Time (Anne Stuart)

Do you ever feel like you're running out of time? There never seems to be enough hours in the day for all I want to do. Of course, it's complicated, because I haven't been sleeping well since my sister died, and when I'm writing I tend to need a nap which usually lasts two hours. Plus by nine o'clock at night I'm pretty much done in.
But I have all these things I want to do.
My house is a depressing shambles! It would help me so much to clean it up, and yet I'm overwhelmed at the thought.
Then there's my quilting space (in the dank basement) which needs organizing and cleaning up because I've been quilting too many other places, and I need to sew. It's my occupational therapy, and I have waaay too much fabric and waaay too many ideas. Gotta quilt!
Then there's exercise. The pool is half an hour away, which isn't bad, but it takes at least a two hour chunk out of the day. But that's going to have to be a major priority, along with writing (we'll get to that).
And I've rediscovered the joy of reading, particularly via audio books. It feeds my imagination, my love of story and I'm absolutely loving it.
There's family, of course. I'm the only one left for my 95 year old mother, and while her demands are pretty mild compared to most, it's 45 minutes out of my day when I'd rather be concentrating on writing.
Plus there's the siren lure of the internet, and television (anyone else besotted with Ian Somerhalder's very bad vamp on Vampire Diaries?).
But most of all, I want to write. I have so many things I want to write, and I'm loving what I'm doing so much that I'm positively nauseating.
First, there are the historicals. I just finished the second one, RECKLESS, and I freaking adore it. I keep wanting to go back to that world -- it feels so real to me. And the sex is to die for. Fortunately I have one more to go on the contract, and already I've fallen in love with my sassy heroine and very very bad hero. I don't have a plot yet, but that will show up as soon as I want it to (I'm good on plots, she says modestly). So I can't wait to get back there.
In the meantime, I'm also writing two books under a pseudonym for Pocket Books, and yes, they're the most cliched of all things, vampires (crossed with fallen angels) and I'm having a complete blast. In fact, my past heroes are like psychic vampires -- very dangerous and very elegant, and I had a faux vampire in the early '80s. It's about time I got to do a real bloodsucker. So of course I'm absolutely loving that!
Then there's the ICE series, and Finn MacGowan stuck in Colombia, captured by rebels, and an American do-gooder heroine who's just been kidnapped as well, plus a spoiled teenager, all needing rescue. Finn's been there for three years and he really needs to get out.
And then there's the new romantic suspense series I want to write, SANCTUARY. I won't say anything about it -- it's not particularly high concept but there are enough story possibilities to keep me happy for years.

So many things to do. I'd be delighted if I had a stripped down office with room near my chair for my research books, so I could just curl up in there and work. I'd love it if I could just go downstairs and sew. I'd love it if I could sit in my chair in the living room and watch tv with Richie without piles of crap falling down around me.

I just emailed someone who might be able to come in for a few hours and help me clear the decks a bit. I've got Thanksgiving coming up as well -- Aiyeeee!!!!!!!

On top of all this I'm feeling very mortal. Part of me knows that I'm relatively young and healthy, but I have too many things to do, too many books to write. I can't die until I'm 150!

Is anyone else similarly overwhelmed? What do you do about it? At least it will be a low-key Christmas this year -- I don't have to do anything I don't want to do.

But how do I find more hours in the day?