Perseverance and Productivity

First the exciting news I promised on Friday, although a few may have seen it on Facebook yesterday (but I'm giving fuller details here)! In another new departure, I submitted a short contemporary/fantasy novella set on Cyprus to great little Irish company, Tirgearr Publishing. Not only have I now signed a contract for the The Aphrodite Touch but they asked me to write further novellas to make it a series.

These are slightly sexier stories than I've written before and I had to make one important scene a little more so! Each story will involve a different couple on the island, trying to move their relationshiop on in some way. But the main recurring theme, and fantasy element, is that Aphrodite and Adonis play with people's lives each summer, 'helping' where possible, and they will be in each book. Since I've always loved mythology, this is fun to write. So I'd better knuckle down and start the next story soon.

I was thinking about perseverance recently, and not only because of getting some more work out and accepted. Some of you may know that I write for an online US company, Demand Studios (for the eHow UK section). We choose up to three titles at a time and we have to submit each article within a week of claiming them. On about three different occasions now, I started the reseach but was struggling to complete the article in time without becoming more stressed. Each time, I almost gave up and was going to release the title back into the system. And yet... the thought of earning a fairly good amount within a few days of submission made me pause and I persevered knowing I could do this.

The point is that it reminded me of the way I often work (and husband will confirm) - leaving things until the last minute, not persevering when it gets tougher if I have the option to move on to something else. Well, it's been a good lesson and seems to have come at the right time if I'm now expected to produce more novellas in a series. In the past, I've spent so many years procrastinating that I'm now determined to be more consistently productive. Wonder how long that will last! Does anyone else struggle to persevere with their writing projects?

Meanwhile, if you have time to take a look, fellow tween author, Tammy Lowe, is on my Flights of Imagination blog today with her great time-slip book, The Acadian Secret. And watch out for an invitation to my blog party launch for The Jigsaw Puzzle later this week.

Rosemary