mini-Van (just add chicken nuggets)

This past couple months has been more than a little insane. We’ve been knee deep in the process of house buying, including doing appraiser call outs (more on that in a moment), I sold two books and a novella to Berkley while keeping up on my writing for Harlequin and taking on a special short project for Harlequin. Then there was a visit from my out of town in-laws, the RWA conference and our family vacation to Disneyland.

Now, these are all really, really good things, but they are a lot of things. And some of it adds up to quite a lot of changes!

I think the nature of having young kids means you need to be able to adapt, because they’re always changing and growing. So because of that I think my writing has had to have a flexible nature from the beginnings. (As many of you know, I sold my first book while I was pregnant with my third child, and was working on revisions for my second book while I was in the hospital, after giving birth.) And as my children have grown, their needs have changed. Their routines have changed.

My oldest started school last year, and this year he’ll be in first grade going the whole day. So things evolve again.

I’m actually really thankful for this continual evolution because it’s taught me that, whatever my preference, I am able to change what I do, when I do it, and how I do it, to help suit the situation.

It’s hard to be disciplined when you work at home. First of all, it’s hard for your family to understand that you have to work and that just because you CAN skive off doesn’t mean you should. Second, it’s hard for YOU to remember that. No one is going to force me to sit in a cubicle and do my work. It’s up to me!

It’s even harder when time is conspiring against you!

Because the book I just finished (Bad Boy Russian) was the second in a duet, and because there was a book between him and the first book in the duet, even though the book wasn’t technically due for a while, my editor preferred I had it in early for scheduling reasons. Now, this came about right before we got our list of call outs from the appraiser.

The call outs were all the things we had to do to get the new house in shape so the bank could loan on it. The responsibility was on us entirely because it’s a short sale and the buyer is liable for all the issues the house has. So we’ve had two weekends in a row of intense work, and this, after I told my editor I would have the book done early!

Now, my editor, who is long suffering and fantastic, would have understood if I couldn’t do it. But I wanted to see if I could do it.

People, I wrote in some weird places this week. I wrote in the living room of the empty house. I wrote in my parents’ back yard while the kids played in the sprinklers. I wrote in my mini-van. One day I buckled the kids in and drove them to McDonald’s. We sat in the parking lot and they ate chicken McNuggets and watched Lion King while I wrote some words. Then another day, I parked us in the shady lot of a closed office building and we drank our Starbucks drinks while I edited a scene.

Some people will think I’m crazy. I own that, that’s fine. I’m a little crazy. 😉 But I also felt empowered. This week was crazier than I am, and I wasn’t able to work under my ideal conditions, but I was able to do it. There’s something wonderful about realizing that you DO have control over when and how you write. There’s something amazing about realizing that there is always a little time to steal here and there.

Now, I don’t want this to become my new process or anything. First of all, because I think McD’s is nasty. Bleah. Second, because…well, it’s lame to write your hero and heroine having semi-public sex at an opera house while your six year old is behind you saying: MOMMY DO SOME PLANES SPIN UPSIDE DOWN? CAN SOME PLANES DO THAT MOMMY???

But it was nice to know that I could. To know that, even when my circumstances were a little crazy, I still had some control. 😉

So that’s Bad Boy Russian out the door to my editor, revisions pending, am sure!! (I don’t even want to know what weird things sneaked their way into that MS, all things considered!) I also had word that my previous Presents, the hero of which I called The Ice Man, was approved by my editor, and my online short was approved as well.

Next on the agenda will be a Presents with a billionaire, CEO, geek heroine and the hero, her business rival. And also revisions for my first Silver Creek book.

Oh yes, and moving in to our new house! Which I hope happens very soon! (I will keep you posted!)