I’m Having A Hard Time Staying Faithful…

Writing is like exercise. You know you should be doing it, you feel better after you do it, yet … somehow it often just doesn’t get done. I just realized yesterday after spending three hours reading other authors’ blogs that I might not be doing online marketing research as I had told myself, but indeed procrastinating.

And the sad thing is that I’m really, really excited about writing my next new book — right after I finish rewriting Supersonic, the book I was working on when 32 Candles sold. However, 32 Candles sold back in April and I’m still not done with this Supersonic rewrite. Guys, I’m not even halfway done with this rewrite, and I don’t even know if the book will sell, since being sci-fi adventure, it’s way outside my original genre and I’ll probably have to rock a pseudonym so that I don’t turn off my potential women’s fiction audience.

Meanwhile, the next book is singing a serious siren song. “Come cheat with me,” it says. “I’m much hotter than Supersonic. People will LURVE me, and I promise that writing me will be super-duper easy, not like that book you’re working on now, which is too different to ever sell anyway. So instead of setting yourself up for disappointment, why don’t you hook up with me, baby?”

Mighty tempting. The only thing is that’s EXACTLY what Supersonic said when it was trying to lure me away from 32 Candles, so I’m not sure the next book is telling me the truth. Why do novels always start knocking on your door and calling your incessantly before you’re ready to write them?

Anyway, the point is that I’m hoping to finish the Supersonic rewrite over winter break, since Fierce and Nerdy will be on a limited schedule and my husband has volunteered to hang out with Betty while I write for a few hours every day.

Still, I’m in the throes of deep mistress novel temptation. Every time I step into the shower or let my mind wander for more than a minute a new idea forms about a character or a plot line. It’s all so new and shiny, I can barely resist it. And sometimes I wonder if I can remain faithful for the rest of the year. But I will. I ran around on projects in my younger days, but now I always try to date one novel at a time. It’s better that way.

Plus, I know that as soon as I start the next novel in January, yet another sexy novel will come along, showing lots of scenario thigh and making promises about plots that are both engaging and easy to write. BT-dubs I’ve decided that the title of my next novel will be THE AWESOME GIRL’S GUIDE TO DATING EXTRAORDINARY MEN.

Man, it’s hard to stay faithful … to a book.

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Ernessa T. Carter is the author of the novel, 32 CANDLES, which will be released on June 22, 2010. Pre-order your copy on Amazon here.