Thanks to everyone for all the birthday love, yesterday! XOXO
Please welcome my guest, author Jane Beckenham!

PROCRASTINATION IS A WONDERFUL THING…really, believe me.

If you’re a writer, or have specific tasks to achieve by deadline, you’ll think that that comment is absolutely NUTS! Yes, it probably is, but let’s stop a moment and see what procrastination is…

The dictionary says…
Procrastination.
1. The act or habit of procrastinating, or putting off to a future time; delay; dilatoriness.
2. The act of procrastinating; putting off or delaying or deferring an action to a later time

Now there are two specific things that stand out here…. PUTTING OFF, DEFERRING.

It doesn’t say you’re not going to do it, just a bit later. That’s all. And that’s not so bad, is it. Okay, so you have a deadline looming. But what about refilling the well so that you can top up those creative juices. Giving life some balance.

Several years ago I was writing up a storm. Night and day, weeks, months, without a break, then finally all the editing was done, the deadline met. The manuscript sent off. Then I stopped.

And for five minutes I just stared at the computer.

“What next?”

I had no clue. My life for soooo long had simply been writing. Words. Words and more words. Right at that moment, I was OVER words. Over thinking of them, finding them, creating wonderful pictures with them.

But the creative spirit takes a lot to kick it to the curb and I discovered scrap booking. Something pretty, creative, and with VERY FEW words – none if I chose. I was addicted.

But while the next deadline loomed, this new creative outlet gave me a chance to not just refill the well, it filled my life with beauty and color and memories as I scavenged through the shoe boxes of photos that had been waiting for years for their perfect home in an album.

Someone once asked me what I did for me. Just me. Of course I answered, that I was a writer, and I wrote. No she said, that’s your job – oooh doesn’t that sound fab! – then she asked again, what do you do – just for you. I couldn’t think of one thing, and in the scheme of our lives, that really probably is quite sad.

I’d forgotten about balance. I recently saw an Oprah Winfrey tape where she revealed that she’d put on all the weight again. And do you know what… she realised that she’d lost the balance in her life. That her life had revolved around doing, being, helping, fixing – things for others, but not for herself.

So the answer here is … find something that isn’t ‘work/passion’ related, something you can just do FOR YOU.
The thing I found was that I wanted to have a bath. Every day (yes I do shower, but I’m talking about a soaking, bubble affair). I remember how excited I was when I raced to the market to get some bubble bath, realising that this was something I was going to do JUST FOR ME. My time. Alone. Well as a romance writer I could always imagine sharing the bath with a hunk!

It was so wonderful, finding something I wanted to do. I realised I had forgotten myself. I was writing for me, but it had all become tied up with deadlines, editors, publishers, and promotion, not about the wonderful journey of creating a story, fulfilling the dreams of two characters who had come to life for me.

So at the end of today, ask yourself, what are you doing that is JUST for you. Is it a walk, time to read, a bath, or perhaps, it’s just time to sit and talk to a friend or family.

But the important thing here is to remember to do it. Because this life isn’t a game, there’s no rewind and replay, this is it. So enjoy.

The moral of this story…. Do what you love, but love what you do.

Happy reading and writing everyone,
Jane Beckenham

Bio
In books Author Jane Beckenham discovered dreams and hope, stories that inspired in her a love of romance and happy ever after. Years later, after a blind date, Jane found her own true love and married him eleven months later.
Life has been a series of ‘dreams’ for Jane. Dreaming of learning to walk again after spending years in hospital. Dreaming of raising a family and subsequently flying to Russia to bring home her two adopted daughters. And of course, dreaming of writing.

Writing has become Jane’s addiction – and it sure beats housework.
You can contact Jane via her website or email her at neiljane@ihug.co.nz.

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In Love With The Sheikh
Desert Rose Anthology
Mainstream Romance: Contemporary, Interracial/ Multicultural
ISBN: 978-1-60435-723-3
Cover Artist: Missy Lyons
Editor: Zena Gainer
Word Count: 49,380
Release Date: June 17, 2010

Desperate to discover her past, Lilly Duprés outbids Sheikh Kalim Raschid for an antique brooch. Her triumph is short lived. She can’t honor that bid. Accepting an offer to solve her financial embarrassment, Lilly discovers Kalim has every material thing yet spurns what she most desires. Love. Family. To belong.

After a lifetime spent watching his father hurt his mother, Kalim has vowed he would never imitate his father. But Lilly breaches his defenses leaving him vulnerable.

Faced with something he never wanted, Kalim must choose his future, and Lilly must accept her past, until life and love can come full-circle.

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He’s the One
Genre: Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60928-040-6
Length: Category
Price: 4.50
Publication Date: May 25, 2010

Debuted on Publisher’s Best Seller List

Taylor Sullivan doesn’t trust Cupid.
Cade Harper doesn’t do commitment, and marriage is a dirty word.
Taylor wants to lose her virginity.
Cade knows two things about women. They either abandon him, or use him as a walking bank.
Taylor doesn’t buy anything sight unseen and wants to test the waters with a kiss.

Virginity is definitely overrated.

Happy reading,
Jane Beckenham