When My Creative World and Real World Collide

I've always been one of those people who has said that I have a hard time working when my house is a mess. Which is true. Yet there are plenty of times, probably more often than not, when I am plugging away at my writing while my house falls down around my ears, and my children are living off of cereal and digging their clothes out of laundry baskets. (In my defense, the laundry is at least clean...most of the time) :D

So, if my house is a mess, yet I'm still managing to work, then how can I say that I have a hard time being creative when my house is such a disgrace?

Well, I noticed something today. No matter how hard I seem to be working, when my house is a mess, I'm usually not really accomplishing anything writing-wise either. I have gone months without making any real progress. Yeah, my files are open all day and I even look at them from time to time. But no matter how long I sit at my computer, I'm not actually doing anything. And my house has been in a constant state of YUCK for months too.

Yet for the last few days, I have been amazingly productive. It's like something snapped and I just started DOING SOMETHING. My first picture book is FINISHED. I'm not doing any major promotion until we've done some final quality checks, but for the most part, it's done. My non-fiction proposal, the one I've been dragging my butt on for months? DONE.  By the time this post goes live, it should be in my agent's hands. Or...at least hanging out the door and waving goodbye :D

My next picture book project? Started...and the rest is outlined. My ever-patient novel? Completely edited, annotated and outlined, and impatiently chomping at the bit for me to focus all my energy on it so I can finish it and send it to my critters for one last round.

At the same time, I have been in an absolute TIZZY trying to get my house pulled together. I can't stand it right now. I've spent hours getting caught up on all my laundry, cleaning and rearranging furniture, organizing and tossing stuff out. There is stuff EVERYWHERE and my dog is shedding so badly I have to sweep the floor 12 times a day just to keep up with it. AND I'M DOING IT. I'm cleaning, washing, folding, sweeping...I've even cleaned out the litter box and folded AND PUT AWAY the laundry.

Because I just can't stand to do anything else.

So, my conclusion? Yeah, I might be able to eek some work out while my house is a total destruction zone. But in order to be truly productive? In order for my Creative World to reach its full potential? I apparently need to have my Real World in line.

Which I kind of find to be a cosmic joke. The universe's way of torturing me. Because now that I'm being ultra-productive and want to do nothing but bury myself in my writing, I'm spending a great deal of time focusing on beating my Real World into shape. Every second I spend sweeping or folding or washing, I'm thinking of my projects and how badly I want to be working on them. And every time I sit down to work, I notice something else that I simply must take care of before I dive back in to my writing.

Yet somehow, I'm accomplishing it all. I have no illusions that this will continue. But man! I love it when these little spurts hit me. For a few brief moments, everything in my life is working. Projects are getting done, house is clean, kids are clean and clothed, and all is right in both my worlds. These moments don't last long, but I try to enjoy them while they are here :)

How about you? Can you focus on work when things are a mess? Are you more productive when everything else is in order? And do you ever find yourself on this ultra-productive kicks where suddenly everything is getting taken care of? How long do they last? I'm already bracing myself for the fall :D

Michelle Gets Into Picture Books :)

All right, so on Monday, I mentioned that I had some fun picture book news. Wellll, here it is :D

With a file full of picture book manuscripts and a very talented, and surprisingly willing, friend, Toni Wilson, who agreed to illustrate for me, I will soon release my first picture book. I am self-publishing it; first as an ebook with a print version to follow this summer. The first book will be ready in just a couple weeks (and I will be having a Picture Book Party to celebrate :D ).

And, making it's debut.....my cover :)

(the size requirements for the e-version made it necessary to add the large blue border. The print version will be more squarely shaped, without the large blue border on top and bottom)

I am publishing my picture books under the name Michelle Raynor :) I decided to publish these books myself for several reasons.

1. I wanted to see if I could do it.

2. I wanted to control how things looked. Going through a traditional publisher, I would have had little to no say over the illustrations, which is a hard thing to consider when the illustrations are such a major part of the book.

