Monday Maze: Day one of the Staycation-Indecision

So I am more or less on vacation this week.  I do have a job-related activity tomorrow, but otherwise I am on a staycation.  After the frenzy of the holidays and merger-related work stuff, I decided a week was needed to get back to normal, whatever that is.

My goals for the week: clean the house, gather up tax paperwork, edit, write, blog and go to the gym, read and lose weight.  Sounds relaxing.

So what did I accomplish today?  I rearranged furniture in the bedroom, cleaned some, had lunch with a friend I hadn’t seen in months and posted this blog. I still need to edit at least 6 pages and work on the next project.  Which brings me to the issue of the week… Which project?

I have three different stories started and two others floating around.  So I work on each depending on my mood and my muse.  Tonight might be the night I work on what I call “WereHousewives of New Jersey”.  Probably not the final title but it works for now.  It’s is about a recently divorced woman who finds a new life through her personal trainer in more ways than one.  Will she use her new “physique” to put her old life behind her?  It’s probably a novella but we’ll see. 

I could always delay that decision by doing more edits.  I am making good progress on edits on Dark Dealings. I’m still debating eliminating some characters or downplaying them while hinting at a greater role in the future.  So now I have to decide who is clutter and who is needed.  It has to be objective.  They can’t stay just because they are fun. Then again, I had a writer friend who read part of the manuscript, like Micaela’s chauffeur so much that she wants to see more of him.

One thing I am learning, in a changing market, finding a really good critique partner is even more important.  If you have a CP, are they online or nearby?  Are the two of you at the same level?  Do you write in the same or similar genre?  How did you find each other?  Because the first step to selling your book is making sure it is worth reading.

Off to edits and writing and hopefully reading.

In the meantime, check out these links, I think are relevant to our changing bookselling world:

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/ae/music/s_723654.html  What can we learn from how musicians have adapted to their market changes.

http://threeguysonebook.com/what-blogs-can-do  We as writers must recognize our responsibility in selling our books.  This is a business and an evolving one to boot.  We must educate ourselves.