Now I usually greet the end of each book with a certain amount of spaz and glee but this one, whew, this one is…I don’t have words. You see my deadline is uhm Monday. And I’m one of these people who is ANAL about getting things done ahead of time. Usually, and there have been very few exceptions, I finish a book at LEAST a month before deadline. Sometimes more. That way I can set it aside, forget about it, come back to it later and take my time sending it in.

Well that all came to a crashing halt last fall. Yeah, things have a way of going the domino effect. We had hurricane Ike which screwed things up royally. On the heels of Ike, as in when we’re doing repairs, hubby had his heart attack. If that wasn’t enough, my doc changed some of the meds I was taking for headaches then left the country for a month and those meds fucked me up big time. Ugh. So I wrote nothing. Not a THING for two entire months. And with deadlines like mine, I can’t afford that kind of “break”

Suddenly at the beginning of December I was facing two books that were due by Jan 1 and still another due Feb 1. Did I panic? Oh yes. You see, because I always finish things way ahead of time, I haven’t really ever been challenged. I wasn’t sure what I would do when faced with YOU HAVE TO GET THIS DONE NOW. Would I choke? I mean flaking on a deadline just isn’t an option for me, but what if I just couldn’t get it done? I was facing something I hadn’t had to face yet, even though I’ve written over two dozen books.

I managed the first hurdle, which was getting those two books done and submitted but then I had to turn my attention to Nathan’s book which is a longer book than the other two. He’s a single title. The other two were category length.

My husband has been amazing this month. Really. He’s always terrific about house/kid stuff. We’ve always split duties even when I didn’t have a “job” But this past month, he took over everything. House, laundry, cooking, kids. I love him more than caramel.

The most exciting thing that came of this? I know I can do it. I don’t ever want to cut it that close again, mind you. I like my anal ways of finishing ahead of schedule. But now I know I CAN do it. Some of my panic is gone :woot: