Thursday, October 08, 2009

WHAT TO DO

I'm in waiting mode. The thing that sucks about being self employed is that normally having nothing to do should be wonderful. I, however, feel guilty. I should be working - is what my brain normally says. I turned in the dummy to my book a while ago and I"m playing the waiting game, as some of you may know of. I could start a new project, which I sort of have, but I don't want to get too into it. If I do I"m afraid I'll lose my gusto for the book I should be working on... the one under contract. The way I operate is that I become immersed in the subject. I obsess. I drown myself in data and images. If I start something else I'll start to forget... or at least that's what i"m afraid of.

So, I"m going to the gym. Getting in better shape is something I can do without worrying about the above.

What do you guys do when you're in this situation?

meghan

3 comments:

Anna Alter said...

When I'm in between dummies I usually try to do web site stuff, its easier for me to pull away from than a new book idea. Although that can suck you in too! Once I start updating part of my web site I want to do the whole thing.

Dad said...

I go from one dummy to another. My good ideas slip away if I don't get them down in dummy book form - even if it's a really rough dummy.

Libby Koponen said...

I'm in a different situaion: I just write, and (except for ghostwriting and work for hire) what I write is not under contract until it's finished -- or at least until it has gone through several drafts. For a long time, I had a hard time starting something while I was waiting to hear about a ms. I used to wait and do other things, for all the reasons you are waiting. But I waited a long time with little to show for it, so now I just start something new, even though sometimes that feels really crazy. Right now my agent has FOUR manuscripts of mine!-- a novel, that Thomas Edison book you read, and two picture book manuscripts. But if I wait for editors, I could spend my whole life waiting -- so right now I'm working on 2 work-for-hire books (one pretty much done, one just starting) and a novel of my own.