Kristi Jones

Back to School Means Back to Work

Whew! After a rocky morning, the kids are finally back to school. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my summer. I did. We did. But since my first book came out at the end of June, I’ve been pining for those long hours of quiet solitude so I can write. I have four or five writing projects that I want to finish this year and the long summer was a sort of torture. When I can’t get those long stretches of writing time, I’m like a junkie who doesn’t get her fix. My nerves become a ball of barbed wire. Writing calms me down.

In years past, I’ve started each new school year with a new book in mind. I write the first draft before the Christmas break, revise in the new year and send out manuscripts during the summer. Until recently, they were all rejected. Now that I’m a published writer, I’m realizing that this schedule isn’t ideal. For one thing, it’s too slow. I have one manuscript that’s just a hair’s breadth away from being ready to submit. I have another that is half finished, and yet another that is about a third finished. My goal this day, this first day of school, is to finish all three and hopefully begin work on the sequel to The Corpse Goddess – all before the end of the school year.

Can I do it? I hope so. I’ll tell you, there’s nothing more motivating than having a book out there, up on Amazon and getting decent reviews. For all writers, there is that daily intrusion of real life. My husband thinks I can write for the entire seven hours that the kids are out of the house. Unfortunately, meals don’t cook themselves, groceries don’t arrive on my doorstep by magic and the laundry doesn’t hop into the machine on its own. Not to mention the fact that I seem to exhaust my creative power after four or five hours. But…I’ll give it a shot. Even though the half painted game room is calling to me right this minute and my son desperately needs some new shirts (do all teenage boys resist shopping?), I’m going to close my office doors, turn out the lights and write…..writing always smoothes out the wrinkles.

How about you? Any grand writing plans for the new year? (Because for stay-at-home Moms, the first day of school really is the first day of the year, isn’t it?!)