Writing – What a ride!

When I started my writing career, I did it with the kind of breathless anticipation one feels when they are boarding a roller coaster. In the four years since I pulled the harness down, I’ve experienced every kind of extreme—the highs, the lows, the twists that left me dizzy and the sharp turns I never saw coming.

We live in a fast-paced world. This is a tough business, and it’s changing every second. There’s a lot of pressure for an author. Even more than many people realize, because many of us are working a full-time day job, raising families, and trying to manage our own romances while cranking out the juicy stuff for our readers. It can be a bit…much. Things got so overwhelming that just a few months or so ago I dipped into a valley so low I thought about quitting.

For about a minute.

I don’t think I could if I wanted to. At the moment, more ideas running around in my head than I have hours to write them. And I don’t want to let them go. Therefore, I needed to find a way to balance my writing with my life.

Here are a few ways I’ve learned to roll with the flow:

1) I bought a hammock. Sounds counter-productive, right? Wrong! Staring up at the sky from a hammock is the perfect way to let the imagination soar.

2) Word count. Yes, most authors have a daily word count goal, but I did something radical with mine. I lowered it. You see, on most days I can write about a thousand words in an hour. I used to think that meant I should be able to crank out a minimum 3k a night. You know, between dinner, laundry, yard work…. Uh huh. Couldn’t pull that off for very long. Now I aim for a thousand words her night. I usually end up with more, but with a lot less pressure.

3) I’ve given myself permission to say no. As writers, we hear the word with heart-wrenching regularity, but we don’t often use it. For every hour we spend writing, we spend just as many working on branding and promotion, but I’ve finally given up on trying to be everywhere all at once. The writing the best story I can is my priority. Period.

By taking a step back, I feel like I’m giving myself room to grow. So yeah, that clicking sound you hear is the lift chain catching the undercarriage of this roller coaster train once more. Hang on and hands up!

Bio:

By day, Maggie Wells is buried in spreadsheets. At night she pens tales of people tangling up the sheets. She’ll tell you she’s a deep down dirty girl, but you only have to scratch the surface of this mild-mannered married lady to find a naughty streak a mile wide. The product of a rogue and a shameless flirt, she just can’t help herself…that’s part of her charm.

For a dose of heart and heat with your happily ever after, check out  Website | Twitter @MaggieWells1 | Facebook

Maggie would like to giveaway an e-copy of her newest release The Last First Date.

Let’s take a look at The Last First Date

Amazon| B&N  

First date number forty-eight comes to a screeching halt for detective Langley Sheppard when his date lifts a pack of gum from the local convenience store. But things start looking up when he encounters spunky damsel in distress Jessica Vickers, who’s stranded in the store parking lot. Now Lang is about to discover that on a night when everything goes wrong, falling for Jessica feels spectacularly right.

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Make sure to check out all of the other stops on this month long tour HERE and enter the grand prize giveaway.