{"id":5735,"date":"2016-01-25T13:35:48","date_gmt":"2016-01-25T20:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/?p=5735"},"modified":"2016-01-26T15:16:01","modified_gmt":"2016-01-26T22:16:01","slug":"modern-ink-society-january-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/25\/modern-ink-society-january-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Modern Ink Society- January 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-large;\">FEATURING GUEST <\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-large;\">Alexandra Monir<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #800080; font-size: 18pt;\">A Day in the Life of an Author<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Welcome to the twenty-fourth session of<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<span style=\"color: #800000; font-size: 24pt;\">THE MODERN INK SOCIETY!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/at-vintage-typewrite.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-1057 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/at-vintage-typewrite.jpg\" alt=\"at-vintage-typewrite\" width=\"430\" height=\"317\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/at-vintage-typewrite.jpg 430w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/at-vintage-typewrite-300x221.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 430px) 100vw, 430px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\"><em><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\">\u201cYou don&#8217;t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.&#8221;<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\">\u00a0<\/span><em><span style=\"color: #00ccff; font-size: 14pt;\"><span style=\"color: #993366;\">\u2014\u00a0Martin Luther King Jr. <\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #00ccff; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 24pt;\">\u00a0Her Featured\u00a0Book\u00a0is <\/span><\/div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><\/div>\n<div>\u00a0<span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Suspicion.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5854\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5854\" src=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Suspicion.png\" alt=\"Suspicion\" width=\"270\" height=\"408\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Suspicion.png 270w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Suspicion-199x300.png 199w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #ff9900; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-size: 24pt;\">Introducing the\u00a0lovely Alexandra Monir,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/profile-pic.png\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5853\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-5853\" src=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/profile-pic.png\" alt=\"profile pic\" width=\"270\" height=\"406\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/profile-pic.png 270w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/profile-pic-200x300.png 200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 270px) 100vw, 270px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt; text-decoration: underline;\"><strong>A Day in the Life of an Author<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">A lot of people imagine that being an author consists of sitting at a cozy desk\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">overlooking a garden or lake or otherwise picturesque setting, a dreamy smile on\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">your face as you type away in a fit of brilliance. Er, not exactly. The reality\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">involves a lot more staring into space, asking yourself \u201cUm, what happens now?\u201d\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">until you finally figure it out, obsessing over paragraphs and sentences and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">dialogue, and then running around doing Author Business: emails, marketing,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">events.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 The truth is, you always feel behind on something. If you\u2019re killing it on your\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">manuscript and hitting your word count goals, chances are you\u2019ve had to neglect\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">some promotional tasks, such as guest blog posts, social media, your newsletter,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">etc. And if you\u2019re in full-on marketing mode, touring and spreading the word\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">about your latest release, it\u2019s practically a miracle if you can squeeze in any\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">writing. That\u2019s why, during those in-between times when I\u2019m not too close to a\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">deadline or a book release, I try to divide my workday in hourly chunks. So it\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">basically looks something like this:<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 First thing in the morning, while I\u2019m still in my PJs, I get out my lap desk and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">write an hour from bed. Unless I have a morning meeting, this is an absolute\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">must-do ritual for me. No matter how busy the rest of the day gets, having that\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">hour under my belt gives my story some progress and momentum.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 After that, it\u2019s time for my patient doggie to go out! Taking her for a walk is the\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">best when it comes to clearing my head, and also coming up with ideas or\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">solutions on plot and characters. Once we\u2019re back inside and she\u2019s fed and good\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">to go, I sit back at the computer and do an hour of Author Correspondence:\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">responding to any emails that have come in from my editor or agents, and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">reaching out to them with any questions or ideas I might have on current or\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">upcoming books.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 From here, the day tends to follow a loose hour-by-hour pattern. I\u2019ll spend one\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">hour locked in on my current manuscript, then take a five-minute break to clear\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">my head and segue into an hour of\u2026screenwriting, which is my latest career\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">goal! Then it\u2019s either back to my manuscript, or if I\u2019m in edits on a book, I\u2019ll take\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">care of those. And back and forth again. Before wrapping up for the day and\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">getting ready for my husband to come home from work (a.k.a time to make both\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">myself and the apartment look pretty!) I\u2019ll take another hour to respond to any\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">other emails that have come in and respond to tweets and reader messages.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 Does the idea of switching projects\/tasks every hour sound whiplash-y? If so,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">you are not alone! I know many people who find this kind of schedule a bit\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">nuts\u2014but as a Gemini, I\u2019ve found that constantly switching it up helps keep me\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">energized and excited about my works in progress, and it\u2019s that much harder for\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">me to get complacent. <\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">Of course, when I\u2019m on a deadline, the schedule looks\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">much more like this: Get up. Work on the same manuscript for 10 hours, with\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">breaks only to walk the dog and eat. And when I\u2019m in Book Release Mode, I\u2019m\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">running around to bookstore signings, festivals, interviews, and might not even\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">see my computer.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">In a way, these ever-changing phases are what make the life\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">of an author exciting. Just when you get used to a long stretch of writing Work B,\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">suddenly it\u2019s time to launch Work A, and your life goes from private to public. Or\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">maybe you\u2019ve come up with an idea for Work C, and it\u2019s time to clear the decks\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">and focus on that. You never quite know how things will unfold, so it\u2019s a constant\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">adventure.<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"color: #993366; font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0\u00a0 For all of you writers out there, what is your (somewhat!) daily routine?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">A huge thanks to\u00a0Kady for sharing a day in the life of an author.\u00a0If you&#8217;d\u00a0like to learn more about Alexandra you can check her out at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.alexandramonir.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">alexandramonir.com<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Also, don&#8217;t forget to\u00a0participate in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/topic\/show\/17930482-chat-with-author-alexandra-monir\" target=\"_blank\">ongoing chat <\/a>with\u00a0Alexandra and Colleen\u00a0through the end of this month! Don&#8217;t forget, there will be a <strong><span style=\"color: #00ffff;\">GIVEAWAY<\/span><\/strong>!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/topic\/show\/17930482-chat-with-author-alexandra-monir\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-5856\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-5856\" src=\"https:\/\/colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chbcjanuary2016-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"chbcjanuary2016\" width=\"640\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chbcjanuary2016-1024x1024.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chbcjanuary2016-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chbcjanuary2016-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/chbcjanuary2016-768x768.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">~Till next time,<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-size: 14pt;\">Linda Louise Lotti<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>FEATURING GUEST Alexandra Monir A Day in the Life of an Author Welcome to the twenty-fourth session of \u00a0THE MODERN INK SOCIETY! \u201cYou don&#8217;t have to see the whole staircase. Just take the first step.&#8221; \u00a0\u2014\u00a0Martin Luther King Jr. \u00a0 \u00a0Her Featured\u00a0Book\u00a0is \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Introducing the\u00a0lovely Alexandra Monir, A Day in the Life of an Author A lot of people imagine that being an author consists of sitting at a cozy desk\u00a0overlooking a garden or lake or otherwise picturesque setting, a dreamy smile on\u00a0your face as you type away in a fit of brilliance. Er, not exactly. The reality\u00a0involves a &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36,39],"class_list":["post-5735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featuring-authors","category-the-modern-ink-society"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5735"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5735\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5950,"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5735\/revisions\/5950"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.colleenhouck.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}