When Authors Don’t Write

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Edith/Maddie here on a cold and rainy writing day north of Boston.

Wait, you say. This post’s title says when authors DON’T write. So what gives?

Well, that’s the thing. Authors do so many things that don’t include the creative writing of books or short stories. Don’t get me wrong. I spent the morning yesterday writing a new scene in Poisonous Pour, the 3rd Cece Barton novel, and I’m doing the same thing today, as is my practice every day (unless I’m on Grammy duty, in which case my entire focus is rightly on the most adorable toddler in the known universe).

So, what else do authors do besides write new words or fix the ones they’ve written? Here are a few of the things on my list lately:

  1. Pull together a silent auction basket for Left Coast Crime.

My foodie grab bag is pretty much done. All I have to figure out is a basket or something to hold all the items, a holder I can easily fit in my suitcase.

2. Scone Cold Dead releases April 1, and I still have three or four guest blog posts to write in the next two weeks. Gulp. I need to start chipping away at those. I’ll be on Writers Who Kill on March 23, on Criminal Minds on March 27, on Jungle Red Writers on release day, and over at Drus Book Musings on April 7.

Also a release event is a quick Facebook party on March 30 that I’ll share with great author pal Leslie Karst, because we share the April 1 book birthday! But setting up the party event is another item on my to-do list. Gulp #2.

3. I also have a short story I want to submit to Snakeberry: Best New England Short Stories, which has a deadline of March 31. I have a tale drafted but I know it needs polishing. Gulp #3. I haven’t promised anyone a story, but it’s a premier annual anthology I always at least try to place a short story in. My first published short crime fiction was in the second year of the collection, published by the original Level Best Books back in 2004. You can grab a $.99 ebook of “Yatsuhashi for Lance” here or on Amazon.

4. And then I have the dreaded taxes to pull together. I hire a CPA to actually figure out the numbers, but I need to pull together all my business expenditures and figure out which category it goes in. Tomorrow afternoon my kitchen table will be littered with credit card statements, W-9 forms, trip and mileage records, charitable contribution acknowledgements, and receipts. I am not a person who stays organized during the year other than stuffing receipts in a folder. Gulp #4.

This is very much an author task. If I weren’t self-employed as an author with a home office, my taxes would be simple and straightforward — but I am, and they’re not. And because I’m driving to New Jersey for two Kensington author events next weekend (see my Appearances tab for details), and I’m flying to Denver for Left Coast Crime two days after I get home, I need to submit all my tax info before I leave town. I hope to see you at one or more of those events!

5. Finally (well, probably not finally, but it is for this post), I do try to stay healthy despite a job that has me pinned to my screen for hours on end. I use a standing desk, which helps me stay upright and mildly active and is much better for my back. I also schedule in time to walk at least 11,000 steps, and I take a gentle balance class online twice a week. I consider being that active a requirement of the job.

Those are a few of the things that go into being an author. Some bring me joy, some don’t, but they’re part of the job. I try to make plenty of lists and set myself calendar reminders so nothing slips off the cliff into oblivion.

Also, we Wicked Authors know we’ve been rather AWOL lately. We’re all going through a lot personally and are finding our way gingerly to new ways to continue this blog. We apologize for our absence and thank our regular readers for your loyalty. Sending hugs!

Readers: What are some tangential tasks you have to do as part of your main occupation or retirement? Are they hard to pull off, and if so, how do you manage?

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Published by Edith Maxwell

Agatha Award -winning author Edith Maxwell writes the historical Quaker Midwife Mysteries (Beyond the Page) and short crime fiction. As Maddie Day she writes the Dot and Amelia Mysteries, the Country Store Mysteries series, the Cozy Capers Book Group Mysteries, and the Cece Barton Mysteries (all from Kensington Publishing). She lives north of Boston in an antique house with her beau and cat Martin, where she writes, gardens, cooks, and wastes time on Facebook.

18 Thoughts

  1. One thing you left off your list of things you do (and do so well I might add) is research. It’s your attention to details that help bring books alive. I for one, as one of your dear fans, love that you do your research so well. ❤ Can't wait for the opportunity to read you next book – SCONE COLD DEAD.

