You could call it an obsession, or you could call it work. When you love your job, it can go either way.
Immediately after my last post back in October (2010), I published a children's book called "The Night After Christmas" that pretty much took up all my time in marketing, publicity, guest readings, etc. Most authors hate, hate, hate this part of the process because whether you're a self-publisher or one of the lucky few who are published through a publishing house, you still have to do your own marketing. Considering I have a background in publicity, I don't hate this part at all. In fact, I kind of enjoy it. For me, it stirs up the pot and satisfies both sides of my brain, of which I've always believed I've been evenly split down the middle.
So once Christmas and the holiday hoopla was over, I thought about picking up this blog where I left off... until I needed to help my mother move the rest of her belongings to Alabama (by the way, moving is definitely NOT, NOT, NOT an obsession of mine). This pretty much took the whole month of January, plus a few extra days.
So, February roles around and my sweet little sister, Melissa, a stage diva, asks me if I will perform in a show with her because one of the actor's was having health issues. Now, being an ex-theatre geek, turning down roles that are offered on a golden platter is difficult, but I DID turn her down... initially, which is why they found another actor, who ended up having heart issues and thereby making the role available again. So, I took the role in "Man of La Mancha". Not one of my favorite plays, but I had a lot of fun in the show that swallowed my blogging time. By the way, that actor is doing fine.
However, (in my very bad Shakespearean accent:) amidst the glory the being on the stage again (end accent), I decided that I had so much fun writing "The Night After Christmas" that I was going to write an anthology based on the legendary creature, el chupacabra! You would think I would start lite with just a novel, but no. When I become obsess about something, I go the whole hog.
Hence my time from March to July was pretty much engulfed by writing, rewriting, writer's block, more rewriting, more writer's block, prelim marketing, and more writing.
And now, currently writing my second novel while my first novel is in the process of being edited, and after completing a short story that leads to the events of Book I, "Night of the Chupacabra", I decide to add more food to my writing plate and rekindle this blog that I had once been so obsessed about.
So, I'm back, and I'm not planning on going anywhere. I'll continue juggling my chupacabra anthology while posting messages here because that's what obsessed writer's do.
So, like any good publicist, I would be remiss to not plug my books right about now:
"The Night After Christmas" - www.thenightafterchristmas.net
The Chupacabra Series - www.wix.com/michaelhebler/chupacabraseries
By the way, my short story "Hunt for the Chupacabra" is actually a free download that works on iPhones, iPads, Kindle, PDF, etc. Just follow the links on the website.
You can also view the book trailer for the first novel here:
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