Monday's Meanderings with Janet Lane Walters

When the body fails what does a writer do. Sunday I should have taken part in a local book signing but when I got out of bed I could barely stand or walk. This meant I had to cancel out and of course the fantasies began. How many books would I have sold? I was only taking 20 and I have so many. Last week, I took 15 to a signing and sold 9. Figuring the number I might have sold boggled my mind but then I had to put the fantasies away. I would have been happy to sell 1 book. A former critique partner and a brilliant writer, Eileen Charbonneau, once told me if one sells a book at a signing, the signing is a success. She's absolutely right. That's what I always aim for when I do a signing.  What I really would like is a younger back on this aging body. Which brings me to another thing that hit me this week.

I am 76 and there are so many books I still want to write. Will I write them all? Who knows since I write one book at a time. I was working on 2 for a short period and then stopped myself. This was only holding me back. I have now five books that are planned and those I will finish but I've had to change the order around a bit. Why? Some publishers move faster than others. Some publishers don't follow the contracts. I'm usually cool with waiting for the money to come but that's when the publisher at least sends me a quarterly or semi-annual report within the time they are supposed to. I'll never name specific publishers who have fallen down on their contracts but I won't go there again. Makes it hard when one has part of a series at one publisher. Eventually I'll finish the series but there are other series I'll finish first.

Now as far as writing last week, I'm on the cleanup drafts of Lines of Fire and I'm pleased with how it's going. I'll be close to the target 60,000 words when I get into the last round of edits which is making sure all the words are there and all the question marks are in place. That seems to be my problem. Sometimes periods come when there should be question marks. Lately, / has taken the place of ?. Probably because I haven't held an essential button down. Once this story is ready to go to the publisher, I'll work on The World Has Come of Age. Not sure I like the title but I'll think about that when I'm ready to work. Now it's back to what I do write and write.