BLOG TOUR – GUEST POST: “Shock & Awe” by Abigail Roux
Boys In Our Books welcomes Abigail Roux with a guest post about…….PROCRASTINATION!
Hello everyone! Welcome to the day seven of the “Shock & Awe” Blog Tour! Thank you to Boys in Our Books for hosting today. If you’re following along, you might find this handy dandy schedule of use, and you might be interested in keeping up with me each day, because I’ve got a couple goodies to give away. In celebration of Nick and Kelly’s coming out, so to speak, I’ve got three of their Heart and Clover T-shirts for three lucky commenters. And I’ve got five sets of trading cards with original artwork and character work-ups, something I intend to add new cards to every year, which makes this first year’s cards pretty important if you’re an obsessive collector like I am.
Procrastination
We’re officially past the halfway point of the tour! I have to tell you, I’m kind of running out of ideas for things to talk about, so roll with me on this one.
One of my favorite things about being a writer is procrastination. You see, when I sprint write with other writers, I can consistently bang out 1200 words in half an hour. If I get my trusty calculator app out, I can tell you that’s 2,400 words an hour, and if you postulate an eight hour work day (LOL) that’s just over 19k a day. You’re talking a novel in a week! If I could focus and sit all day, I’d really be writing, wouldn’t I?
There are valid reasons I don’t write eight hours a day. I like sleep, for one. I’m a single mother, for two. I do tons of research when it’s needed, including flying to the locations of my books even if it means a 6 hour ferry ride into the Hebrides of northern Scotland without a rain coat. But the real reason I don’t write a novel a week is because I procrastinate. Oh lord, do I ever.
I have TV shows I love. I have Tumblr and Twitter and Facebook messenger where I talk with my best friends pretty much all day, every day. And I play.
I’m not talking about playing Farmville or Candy Crush, though. I k
now myself too well to do anything addictive. I mean I play with my characters, I play with my readers, and I play with my photoshop program. The most obvious example of my procrastination are the character text messages I post to Tumblr with iffy regularity. You can find a lot of them under the tag Texts from Nick, Texts from Ty, or Texts from Sidewinder. I’m afraid I’ve tagged them sporadically and the next time I need to procrastinate I may reorganize them.
Most of them deal with horrible, embarrassing autocorrects. Readers always ask me where I come up with these, how I make them, and praise the continuity of the characters. Well, I don’t make them up, for the most part. These are, I’m almost sad to admit, screencaps from those Facebook messenger conversations I mentioned earlier. I change things, of course, to fit the characters a
nd protect the innocent. And it’s become a little frightening how little I have to change to make myself or my buddies sound like the Sidewinder guys, since I’ve written them as quite obviously insane.
But the texts are fun (and often quite insulting so no reading if you’re a sensitive soul or easily offended by autocorrect.) Sometimes I go through dry spells where autocorrect behaves, or we just don’t have any conversations that are relevant to the Sidewinder guys. During those dry spells, I actually have to write books.
If you care to follow me more closely, you can find me on Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr.
ABOUT:
After barely surviving a shootout in New Orleans, Sidewinder medic Kelly Abbott has to suffer through a month of recovery before he can return home to Colorado. He’s not surprised when fellow Sidewinder Nick O’Flaherty stays with him in New Orleans. Nor is he surprised when Nick travels home with him to help him get back on his feet—after all, years on the same Marine Force Recon team bonded the men in ways that only bleeding for a brother can. He’s very surprised, though, when Nick humors his moment of curiosity and kisses him.
Nick knows all of Kelly’s quirks and caprices, so the kiss was a low-risk move on his part . . . or so he thought. But what should’ve been a simple moment unleashes a flood of confusing emotions and urges that neither man is prepared to address.
Now, Kelly and Nick must figure out what they mean to each other—friends and brothers in arms, or something even deeper?—before the past can come back to ruin their tenuous future.
You can read an excerpt and purchase Shock & Awe today from Riptide!
Well that bit of truth was hilariously spot on for most of us I imagine. I don’t have to write books, but I sure can find things to do other than my work or home tasks without trying hard. I’ll have to check out these autocorrect communiques. ;D
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i’m sorry i’m laughing……..autocorrect can be awful right? And I can totally relate about procrastination. I do my best work right before due dates ;)
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The auto correct texts are fun to read. If your procrastination still manages to benefit your characters and fans is it really procrastination? ;)
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Sometimes truth is better than fiction. I now refuse to read those text posts in public after an unfortunate laugh/snort incident. If I see one on my dash, I hurry to a quiet spot and laugh all I want.
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As much as I would love more books I really do love all the stuff you give us online! The Texts kill me every time!
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I love all your extras, and it kills me when I miss some. I want to be part of those texts, preferably between Ty and Zane. Fit me in somewhere? ;)
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I love those text posts. So fucking much.
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I procrastinate on writing also. I read your tumblr, facebook, and tweets, plus I am addicted to World of Warcraft and my grandkids. I’m supposed to be doing Nanowrimo, what am I doing today? WoW and following your blog tour. Damn it, I’m addicted to Sidewinders and T&Z…
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I love the texts. Kelly and the guinea pig. ‘Nuff said. :-)
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I love the texts! Who knew autocorrect could be so damn funny!! :)
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I love that she takes real text mess ups to create the awesome Sidewinder texts! They all crack me up until I am crying from laughter.
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Ooh, it’s been a while since I’ve visited the tumbler blog. Thanks for the reminder!
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I love all the extras things that Abi gives us. The texts are so fun.
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This was my favorite blog stop to write up . . . procrastination wins every time. Thank you for hosting me!
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I love the text messages that you post on tumblr! Really shows each character’s personality ;)
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I love all the extras that Abi gives us. I love hearing from the guys, it usually makes me laugh.
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Autocorrect often makes for the most entertaining thing around! I love the text conversations and find myself laughing so hard! It’s such a fun bonus and I love it!!
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What?! You mean I’m supposed to actually be doing something productive during most of the day? How did no one tell me this before?!
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I’m a huge procrastinator at times. But in my defense, doing this is funner than cleaning my house.
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