    As for me, it's making lists. They are small list – like the one I make every morning of the things I want to accomplish that day (sometimes short and others making me wonder if I can get it all done), to weekly reminders and monthly ones as well. As a retiree (well homemaker's job is one you never retire from really), I've learned to pace myself and to not stress if for one reason or another something on today's list has to be moved over to tomorrows. I've found that for me it's best to rise early (6:00 a.m.) and get the biggest or things that take longer to do done first thing in the morning when the energy is there. Because once the body says slow down, it means that I do some things and then have to rest with this repeated until I'm either done or the body tells me I'm done for the day.

    With spring coming, the urge for spring cleaning comes up, but also does the desire to be outside on the beautiful, warming days. Again, it's timing for me. Work on a chore in the house while it's still nippy in the morning so that by mid-day I can head outside for a little while weeding the flowerbed, preparing potted plants to leave the greenhouse situation we have in the second garage area or just to sit or to take a break from inside to listen to the birds in the yard.

    I would say for me in a nutshell, it's pacing myself, trying not to stress over the little things and remember that there is always tomorrow if everything doesn't get done.
    2clowns at arkansas dot net

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  2. Edith and all the Wickeds, thank you for writing when you do. I still read more than I comment, but your words are enjoyed. As a retiree the tangential tasks to enjoying the fresh air and sunshine and the ocean (yes, I live south) and my family are simply “done tomorrow”. So I have just done the tax scramble. Enjoy your full schedule and keep on writing for you and for us!

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  3. I totally get it. I also have a bulk receipt stash, but shockingly I got into the habit of entering data as it arrives into an Excel file. My tax preparer wants everything digital now, so I do a lot of print-to-PDF action and then file it on my OneDrive. I don’t know which me started that, the real me or the me from the pod in the basement.

    I also keep a to-do list, a now tattered postcard-sized sticky note I move from week to week in my planner. Still analog. Enough is marked off that it’s time to start a new one list, except I like seeing all the marked off stuff. Maybe a little too much. Maybe it gives me a false sense of accomplishment? ::shudder:: That hit “home” too hard to be funny.

    Moving on–I like the new magazine-style WordPress theme y’all are using for the blog now. It looks like the home page of a Substack, which I hear is the next big thing for us authors to add to our busy skeds.

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  4. Oh, taxes. A task I’m putting off. But not for too much longer.

    I do make time to exercise every day. I can’t do a standing desk because of my feet and knee, so I need to get active in some way!

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  5. Edith, you’re amazing. So much going on! One tangential task in my writing life is co-hosting Bookish Time broadcasts with Sarah Burr. It’s a lot of fun, but, boy the time commitment sure can stack up.

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  6. Hi Edith. I always enjoy your posts, but this one particularly spoke to me because many of your time-consuming, not-just-writing-a-book tasks are similar to mine. My fourth Linder and Donatelli mystery, SPLINTERED JUSTICE, is coming out April 15, so I, too, have guest posts to write for various blogs (including Jungle Red Writers!), a book launch to invite a lot of people to, US taxes to worry about (my husband does our Swiss taxes, so that’s one thing I don’t have to think about, except to feed him occasional figures!) I’m also planning some complicated travel. And then there’s making a good dinner every night, running washes and folding clothes, exercising (as you say, sitting at a computer all day is not healthy), and seeing friends. I’m not complaining about any of this, but it sometimes forces the actual book-writing onto a back burner.

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  7. Your article hits home this morning! For me, the tangential part of the writing biz occasionally seems to overtake the writing in both pre and post ‘putting fingers to keyboard.’ Re-creating the recipes with multiple trips to the grocery while getting the ingredient balance ‘just right,’ losing a lovely publisher to retirement, setting up the photo shoots, searching for boxes and books for the giveaways, doing the research for the Kerrian articles…mostly fun, but occasionally distracting from the central job at hand.

    Organization and patience is the key, except on the days when the universe fights back. LOLOL Congratulations on your stick-to-it attitude! Can’t wait to check out the next book. 🙂

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  9. Yes! 🙂 No idea why I was anonymous, but I suspect ‘Kerrian’ gave it away. Happy Saturday!

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  10. Gramma duty 💖 then Taxes, fun then aaugh 🤣😂🤣 I can’t wait to Read all your fabulous new writing’s. Lifting prayers for you to stay healthy with much success with all of this🎊📚 Congratulations
    gkathgoldin@yahoo.com

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