Prioritizing

Do you remember these lyrics from a perfume commercial in the 70s? “I can bring home the bacon, fry it up in the pan and never, never let you forget you’re a man.” Women were supposed to believe they could do it all and be well dressed, beautifully coiffed and perfumed at the same time. Well, as any woman who has tried to do everything for her family and succeed in her career knows, that’s poppycock. No woman, or man, can do everything, at least not at the same time. Something has to give.

You may be wondering what all of that has to do with writing. The answer is: everything. As writers, the thing we want to do more than anything else, is to write but there are times when other responsibilities must take precedence. For example, when we have a new book coming out, we need to devote a good portion of our time to promoting it. And, like everyone else, we writers have families who sometimes need us and, as important as our writing is to us, the people we love are more important.

In September of 2012, my mother fell and broke her hip. She was making a speedy recovery until, six weeks later, when she fell again and shattered everything the surgeon had fixed. Although I’m happy to report that she’s doing very well, she’s since been diagnosed with another medical condition that limits what she can do. As her only caregiver, there have been times when I’ve felt overwhelmed, frustrated and exhausted. I'm fortunate to have friends who support and encourage me and I’m so grateful that I’ve been able to be there for Mom because she's always been there for me. This whole experience has taught me a few things as I’ve tried to juggle writing, promoting and caring for my mother.

·       I’ve learned to prioritize. Each morning, I make decisions as to what the most important things are for me to do that day. What has to be done? What should be done? And, what I’d like to get done if I have the time and the energy. I schedule my day and I make lots of lists.

·   I’ve learned not to feel guilty when I don’t accomplish everything I’ve set out to do that day and not to let anyone else make me feel guilty either. I can’t please all of the people all of the time; all I can do is what I can do!

·   I’ve learned not to “bite off more than I can chew.” In other words, I try not to commit to more than I know (or think) I can handle. Sometimes, this results in missed opportunities to promote my books but I’d rather say “No” to an invitation than have to back out on something I’ve committed to.

·   I’ve learned to take some time each day for me. After all, we are human beings, not human doings. A little time to myself soaking in a warm tub, reading a good book or sprawled out on the sofa watching TV can be just what I need to recharge my batteries. And, I've come to realize, "down time," when I'm not even thinking about writing, is often when I get some of my best ideas.

Mystery of the Month: Ignore the Pain

Sara Almquist couldn’t say no when invited to be the epidemiologist on a public health mission to Bolivia. Soon she finds dangers lurk around every corner of the Witches’ Market and churches of La Paz as someone from her past pursues her. Unfortunately, she can’t decide which of her colleagues to trust as she learns more than she ever wanted to know about coca production, the god Tio of the silver mines of Potosí, and Bolivian politicians.

Review Blurbs: Hooray, Greger has brought Sara Almquist back in Ignore the Pain and thrust her into one danger after another in La Paz, Bolivia. Bold writing, wonderful descriptions of people and places, and heart-pounding adventure. --F. M. Meredith, author of Dangerous Impulses JL Greger creates the most intriguing characters and infuses them with purpose and quick minds. A must read! --Walter Luce, Real Estate Developer

Amazon sell links:

Ignore the Pain:  http://www.amazon.com/Ignore-Pain-J-L-Greger/dp/1610091310/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1385498311&sr=1-1&keywords=Ignore+the+Pain

Janet and Bug

Bio: J.L. Greger is no longer a biology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; instead she’s putting tidbits of science into her novels. She and Bug, her Japanese Chin dog, live in the southwest. Bug is the only non-fictional character in her novels. She is the author of Coming Flu, Murder: A New Way to Lose Weight and Ignore the Pain.

Keeping It Clean

I learned some valuable lessons about reading and writing when I was growing up. From the time I learned to read, I constantly had my nose in a book. Judy Bolton and Nancy Drew mysteries were my favorites. Good, clean stories with intriguing plots and characters I came to know and to love. More than anything I wanted to write mysteries like Margaret Sutton and Carolyn Keene when I grew up.

My father nourished my love of reading by bringing books home to me from time to time. Dad wasn’t much of a fiction reader but he knew how much I enjoyed a good mystery so, for a change of pace, one day when I was ten or eleven years old, he brought me a copy of “I, the Jury,” a Mickey Spillane novel. I picked it up and started to read, amazed and secretly pleased that Dad had given me such an “adult” book. A day or so later, I had left my book on the coffee table, book marker in place, and Dad happened to pick it up and read a page. His eyes got wide and he immediately confiscated the book. No more Mickey Spillane for me! 

Back then, I was disappointed when Dad took my book away but, as an adult, I’ve come to realize that what intrigued me as a child (probably because it was “forbidden”) bores me now. When I read a mystery/suspense novel with several paragraphs or pages of descriptive sexual acts, I find myself skimming over those parts to get back to the story. 

I’m not a prude and I have no problem with a sex scene and/or “colorful” language if it’s necessary to the plot and, of course, it's perfectly acceptable and even expected in certain types of novels. A steamy romance wouldn't be very steamy without, well, some steam. By the same token, in a book about a street gang, I can't imagine one of the members saying, "Gosh, darn it!" when he's angry. That’s unrealistic and I think fiction should be realistic, believable. But, in my Malone mystery series, I chose not to use certain words and to leave what happens behind bedroom doors (or anywhere else, for that matter) to the reader’s imagination. Because, it’s my belief that you can have a good story and still keep it clean.