I don't like things that feel like work. I've avoided them all of my life, always choosing jobs/professions that were more play, things that I would have done for free, but was grateful paid my bills. Some would call this underachievement - and perhaps it is, but life's too short, in my opinion, to be wasted scurrying after success at the expense of one's spirit.

Writing is not usually work for me. Once the storyline is in place and the outline is completed, writing is simply a joy. The settings are vibrant colors within my mind and the characters are strong and fierce, or soft and gentle. Each of them has his/her distinct voice and ****of speech, gestures and expressions, and they are just there inside my head, rather like a movie playing. My job is to put them into MS Word as quickly as possible, the scenes, actions, enotions and conversations.

However, today I have been working. The international rights team requires a synopsis, and chapter summaries for each book - and this writing feels like work. It has the tone of a high school literature **** "Now that you have read the story...write a summary." I do not like this side of writing, but I also do not like it hanging over me...knowing that I MUST do it for contract compliance, so rather than let it lie there festering I decided to get it done...at least for book one of the new series. Surprisingly it is an easy task, I know the story inside and out, have battled the characters, plot and setting for so long that the chapter by chapter summaries have been flying from my fingertips.

The sun is shining on the sea; I have promised myself a walk in the forest at my halfway mark, so all in all even the 'work' side of writing isn't too bad for today.