By Elizabeth Goddard, @bethgoddard

Is your writing calendar chaotic? Does it leave room to breathe? Give you time to write in a crunch or if you’re struggling to unscramble your brains?

At the first of this month (November) I turned in a book, and then immediately started writing on another one due in six weeks. The second story mentioned is half the word count and, without subplots and multiple points-of-view, shouldn’t take me as long to write. Still, on my writing calendar, it sits on top of another longer book deadline.

Or maybe you can think of it as sandwiched between the two longer books. Picture that in your head and repeat the image through next year. Again. Now again.

I currently write for two publishers. There have been times when I’ve written for three publishers at once. Though that’s doable, it also makes for a ruthless schedule.

I won’t lie—I feel kind of brutalized at the moment. But I did this to myself. It’s all good!  I love to write. The more prolific I can be, the better. I wouldn’t change a thing, except well, if I could clone myself I might actually consider it.

That’s because life doesn’t always cooperate, does it? In fact, rarely does it cooperate with my schedule.

When creating your writing schedule—either deadlines for yourself or your publisher or multiple publishers—you have to carve out extra time, because if you don’t . . .

What happens if you get sick?

What happens if a child or spouse gets sick and requires nurturing?

What happens if someone gets a serious illness requiring hospital stays? The interference list is infinite.

But hey, we can’t live in fear of what could happen, right? Let’s say, that even if you do give yourself time on that schedule, you can still struggle to get your book(s) written in time.

So that means you need a Plan B for writing through the rough spots. No one wants to miss a deadline if they can help it. Missing one, when you have multiple deadlines, has a domino effect and will sabotage your publisher’s schedules as well.

What this means is that when you sit down to write during your allotted writing time, you’d better be writing.

You don’t have time to process the real life going on around you. You can’t spend time in the real world—you have to be in your story world!

I have a mantra. I’ll share it with you like I share with my friends when they need encouragement to just keep writing.

Just start slinging mud.

Mud, you ask?

Um . . . Words.

Why not paint? Why not encourage you to sling paint instead? That image would be much more encouraging.

I call words “mud” at this stage because they might be dirty. It’s okay to put something ugly and dirty on the page—the point is that you’re putting SOMETHING on the page.

Nora Roberts said, “I can fix a bad page. I can’t fix a blank page.”

So just “start slinging mud” and be okay with how bad the words look. Don’t worry. You can fix them later.

As the voice of experience, I can say this method words, and you WILL succeed. This will help you write through the tough spots and meet your deadlines.

Happy writing!

STORMY HAVEN

He’s her undercover bodyguard—but she can’t know

A Coldwater Bay Intrigue story

When someone tries to kill former government agent Jonna Strand, Ian Brady comes to her rescue. Now Ian must keep Jonna safe and catch the would-be killer—without revealing he was sent undercover to protect her. But when Jonna learns the truth, can she look past his secrets and lean on him to ensure they live through the storm-ridden night?

Elizabeth Goddard is the bestselling, award-winning author of more than thirty romance novels and counting, including the romantic mystery, THE CAMERA NEVER LIES–a 2011 Carol Award winner. Four of her six Mountain Cove books have been contest finalists. Buried, Backfire and Deception are finalists in the Daphne Du Maurier Award for Excellence in Mystery and Suspense, and Submerged is a Carol Award finalist. A 7th generation Texan, Elizabeth graduated from North Texas State University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and worked in high-level software sales for several years before retiring to home school her children and fulfill her dreams of writing full-time.