The Fine Art of Procrastination...

The title of this post may be deceiving. I'm not a big procrastinator. In fact, my best friend lovingly calls me a hopeless overachiever. Which, I suppose I am, and have always been. I'm the type of person who finds her edits when she gets home at 8 pm one night and stays up until 1am just to get them done and off her plate. (Yeah, it would've bugged me just sitting out there in the living room, knowing I had to get them done...sigh!)

That same best friend and my husband also call me a hopeless planner. I can go with the flow when needed, but the planning saves me from stressing. A good example - two RT's ago I pulled out my little Excel spreadsheet that listed all the things I HAD to be at (along with location and any other needed info), as well as things I MIGHT want to attend. Needless to say, my go with the flow roomie freaked...lol.

Now, in my own defense, she soon found out that I didn't need that schedule glued to my hand, and I certainly didn't follow it like the gospel. But having everything in one spot where I could refer to it IF I needed to, took the stress out of it for me. (Although she still likes to tease me about it!) Also, I hate to be late - to anywhere - so I have a tendency to be early. Again - less stress for me.

So, why am I sharing my quirks with the world today, on the eve of my plane trip to RWA Nationals? Because I haven't done a damn thing to get ready - EEK! And my stress has begun.

Normally, I would already have a list of items I need to take, a list of To Do's that have to be done before I leave and most everything packed and ready to go, so the last day before the trip would be blessedly stress free. Well... Uh... What in the freaking hell happened?!?

That's the problem - I'm not quite sure. And in my true overachiever fashion, it would bug me until I tried to figure it out. So, here goes...

- I'm on a deadline - Vision of Seduction, my 2nd book for Kensington, writing as Cassie Ryan is due on August 15th, and I still have a good chunk to write. I've been writing every day, trying for at least 2K so I can make headway on that.
- My son just got back from band camp, and my house has been overrun by 13-year-olds swimming, spending the night and generally being, well... 13-year-olds, not to mention wading through his mound of laundry I found still freshly wadded inside his suitcase. Don't get me wrong, they are all good kids, but the noise and activity level in my house has increased exponentially.
- To avoid having to get a part time job which would eat into my writing time, I signed up to be a Pampered Chef consultant and held my first show a few days ago. I don't cook, which I was pleasantly surprised that you DON'T have to do for this. I can make the recipes during the show, and I love talking to people, and I really do like their products - so it's a really good fit. But still - it does take time.
- I did have my nails done yesterday in preparation for Nationals, and I meant to do sooo much more, but it just never happened. I was dragging a bit yesterday, so I just ended up hanging out with the kiddo and the hubby (and the other various and sundry 13-year-olds hanging around our house...lol)
- I sent out my monthly Tina Gerow newsletter earlier this week. That thing always takes me a minimum of four hours.
- I'm having both my Tina Gerow website and my Cassie Ryan website redone by Stonecreek Media, so I've been talking to them on both of those.
- I just had my book video for Ceremony of Seduction made (you can go see it at myspace.com/cassieryan44) It's wonderful :) ScrapFairy designs did a great job!

A thousand other things I've done over the past few weeks are flitting through my mind, but they are just making me more tired, so I'm not going to list them and exhaust you too! :) But I think I at least have my answer. I think I need a freaking vacation!! LOL.

Anyway, here I am, in stressville, with too much to do to stop for a nice butterscotch martini or even a glass of wine. To try and manage my impending coronary, I did sit down this morning and make my To Do list and my packing list and take stock of what laundry was done and what was still in huge piles on my laundry room floor. I also have a list of shopping and errands I need to do today - on a freaking Sunday! What was I thinking?!? And I have less than 24 hours to get it all done!

Do you know what the very first thing was on my list? It was, in fact, the alarm that pinged on my cell phone and woke me up at 7am this morning. LADIES OF THE CLUB BLOG DAY...lol. We all chose days to blog, and several weeks ago, I chose today because I knew I would have everything done and it would be a blessedly stress-free day. NOT! So instead of some insightful blog on writing HOT or fighting with my characters or even on belly button lint (that one still cracks me up, JC!), you get a glimpse of my stress meltdown, and the reason behind my above-listed neuroses.

On the bright side - I now have one thing crossed off my list. Woo Hoo! I'm on my way...

So, on that note - now that you realize a writer's life is probably more neurotic and boring than the so-called "normal" people, I'm off. Hope to see tons of you in Dallas!

Tina Gerow/Cassie Ryan
Overachiever/Planner/Stress Monster :)