By Katie Oliver
I lead two very distinct lives. There’s my everyday life – work, family, laundry, sleep – and my writing life.
Like most folks, I work a nine-to-five job. Five days a week, I get up at 4:30 AM so I have time to grab a cup of coffee and Tweet (and maybe pin a few pictures in Pinterest). Then I get dressed, slap on some makeup, and walk our dog, Duke, after I feed and water the parakeets. Then I drive to work and start my day.
In the beginning, keeping the two worlds separated (like the whites and colors in my laundry basket) was easy.
I’d blog once a week, post it, and if I was lucky, a handful of people might read it. In the meantime I’d work on my book while my agent shopped my other books around various New York editorial offices. There was a lot of waiting and so, a lot of time. Writing rarely, if ever, impinged on my work life.
Then, last August, my books (all three of them) sold to Carina UK, and life as I knew it changed. There were forms to fill out, a contract to sign, cover art to discuss, a bio to write, and then the first revision arrived from my editor. *gulp* And all of this happened in just a few months. By January, the first book – Prada and Prejudice – was launched, followed in February and March by books two and three in the Dating Mr Darcy series.
Things quickly became crazy. My regular work life cranked up when a colleague had her baby in December, so I helped support a huge meeting in her absence. My mother had recently died. And there were guest blogs I’d committed to write, interview questions to answer, promotions to Tweet (each one had to be Tweeted twice – one link for the UK, one for the US), other Carina writers to support, and giveaways to host. I’d get up early (yep, 4:30 AM) each morning in order to Tweet with my British friends. Looking back, I don’t know how I did it. But somehow, I did.
And I learned a lot. I learned what an ARC was (no, it has nothing to do with Noah; it’s an advanced reading copy). I learned how to upload my books to Goodreads and how to create an Amazon author page. I learned that my fellow Carina authors are wonderfully supportive and generous with their time.
I met wonderful bloggers and readers and Tweeters who’ve since become good and dear friends. I’ve worked with an amazing editor who takes my ho-hum drafts and polishes them into sparkling little jewels. I’ve had the most gorgeous book covers anyone could possibly want.
I haven’t quit the day job…yet. But that day will come soon enough, and when it does, I’ll finally be able to write all day, every day – not just for a few hours on Saturday or twenty minutes at my lunch break. I’ll have time to do more promotion and sponsor more giveaways and get to know more book bloggers; but most importantly of all, I’ll have more time to spend writing books.
No, my books aren’t ‘literary.’ I don’t like stories with murky endings or bleak outlooks or main characters who get hit by a bus right before the last page (‘One Day,’ I’m looking at you). There’s enough of that stuff in everyday life.
Instead, I write what I like to read – fun, light-hearted romps with characters who make me laugh as they puzzle their way through life. I write to entertain. And that won’t change (although the locales probably will!). I write to escape, to leave my daily problems and stresses behind, and to imagine myself in some far-flung, exciting place – preferably with a gorgeous guy somewhere in the vicinity. Are my stories shallow? Maybe. Silly? Possibly.
But entertaining? Always!
Follow me on Bookbub!
