When to Say Stop?

While on one hand it feels like things with the book launch and tour are just kicking in, the act of planning events three to four months in advance has us asking the question, when is enough?

A while back I wrote a little bit about how it works financially. Well, Travelers’ Tales and myself have been in the fortunate position to have had my schedule be very flexible this year. Part time work has enabled me to come down for editing meetings, do author events and conventions in California, and now take a month or so off to help Krista with a big push right now. As we plan the second part of the tour which will include Seattle, Denver, and possibly Chicago — I am starting to be extremely concerned about my personal life and financial set up. Meaning, I want one. I want both. Very very much. And the longer I stay on the road doing events, the longer I postpone both of these from happening.

Earlier this weekend Krista forwarded me an article from the Chronicle. I found it considerably interesting and knew some of the authors they mentioned. Only, I had no idea we’d be addressing this issue as it pertained to Sand in My Bra just a few says later.

For superstar authors, the publicity machine runs nonstop.
Lesser-known writers hit the road and promote their own books. Never mind that they may have better things to do — like write.
—Adair Lara, Chronicle Staff Writer

So now, we are trying to figure out what to do about booking more events. I had figured that September would be shot, or at least the first half of it, and wanted to finalyze the tour by the end of that month. But we just got a GREAT opportunity which I can’t mention yet, and it’s for October. This is tough. Part of me wants to do it, and the other part of me, the desperate to build the rest of my life part, says I have to get in a job as soon as possible. And if I book an event for October, and have a handful of events and a wedding in September, there’s no way I’m going to get a decent job until after that.

So…when and with which event do we say stop? I need to make a living. I want to make a living. It would be very easy for promotions to go on and on for as long as we’re willing to book them. But I don’t have time to be on the road forever. I need to get settled so I can start building a personal life. Are both possible? Absolutely! But I need a home base first.