What's on YOUR desk, Wednesday? Author Feature!

Today we can visit the desk of our Spotlight Author, Dephine Pontvieux to see what is on her desk and to ask what her typical day is like.

What's on your desk, Wednesday? Click for a bigger picture.

 

Is there such a thing as a typical day when one leads the glamorous, eccentric and outrageously exciting life of an author? Let me ponder this for a second... Hmmm, as much as it breaks my heart to expose the blunt truth, authors’ lives do not solely consist of jet-setting around the world to explore exotic locales (someone HAS to do book research, after all), ensuring the media attention is constantly focused on them while acting as if they don’t give a damn, or partaking in frantic autograph-giving sessions at fancy book-signing events. 

There are, as much as I hate to say it, some tedious aspects to the day-to-day lives of novelists. 

 

For starters, most of us have to actually -gasp!- work. And I’m not just talking about writing a novel, or twelve.  I’m talking about real, money-making full time labor, affording us the opportunity to be authors in our spare time.

 

Also, writing, while tremendously enriching in many aspects, can be a lonesome activity. You get to know your computer on a very personal level. Late at night, you may even find yourself clicking glasses with it, like an old friend at your favorite dive bar. 

 

Writing is not a recommended activity for the weak-hearted or the mentally unbalanced types. On the good days after a great writing session, you feel like a rock star and the whole wide world is yours for the taking. On the bad ones, however, you feel like you could strangle your cat, set your laptop on fire with a match, berate yourself for being a pathetic failure and go into hibernation mode until 2025. 

With that being said, it is also a tremendously rewarding journey. From crafting a story and giving life to a cast of characters, to typing the magic words “The End” at 4:30 in the morning, it changes your life for the better. It makes it richer, different, special. If you’ve ever held your own published book in your hands, you know what I’m talking about.

On to my ‘typical day.’

 

So far I have published one novel, a thriller titled ETA-Estimated Time of Arrest. As of last month, I started working on my second novel. Could be a sequel, or not. It’s too early to tell. I have my own publishing company, Miss Nyet Publishing, LLC. I am also a scuba diving instructor, and I write articles for a couple French diving magazines. I don’t really have time to get bored.

 

I usually wake up around 8, make coffee and get ready for the day. Then I get in front of my computer, check my emails and move on with Miss Nyet-related work: taking care of orders, doing some accounting, looking for marketing and promotion opportunities for my novel here in the states, and prospecting for publishers in Europe. This can take a few hours or a whole day, depending on the level of activity. If I can carve out the time, and I feel the magic, I will work on the first draft of what I hope will turn into my second novel. I try to fit in a trip to the gym at some point, if the day has not already passed me by. Then it’s dinner and family time. After that, I often continue writing until one or two in the morning. Then I go to bed and dream of my characters in action, because in the end, they are the ones who tell me what to write the next day.

http://www.missnyet.com/catalog.htm to order "ETA-Estimated Time of Arrest"

 

About the author:

 

Delphine Pontvieux was born in Versailles and grew up in France. She graduated from the University of Burgundy in Dijon. She also lived, studied and worked in Australia, the USA, Spain and the Netherlands until she moved to Chicago, Illinois, in 1998, where she still lives today. She has 10 years of international sales and promotion experience in the music and entertainment industry. Delphine loves the mountains (rock climbing, monoskiing) and the seas (boating, waterskiing, wakeboarding, long distance swimming, triathlons). She is a scuba instructor, cave and technical diver, and ocean conservation advocate. As a writer, she regularly contributes to international diving publications.

 

If you'd like to take part in What's on YOUR Desk, Wednesday? (WOYDW) please see here for more details and email me the info!  I'm open for bookings. :)

Direct Links to Giveaways!
AUGUST 2010 - Please welcome DELPHINE PONTVIEUX our Author in the Spotlight!
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Giveaways are open to all unless otherwise stated!
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Aug 4th (GA ends) - AC Katt's *Shattered Glass* giveaway!(x2copies+more for USA residents

Aug 5th (GA ends) - Carol Gambill's *Once Wild* or Serranto's Redemption!

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