So, what happens when you write four books during a pandemic? I can tell you . . . You slowly descend into madness as you read, reread, and edit all four of them. Two sit on the back burner while you’re working diligently to get the other two edited to the conscriptions of the editors hounding your email inbox. At the same time, you mind swirls with stories that you’ve been writing (and want to continue writing) but had to stop to go into edit mode. Like I said . . . Hell!

You wouldn’t know it by looking at me but I am a dazed and frazzled man. I am staring at a computer for nearly 16 hours a day, half at my regular job and half at the job I want to do full time. At the same time, my wife starts me off on a new diet. Yes, I’ve lost weight (10 pounds in a week) but I’m on edge from the lack of sugar and pasta in my life. Celery sticks and sugar free popsicles to not satisfy the burgeoning mind of an author.

It’s hard to focus, especially since I want to make sure everything is right. It’s hard to do when you have multiple projects crossing over . . . different storylines, characters, even genres. I am an idiot for doing this to myself, but I didn’t expect everything to be overlapping like they are. Things happened so fast that I am scrambling to make sure all my bases are covered.

I think this is giving me a reason to retire and go writing full time. I wish that was possible but I’m still a young 58 (59 in August) so I’m at the edge but not there yet. Maybe if I win the lottery or come into some money, but that is not very likely. The idea is to just “pull up my bootstraps” and “buckle up” for a long few months.

I know I should slow down and focus on one thing at a time, but when the mind goes in twenty different directions, you have to go with it. When an idea pops into my head, it rolls around there, over and over again, until I start writing it down. It won’t let me go! If I don’t do something with it, it can be quite maddening.

Follow that up with my recent successes by signing with Revolutionary Press and Curious Corvid Publishing. I’m not complaining, believe me, this was the best thing to happen to me in the pandemic. It’s just the added responsibility to live up to the expectations of the publishers. You want to show them that by picking you, to be one of their published authors, it was worth their time and energy.

So, once again, sorry for the rant, but this is an author’s blog, so its to be expected. Just remember, for all you blossoming and budding independent authors out there, remember to make better time management a priority when it comes to editing. Don’t let the projects overlap. Learn from MY mistakes and you’ll do just fine. If not, prepare for the worst!

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Mark Piggott is an independent author of the Forever Avalon fantasy book series and other fantasy/steampunk novels and short stories. Forever Avalon is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook at Amazon and as an audiobook from Audible and iTunes. The Dark Tides: Book 2 of the Forever Avalon Series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from iUniverse Publishing and at Amazon, and other booksellers. The Outlander War, Book Three of the Forever Avalon series is available for purchase as a paperback/ebook from Austin Macauley Publishing, and at Amazon and other booksellers. His latest fantasy novel, The Last Magus: A Clockwork Heart is available through Lulu and other booksellers.

Get ready for the steampunk historical fiction, Corsair and the Sky Pirates, coming soon from Revolutionary Press; and The River of Souls novella, coming soon from Curious Corvid Publishing. The Prometheus Engine: Book 4 of the Forever Avalon Series and The Last Magus: Dragonfire and Steel are future installments of my current fantasy book series, coming soon.