My Harlequin Moment: Samantha Hunter

Love the story.  I guess I never really thought of just how many folks are involved in getting a book to print.

I'll answer your questions later -- gotta run now -- but wanted to say "hi!" and sneak in the first post to your blog!

As a reader it is always interesting to read about the nuts and bolts of the industry. We all tend to take things for granted without really thinking about all the hard work that goes into getting a book into our hands. I know I appreciate the author's hard work and even more now since I read snippetathon. I guess I never fully stopped to think about all the other people involved.

Thank you to all of you if you drop in to read Sam's moment.

When I first started here I read a posting about a visit to the shipping center and was impressed by that. Ellen Hartman wrote it I think. She included pictures and it was so interesting. Thanks again Sam for giving all of us a glimpse into the Office.

Thanks for coming by -- rainy Friday here and it's hard not to fight napping.. ;)

Jodie, come on by -- you always have fun things to share. :)

Deb, that's so exciting that you're heading up to Toronto! I'm jealous. Honestly, visiting the offices really has been one of the highlights of my entire 5 years (almost) as a Harlequin author -- you'll love it.

I think I balance things pretty well here at home, and I'm always busy, but sometimes, I wonder if I can fit one more thing in. It's strange, as you say -- I used to teach at two colleges, not in the same town, and neither where I lived, so I was commuting all the time, and taught 5-6 classes a term, and then still took courses and actually wrote Virtually Perfect while I was doing research on my thesis for my second Grad degree. I don't know how I managed all that -- I feel busy now, but doing all that would feel impossible, but maybe we rise to the ocassion when we need to.

Kaelee, it's amazing how many people work hard to get a book on the shelf. It's really a collaborative effort, and it's very exciting to meet them at the office.

Ellen, I've grown into being happy to work at home. I don't know that I could do 40 hours again, unless it was a great job or I was in danger of living on the street, LOL. But home can be isolating, too -- I've had to make efforts to make sure I socialize and get out to do things. I think I won't be giving up full-time writing any time soon, but sometimes I do find myself envious of dh who also works from home, but goes into the university to teach his classes, and takes business trips here and there (though his are paid for by his employer...).

It's always greener, huh? :)

Sam 

I was planning on sharing....just not from work!

I love my job. Really, I do (most days!).  I enjoy the technical challenges I face every day. But I'd have killed to be a stay at home mom. We weren't able to swing it, so instead, we wound up doing split shift parenting...I worked days, my DH worked nights. Still do that, mostly, although it's a bit different since DD is in school full time.  I spent a lot of time being jealous of how much time he got to spend with our girlie.  But that's the way life worked out for us.

I'm extremely lucky in my job. I can work in the office or work at home. I spent 4 1/2 months (from April through August) working mostly from home, while my mother was in the hospital and at home recovering.  That's an amazing benefit.

It was hard, working from home at first. First off, I was entirely too close to the refrigerator! That's really bad. I have about, oh, ZERO will power.   Ice Cream after lunch? Sure! It's right there!!   Also, I missed the social aspect of work, and I missed my lunch hour! I use that hour for just...ME. I go cruise the used book store. I go to Target.  I haul out my own laptop and write. I take a walk.  When I was home, and maybe because I was a round the clock nurse, that didn't happen and I really missed my me time.

Now I'm back in the office full time, and I'm missing being at home, LOL! I liked having the kitties sitting on my feet as they watched the birdies on the deck.  I loved the commute...roll out of bed at 6:55am, be at work by 7am. Bonus!

And I'd LOVE to be able to someday make a living by writing full time, but since I've yet to sell a single ms, that'll have to wait.   Gotta eat!

Hi Sam, I work from home, not by choice. I would much rather be out there mingling with the public even though I am an introvert. It has been just over 6 years since I worked outside the home. It is harder to meet new people and make friendships now.  I have my longtime friends but that isn't enough at times. New stimulus is needed. LOL Those who have jobs outside the house have no idea how lucky they are. Funny, I used to wish I had a stay at home job.

It's a really hard adjustment. I've earned to love it, but it took a while. I did find going to B&N and working there also helps -- different scenery, and there are lots of people working around me, and that's the kind of thing I miss, too. It's not always that you want to socialize so much, but being around the buzz of other people working can help me work, too. 

I do get out -- don't mean to give the idea I am some kind of total recluse, LOL.

But it's also difficult because my friends who work are on a completely different schedule than I am. But we do get together, for sure. And I have activities and things I do. It's also being able to get together with people who are in "your world" -- ie, writing. I think getting together with people to talk shop is really helpful, and you have to make the effort to make that happen, ie, meetings or conferences. I used to have some writer friends I got together with, but they also work dayjobs, so again, it's harder.

I don't envy that kind of school day -- no, I would take working from home over a schedule like that, too. I taught college, big difference, though there were times when I left the room and wondered what happened, too... ;)

Sam

That's hard -- a friend of mine who quit teaching to sell real estate went back to teaching this term for exactly that reason. She said she couldn't stand being around such limited people all the time -- the real estate people she worked with were nice enough, but whenever she tried to have a conversation about books or issues or whatever, they just couldn't keep up with her, so she went back to teaching to be around people she could talk to.

Luckily, I have kept up with several of the women I met through teaching, and we do talk, and there's the internet, where I can get a fix of book chat, etc when I need it, but this is one of the big problems, finding people of your tribe when you work on your own.

I remember going back to work part-time in retail when my son was 4 months old (almost 25 years ago) because after four months of being home with an infant and doing nothing else, a trip out to the park or the grocery store was as exciting as it got, I wanted to jump off something high. I went back to work at Sears in the catalog sales dept, and loved it. ;)

I know people who can stay home like that and be happy, but I can't.  

Sam