3. Breaking into the PB business is even harder than getting a novel out there - and the same goes for PB illustrators. These books don't make agents much money, so very few represent them. And while there are several publishers who accept manuscripts (and art submissions) it's just a tough nut to crack.

4. I recently purchased a Nook. My kids LOVE to look at picture books on them. But finding a cute, decent quality epicture book for under $7 is dang near impossible. The books I've found around the $4 range are those early readers I can buy at the grocery store for $1. And yes, I read the article on Amanda Hocking right around this time. Now, I have no illusions about making it rich, but...with all my manuscripts and a good friend who can draw...I figured it wouldn't hurt to start putting my books out there, for a price that even a picky mother like me could afford :)

And so, I did some research, found a company I can publish through who will distribute my books to all the major ebook retailers, found a company for the print versions who will also distribute (at minimal cost), and away we went :D Toni and I will be working on several more books together, and I am also working with another very talented friend, putting words to her beautiful pictures.

This whole process has been absolutely amazing and more fun than I could have imagined. Creating a picture book is such a unique and all-around fun process, made even more so because it's one I can share with my children. They are my guinea pigs, my soundboards, my inspiration, and in many cases my co-authors :) No matter how this journey ends, it has been a wonderful experience and I'm enjoying every minute of it.

Stay tuned for more info on the upcoming Picture Book Party! We'll have some fun things and of course lots of prizes going on :D

*Update in response to Stephanie's question :D* The book will be available on all ereaders, as well as in html form and as a pdf. If you have any sort of ereader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo, iPad, iPhone, etc), a computer or any other means of digitally viewing something, you should be able to download the book. And a print version (which will include color pages for your kiddies) will be available this summer :)

Blog Chain - Multitasking All The Way!!

Back on the blog chain. We have several new members joining us so I'd like to give a huge welcome to Amanda Bonilla, Sarah Bromley, Shaun David Hutchinson, Rebecca Knight, and Bonny Anderson. We are so excited to have you guys with us!!

This round's topic was chosen by our wonderful Terri. She wanted to know:

Do you focus on one project at a time, or do you have many irons in the fire at any given moment?

Bonny answered this question before me and Shaun is up next so be sure to visit their blogs to hear their take on this question.

As for me, well, if you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m one of those “many irons in the fire” type girls. I will get on a roll sometimes, with one project or another, and focus specifically on one thing for a few days, weeks, or even months at a time. But for the last several months at least I’ve had at least two projects going on at all times; my YA Urban Fantasy, and my non-fiction book.

Because fiction and non-fiction belong in such completely different worlds, switching back and forth presents no problems for me. What I’m working on at any given moment is mostly dictated by my children. I don’t need to concentrate as much with my non-fiction. It comes much easier. So I be on the computer working on it while my kids are running around screaming and climbing all over me. If I’m going to work on fiction while the kids are awake, I write by hand. They don’t bug me as much and I can follow them from room to room (or outside) scribbling away while they play.

It is also nice to have more than one project going because if I get stuck on one, I switch to the other. Focusing my mind on something different usually frees it up and the answer for whatever had me stuck very often comes to me while working on something else.

If I’m stuck on everything, I either do research for a project or I take a break from novels and textbooks and write a children’s picture book. I love doing these. I can do them quickly and they are so much fun to do. My kids and I will often write them together, so it’s something writing related that I can do and still include them, and at the end of the day, I’ve got a completed creative project…whether it’s my main project or not.

I don’t know if I could have two projects of the same genre going at the same time. Probably not…I have enough trouble staying in the right character’s voice at any given time without mixing in more than one main character. I definitely have ideas for several same-genre projects going on at the same time. This is where that research comes in – if I’m stuck on one thing, I’ll research either info I need for a current project, or something that will go straight in my idea file.

Having more than one project is actually kind of relaxing for me. I know I always have something to work on. If I finish something or get stuck on something, I know there is always something else I can work on. That way, none of my time is wasted because no matter what I’m doing, it is accomplishing something, be it for current or future projects.