For a long time, I thought the reason summer was my busy season was because you all wanted me to edit while you’re on vacation. Really, you guys deserve longer breaks from your work in progress for more than a week, but I’m indulgent like that. (I slept until 8:30 this morning — well, the morning I’m writing this — and that’s extremely rare for me.)

But lately, I’ve found a way to quantify my stress and I noticed that as soon as the kids were out of school and my oldest now a graduate, my stress levels… plummeted. That’s coincided with my sitting on the couch, working on my own fiction. (and probably sleeping until 8:30, but that’s another story.)

Coincidence?

Not on your life.

Whatever the reason, I’m glad to say this summer is shaping up for me like almost every other: busy. Which means that if you need me (and why don’t you???), better get in the queue now. I still work on a first come, first served basis and I’ll do my best to hold a date if you’re a deadline person, but know I’m not going to sit idle for a few days while I wait for you. I have a college tuition to pay starting in August!

Right now, I’m not so busy that the Rush fee is active. That could — and probably will — change at any point, so if you’re working on something that you think or know will be ready for an edit soon, well, do NOT rush it. Not for my sake. Remember you always want to send your editor your very best (unless you’re stuck and you need my expert eye, at which point holler and I’ll help. Of course!).

So what do you do?

Contact me. Tell me you know it’s the busy season, and you want to make sure I’m on your radar. If you’re an existing client, will it make a difference? Quite possibly; I take care of my people.

But if you and I haven’t worked together yet, don’t despair. You won’t be thrown to the back of the queue time and again. Nope. You’re my people now, at least temporarily, and I take care of my people.

What does that mean? It means I’m not too busy to communicate with you (generally) about where you are in the queue and when I’ll get to you. It means you’ll get 100% of my attention and be the only project I work on until it’s done. (Not all editors, I’ve learned, work this way.) It means you potentially get to make me so busy, I impose the rush fee.

Got it?

Now, get busy on your fiction. Summer’s here (unless you’re Down Under, but that’s a logistic we can work out another time). Hopefully your stress levels plummeted as much as mine have. Hopefully you’re busy writing, and you’ll need me before you start shopping for school supplies or (eep!) dorm room linens. Be in touch, let me know you’ll me.

In the meantime, I’ll be over here. Busy.

The best-laid intentions of mice and men… radio silence has fallen over here, and not just on the blog. I’ve got a list of e-mails to answer that’s a mile long.

So what’s going on? What the radio silence?

Life’s been a whirlwind. The conference. An edit that was really tough, tougher than expected. Out of town for a family event. A kid sick ALL. WEEK. LONG. And a weekend that should have been the first R&R in eons that … wasn’t. Nope. It was spent making sure Sick Kid got the right diet so he’s no longer Sick Kid. Really, it’s not that hard to make rice, buy bananas, grab the packet of cheese sauce and insist the noodles be eaten plain until this passes. And it finally did, thankfully. Nine days of school left, and I’m sure Sick Kid will spend a chunk of them making up what he’s missed. Talk about derailing your grades at the last minute. Yikes.

I’ve got a ton of stuff to blog about. I’m making notes. I just need the time and the energy to do it all…

As always, it’s all going to be worth it. If you want to challenge my time management, go on ahead and book dates. I got ’em open and once school’s out in nine days, I expect things to shift for the better. These five-thirty wakeups are killing me.

Nine more days.

I’ll be breaking radio silence more fully soon.

Wasn’t there some song in the 70s or 80s that started out like that? Dance with me/I want to be your partner/Can’t you see…

Yeah. I remember it.

Anyone got a title and artist for me? (If you know it and want a free download of something from my backlist, holler. What the heck; it’s a Smashwords coupon and a memory like THAT ought to be rewarded.)

The dance today isn’t some veiled sexual comment, like the song is. It’s a happy dance.

Dudes, I am SWAMPED. A big editing project, a couple of samples, a Last Look edit, some PR, some real-life people to connect with, some books to edit for that big name review company who pays me to tell them what I think of a book or two… SWAMPED, I tell you. I’m so swamped, it’s hard to know which project gets top priority and my full attention at any minute of the day.

And I am loving every minute of it. (I’d love it more if the auto-schedule feature were working right ’cause I’ve got cool posts that I’ve been too swamped to hand-post!)

Bring it on. Keep it coming. It may mean less of me on social media. But it means an income, and it means I’m happy and a happy Susan means more good fiction coming your way, as well.

And while I’m this swamped, go visit Jaidis Shaw. I’ve got a Featured New Book spot I need to get up for Monday, so stop in and see what she’s about. Whet your appetite so when she’s here, talking music, you’re TOTALLY into it.

Keep the good stuff coming, guys. It’s magic, and I’m loving it. May it only get better from here.