Best Laid Plans

Robert Burns wrote a poem To a Mouse in 1786. One often quoted line from that poem has been used to entitle books like John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, movies, and even this humble blog post.

Backstory

Burns was ploughing a field when he turned up a mouse's nest. His poem was an apology to the mouse:

But, Mousie, thou art no thy lane (You aren't alone.)
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes o' mice an' men (The best laid schemes of mice and men)
Gang aft a-gley, (often go awry or astray)
An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, (And leave us nothing but grief and pain)
For promised joy.

Describes My Publishing Schedule

I'm quoting this today because it aptly describes my publishing plans for this month. I've been trying since May to finish the first book in my novella series The Good, The Bad, and The Girly, but real life keeps interfering.

I've had readers emailing me and wanting to know the exact date this month that Old Enough To Know Better, the aforesaid ebook, will be published.

I'm heaving sighs suitable for an overwrought heroine in a swashbuckling historical romance because I have to announce: the book won't be ready this month.

There! I said it. It's just not humanly possible to get it finished by the end of the month. Blame it on a month-long illness from end of May to end of June from which I recovered in time for my daughter to come home from grad school and get engaged with plans to marry next spring break.

What? A wedding in a little over 6 months? You've got to be kidding!

She wasn't.

Do you know how hard it is to book a March wedding with only this much lead time? No? Well, it's hard. Most of our first choices for everything were already booked.

So, for two weeks, I've been checking out wedding venues, reception venues, caterers, photographers, DJ's, bakers, florists, and all the other millions of details that go into planning a wedding. Amazingly, we got most of it taken care of.

My daughter escaped back to grad school for the second semester, leaving me here with contracts that have to be signed, photocopied and returned (with big whopping checks!). I'm also left with a case of exhaustion and feeling about as creative as a prairie chicken.

Add to that my self-imposed task to review all my existing ebooks once I discovered a less than stellar copy editing job had been done and dealing with book thieves who post my books online for free download, and you get a picture of a tired writer who needs to recharge her creative energy.

Once I get the big details of the wedding completed, I'll start pounding the keyboard again. I hope to have Old Enough To Know Better published in August if real life doesn't rear it's demanding head again.

For all of you waiting for that book, I apologize. Hang in there. In the meantime, I will have Book 2 of the Texas One Night Stands series published on time. I think you'll really love Romeo and Judy Anne.

Takeaway Truth

Planning a wedding in the pages of a book is a lot easier than planning one in real life, but I'm sure there will be even more joy in the real occasion than in the fictional to make all the effort worthwhile.