PNR . . . RULED BY ROUTINE by Nancy Gideon

I’ve always led a busy life with more balls in the air than I had hands to keep them going. A juggling act from the time I discovered my passion for writing fiction, at first it was working on a half dozen projects in various stages of completion at a time. I’d jump from one to the next whenever ideas struck. Ambitions that led to six projects never commanding my full attention . . . or getting finished. I blamed OCD/ADD. Then my first two informal critique partners, frustrated by not getting an ending for any of the stories, challenged me to pick one—any ONE—and write from start to finish. So, in 1985, I started AND finished what I thought would be a historical romance set in the Regency period—a nice big book with bedroom doors open, and sent it off to Zebra Books, who was the biggest name in series romance at the time. And while I waited, I started another book, this one a pirate story (Sigh! I loved pirates!).

Then The Call! Carin Richmond at Zebra offered on my book, which would be one of the launch titles in their new longer format Regency romance line, and she asked to see anything else I had available. Hey, I had a pirate romance . . . And the two books both hit the shelves in August 1987, SWEET TEMPEST (with a deceptively modest cover!) as a Zebra Regency Romance by Lauren Giddings and PIRATE’S CAPTIVE, one of the first Zebra Heartfire Romances under my Dana Ransom pen name.

Long story short—between 1987 and 1996, Zebra issued 16 Dana Ransom historical romances and three contemporary romances along with two Regency romances as Lauren Giddings and several submissions in short story collections. And I issued son #2 the same month my first Regency AND first historical debuted!

What kept me sane and on time? Routine. I’d find the path of least resistance to get the job done, break it down into doable time segments and work my fingers off (handwritten then typed before computer era!!) before everyone woke up, during nap times, and on those occasions when my mom would play hero(ine) and take the guys for the day while then-hubby was at work. I broke the synopsis down to chapters and chapters into a specific time frame for completion (even when doing revisions in a hospital bed after birth of son #2!) and I kept to my schedule as diligently as feedings and naptime (for kids and myself!). And when I went back to work, that became an adjustment, too. I’d get those pages in between 4:30 and 6:00 a.m.

The hardest thing to work around? Retirement. Too much time has been more difficult to adjust to than not enough. An entire year to finish a long romantic suspense. Seriously? And it still hasn’t been submitted after I’ve finished a second book!

Currently (while I’m not submitting those RSs!), I’m working through the “By Moonlight” series of paranormal books I have the rights back to with a plan to reissue them monthly. Time to get serious about that routine . . . and stick to it!!

Routines are like road trips. You have ups and downs and pauses for fuel and rest. A map and a plan gets you there easier and with fewer detours and delays. Here’s to sticking to the plan and happy travels!

♚♚♚♚♚

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