Guest Blog: BonSue Brandvik: Where Does the Time Go?

Three days have gone by and I haven’t added one, single new word to my WIP.  But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been at working at my computer every day. Where does the time go?  To try and figure this out, I decided to review my day:

Rise at 10:00 a.m. – Feed the dog. Feed the aquarium fish. Feed the koi. Think about feeding me. Open the fridge. Open the cabinets.  Decide on a handful of pumpkin seeds. Call my mom to wish her a happy 86^th b-day. Pick up the house.

11:00 a.m. – Ready to hit the shower. Right after I check my e-mail real quick.

Noon – Ready to hit the shower for real this time.

1:00 p.m. – I decide to look and see if anyone has responded to my earlier e-mails. I comment on a few newsletter articles/blog posts/and miscellaneous family items. Uh oh. I notice a few people commented on my recent Facebook posts. I begin chanting to myself “Don’t do it” but I click to read the comments and respond anyway.

2:00 p.m. – Must get off Facebook, but as long as I’m checking social networking sites, I may as well swing by Twitter. Plus, it’s my move in something like 20 games of “Words With Friends.”

3:00 p.m. – I need to work on my WIP. I click on ‘Recently Opened Files’ and am appalled to note that my WIP is somewhere around number seven on the list. What other files have I opened since last working on my WIP? Oh yeah… Blog posts, Newsletters, Guest blog posts, Schedule updates, Marketing files for already published books, and an unfinished piece for a political blog. Why did I stop writing that political piece again? I’d better read it real quick to refresh my memory.

4:00 p.m. – I am still stuck on this stupid political blog. Why did I volunteer to write this? It isn’t even my genre! I wonder if the website host has sent me any reminder e-mails.  I better check.

6:00 p.m. – Most of my e-mail is up-to-date. Whoa! Look at the time! I better get dinner started. I put my laptop aside.

8:00 p.m. – My hubby wants to watch T.V. with me and he is my number one priority, right?

11:30 p.m. – Time for my hubby to go to sleep and he doesn’t like going to bed alone, so I move my laptop to the bedroom. After all, I can work on my WIP while propped up on pillows in bed. Let’s see…what was happening in my story when I last wrote something new? I better review the last few chapters to make sure my storyline is progressing consistently. I make a few edits to the last couple chapters of my WIP and now I’m ready to write some new stuff.

12:30 a.m. –Have you ever noticed that a man’s light snoring can have the same effect as a sedative? I must stop nodding off with my fingers on the keyboard. I just typed thee pages of slash marks. Sitting up straight is the key to staying awake. Maybe I need a short break. Just long enough to complete a Sudoku puzzle (or two) while letting my creative juices flow. It will renew my energy level.

1:30 a.m. – Okay, back to work. Right after I check my e-mail one more time. Damn. It’s not due for two days, but that guy is looking for the political piece I promised. I better get it finished.

2:30 a.m. – The political post is done! Not that it will help sell my books or anything, but a writer needs to be current and well-rounded, right? I better open my e-mail and send this off to him real quick.

3:30 a.m. – My e-mail is up-to-date again, but I need to get some sleep. I’ll have to work on my WIP tomorrow. Where does the time go?

BIO:

BonSue Brandvik lives with her husband in the tiny, but historic town of Belleair, Florida. When she isn’t writing, BonSue volunteers some of her time to lead Clearwater Writers Critique group, and to serve as the Chairman of the Planning and Zoning Board in Belleair, FL. She is also a court-appointed Guardian Ad Litem, advocating for children, and she volunteers as a docent at the Heritage Village Living History Museum. She also offers to speak to various groups on topics ranging from The Art of Weaving Historic Facts into Works of Fiction to Ghost Stories of the Belleview Biltmore.

BonSue works with preservationists who are fighting to save and restore the historic Belleview Biltmore Hotel; the inspiration for a series of novels she is currently writing. She published the first novel in the series, titled “Pearls: Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore, Book One,” earlier this year and now she’s hard at work on the next book in the series, titled: “Ripples.”

Before devoting her life to writing, the majority of BonSue’s career was dedicated to the field of Human Resources, but she held a wide variety of jobs on the way to that career, including babysitter, cake decorator, door-to-door saleswoman, model, cocktail waitress/entertainer, and secretary. The people and experiences from those jobs help her develop interesting characters for her novels.

When it comes to leisure activities, BonSue enjoys reading, photography, gardening, golf, camping, and helping care for the family koi pond. She is also addicted to Facebook and the on-line game, “Words with Friends.”

BLURB: 

Software developer Honor Macklin believes she’s equal business partners with her philandering ex-husband, but when family responsibilities take her to Florida, she discovers her ex may have cheated her in more ways than one. Honor’s life becomes even more complicated when spirits (not to be confused with ‘ghosts’) at the Belleview Biltmore Hotel start invading her dreams to share memories from the life of Darcy Loughman, a young Victorian woman with big problems of her own. When the two worlds collide, Honor and her steamy, new lover, Josh, along with his clairvoyant four-year-old son, try to figure out if Honor can use lessons from the past to outwit her scheming ex-husband and change her destiny.

“Pearls” book trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uvcIzpprp0

The setting for this novel is the famous and currently endangered historic Belleview Biltmore Resort in Belleair, FL. The hotel was built in 1896 by one of Florida’s founding fathers, Henry B. Plant. The author is working with preservationists, hoping to find investors willing to save the wonderful, 820,000 sq. ft. hotel from demolition. For additional information, please visit: www.SpiritsOfBelleviewBiltmore.com and/or www.SaveTheBiltmore.com

“Pearls” is Book One in BonSue Brandvik’s “Spirits of the Belleview Biltmore” series. It is currently available in both paperback and e-book formats. It will soon be available in audio book format as well.

Buy Links:
Paperback and/or Kindle: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=BonSue%20Brandvik 
Barnes & Noble Nook:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/Pearls-Spirits-of-the-Belleview-Biltmore?store=ebook&keyword=Pearls%3A+Spirits+of+the+Belleview+Biltmore 
iTunes/iBook:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/pearls-spirits-belleview-biltmore/id492220522?mt=11 
smashwords:
https://www.smashwords.com/books/search?query=BonSue+Brandvik 
Sony Reader:
http://ebookstore.sony.com/search?keyword=BonSue+Brandvik 
Kobo Reader: 
http://www.kobobooks.com/search/search.html?q=%22BonSue+Brandvik%22