A modern day author’s life varies greatly from the practises of say, an author writing thirty years ago. While Barbara Cartland would lay on her chaise lounge with her fluffy white dog in her lap and speak into a dictation machine, and P.D. James’ secretary would turn up at 10am every day to type up P.D.’s longhand, modern day authors are using voice recognition software to get the words down, while the others are pounding away on their laptops. Everything is quicker, if not instantaneous.

The first thing I do in the morning, after taking a forty five minute walk with my husband along the beach to clear my head, is check email and social media. Living in Australia, I’m always interested to see what’s come in overnight from the Northern Hemisphere and from our friends, two hours ahead of us, across the ditch in New Zealand. This means scrolling through Facebook and Twitter as well as reading my emails and preparing blog posts.  And I haven’t even had breakfast yet.

My morning is usually spent editing my work from the day before. It helps to read it again after a good nights’ sleep. Some days, I spend an hour or two skyping with my grown up children who are living in the United States. Instantaneous.

Most things are a mere key stroke away, and for a writer, this is both awesome and distracting. The internet has forever changed the way we work and the way we interact, but what hasn’t changed is the need for writer’s to have discipline, the discipline of putting your butt in the recliner and getting the words down one way or another. Usually my afternoons are spent this way, trying to add words to my current WIP. And like everyone else on the planet, there are chores to do, messages to run and elderly parents to visit. Sometimes, it’s hard to find the hours to forge ahead, and some days are more successful than others. But there’s no way around exercising that discipline, because in the end the book is not going to write itself.

Six o’clock is wine o’clock in my house, and I usually begin thinking about getting started on dinner. If I’m not satisfied with my word count for the day, I’ll try getting some more words down at night, maybe after catching a TV program like Homeland or Hostages.

Then it’s time for bed, and like everyone else, it all begins again the next day.

About Lee Christine:

Lee Christine is a former legal practice manager and corporate trainer. An amateur songwriter in her teens, she is passionate about music, and plays the alto saxophone.

In 2011, In Safe Hands won first place in the Romance Writers of America Silicon Valley Gotcha Contest, followed in 2012 with first place in The Smoky Mountains Laurie Award and the East Texas Southern Heat Writing Contest. The novel also received a Commended in the 2012 Romance Writers of New Zealand Clendon Award.

In Safe Hands is Lee’s first novel, and she is currently writing her second, another gripping romantic suspense. She has two grown children, and lives in Newcastle, Australia. Learn more about Lee here

*****

In Safe Arms

Amazon US | Amazon UK | B&N | iBooks

Smooth, seductive and savage: Lee Christine returns to the dark, criminal underbelly of Sydney with her follow-up to In Safe Hands.

Legal secretary Josephine Valenti has no idea why a notorious bikie president would be contacting her, but when he is murdered in front of her eyes, she knows that she is in very deep trouble. Fleeing to her home, she’s intercepted by Nate Hunter, a man she used to know and lust after…a man she used to care about.

However, Nate has changed. His leathers and his bike tell of a lifestyle that Josie can’t begin to accept or understand. His is a life of drugs, money laundering and prostitution.

Though, all is not what it seems, and Josie must fight harder than she ever has before — for the truth, for what’s right, and, ultimately for the man who still has a hold of her heart.

Goodreads praise for In Safe Hands: “This is a fabulous debut novel, expertly thought out and skilfully written with a passionate pair of main characters that both have hidden depths…I’m definitely looking forward to her next release!”

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