The reader question that makes me laugh the most is the one about my workday. I think that a lot of people assume writers have some kind of regular schedule. Maybe most do. This one doesn't. I try my best; don't me wrong. I really do set out EVERY day with the best of intentions. But inevitably, something comes up. My website crashes and I have to deal with that calamity. My kids forget something crucial for school and I have to run out and deliver it, eating up precious time. Or we run out of a critical dinner ingredient and I find myself wasting two hours at the grocery store (you and I both know that you can never go to the grocery store and get just ONE thing!).

In general, though, I write about three thousand words a day. WHEN I write them is a whole other story. Sometimes it's in the morning (in my ideal world, it's always in the morning, but rarely does my ideal day work that way). Sometimes the afternoon. Sometimes at night (worst case scenario, because I'm tired then). When I'm at the end of a book, I usually end up writing an extra couple thousand words in the middle of the night because the book is literally SCREAMING to a finish for me. I can't sleep; I'm dying to see how it ends.

And that brings me to another point. Yes, I am one of those insane writers who jumps off a cliff with no idea where I'm going to end up. I write the idea and then just kind of go from there. Sure, I write a synopsis because my editor makes me ;-) so we can go to contract but I never read the silly thing. I hate to know how the book ends. If I do, then I won't write it. I mean, what's the point? I already know the ending. It's kind of like peeking at the last page of a mystery. You know who did it, why read all the junk in between? I hate to see the last half of a movie and then see the beginning, too. Either start at the start or don't start at all.

So, yes, I do work every day. But do I work at a regular time? No. And when I write a Christmas book, especially one that gets written during the Christmas season, the schedule is even more hectic. I remember working on MIRACLE ON CHRISTMAS EVE on the plane, literally, on my way to my dad's house for Christmas. Then working on it early in the morning on Christmas (I am like a little kid; I'm up before ANYONE else, trying to nudge my kids out of bed so it can LOOK like they woke up first. I can't wait for Christmas. Makes my husband nuts, LOL). So I used those...uh...two hours befor the sun rose on Christmas morning to work (I told you, I can't wait, LOL).

But the writing gets done. The books get turned in and everyone's happy. Eventually :-)

Shirley