Jennifer M. Eaton is still tied up!  If you want to help set her free, click here to find out how.(And maybe win a copy of the “Make Believe Anthology” while you’re at it)

In the meantime, I am holding Nicky Wells at lazerpoint, forcing her to talk about one of my favorite books (Yes!  I know how to read!)

Human Nicky Wells, you may speak now!

Ummm… Okay….

Just how do you manage to churn out these books, I’m often asked. The answer is predictable: I write when the kids are at school, in between the housework, the shopping and my authorly promotional work. On average, I probably have a measly fifteen hours per week available for writing. Yet I completed the first, 145,000-word draft of my second novel in fourteen weeks.

I have a secret. When I have finished planning a book and it is ready to be born, I write every day, regardless of mood, health, weather, or inspiration. I don’t have bad writing days. I have days that go better than others, but I write regardless; and occasionally, the best scenes emerge on a challenging day.

Come what may, I cannot afford to waste time because I don’t feel like writing on a given day. So how do I produce creativity on tap?

The answer may astound you. I draw on a technique that I acquired in a previous professional life, where I was also required to write ‘on demand.’ Here, every time I had to complete a major writing project, I found myself seriously sidetracked by menial tasks. Instead of getting on with the job at hand, I’d tidy my desk. I’d empty the bin. I’d defragment the hard-drive. I’d empty the email trash folder. I’d be overcome by the urge to purchase and consume a large cappuccino. Nearly an hour into the work day, and I would still be faffing around.

This strange compulsion frustrated me senseless, until a manager pointed out that I was merely executing my ‘peak performance’ ritual. The tasks I was performing prepared me mentally for writing. While tidying and going out to buy coffee, my mind, so I was told, would already process the task ahead so when I sat down to produce, I would hit the ground running. I relaxed into ‘my’ routine, and I’ve never looked back.

These days, my peak performance ritual involves the school run, checking email, hanging out the laundry, dusting at least one room in the house, sorting the mail and… making a cup of tea. I encourage you to think about your own ‘strange’ routines and embrace them for what they are: a tool to set you up for your writing day. I bet you’ll find you can write on demand!

About Nicky Wells: Romance that Rocks Your World!

Nicky Wells writes fun and glamorous contemporary romance featuring a rock star and the girl next door. Her debut novel, Sophie’s Turn, is now available from Sapphire Star Publishing. Nicky loves rock music, dancing, and eating lobsters. When she’s not writing, Nicky is a wife, mother, and teaching assistant.

Visit Nicky on her blog where you can find articles, interviews, radio interviews and, of course, an ongoing update on her work in progress, the second and third parts of the Rock Star Romance Trilogy. You can also follow Nicky on Twitter and find her on Facebook. Nicky is a featured author on the innovative reader/author project, loveahappyending.com and has joined the Romantic Novelists’ Association.

About Sophie’s Turn—

One fine day in Paris, Sophie Penhalligan suddenly finds herself engaged to her teenage crush and love-of-her-life-from-a-distance, rock singer and star extraordinaire Dan Hunter. But there is the small matter of her very recent, but very prior, engagement to Tim. Reliable, honest, trusting Tim, her boyfriend of two years stashed away safely in his mews house in South Kensington while Sophie is drinking rather too much champagne with Dan in Paris. This contemporary romantic fairy tale describes how Sophie gets into her impossible situation and how she turns it around.