Yikes. I’ve been lollygagging. I haven’t worked on my ms for a week, and it’s turning feral on me. (Tell me if you know which writer said if she doesn’t visit her manuscript daily, it lurks in her office and morphs into such a fearsome beast she is afraid to open the door.) I don’t have little kids or a fulltime job, so I have no excuse. And have you found that the longer you stay away from your writing, the less you want to go back to it? But Kristen is languishing out in the Black Hills of South Dakota with Frieda, a 90-year-old crank. If I don’t get in there and move the story alone, K will never figure out whether she’s going to go back to her high-pressure job in Newport Beach CA, or give it all up for WHAT MATTERS and make a 180 back into Curt’s arms.

After I brush my teeth and shower I’ll go into THE ROOM and set the timer for 30 minutes. I know from past experience that I won’t even notice the bell ringing a half hour later. It’s a simple, maybe even stupid, strategy but it motivates me. Something about having a deadline.

But here’s another motivation: my friend Sepi Richardson (Her Honor, the Mayor of Brisbane, California) has promised she’ll have a book signing for me when the sucker is published. Holy crap, I need to get to work!!! Let me know how YOU motivate yourself, and I’ll post it as a guest post on this blog. Thanks!