Insomnia

The General woke me up this morning at one thirty because she couldn’t sleep. So, of course, that means I’m up for the rest of the night. I’d like to yell at her and tell her to deal with her own insomnia, except that wouldn’t be very parental of me. She rarely comes to get me at night regardless of what’s going on, so I don’t want to give her any additional reasons to avoid me. But that means no sleep for me.

As I lay in bed trying unsuccessfully to fall back asleep, my mind started whirling in a million different directions. First I tried thinking of any of the manuscripts I’m currently writing or editing—for some weird reason, that often puts me to sleep Hopefully the published books don’t have that effect on readers, unless I want to advertise them as a cure for insomnia, which I don’t. But thinking about all of them made me realize I’m working on a lot of manuscripts at once. And for those that wonder, counting manuscripts is NOT like counting sheep.

Then I noticed how loudly my husband breathes.

Since thinking about what I was already writing wasn’t working, I tried plotting out a charity novella I’m going to be working on for my publisher. I might have actually come up with a plot, except it never fully formed—kind of like that dream you can’t remember after you awaken. And all it did was stress me out over making my deadline.

Then I noticed how loudly my husband breathes.

Stress made me think of all the things I have to do, and all the things I have to remind my kids to do. And that led me downstairs, so that I didn’t wake my husband. Because his loud breathing indicates he’s sleeping. And one of us (him) should get a good night’s sleep so that they (he) can deal with the other one (me) who’s going to be really, really cranky.

By The Numbers

The other night I shrieked, startling my husband and the dog (nothing startles the teens). My book, The Seduction of Esther, had hit #157 on Amazon in Jewish books. Usually, my books are in the thousands, so this number was exciting for me. It has since fluctuated, dipping into the two- and three-hundreds before rising again and is now at #67.*

Amazon

My husband wanted to know what those numbers mean, and to be honest, I’m not completely sure. Basically, they’re sales numbers, divided into categories. So in essence, my book is selling well. However, those numbers are also dependent on categories, and the categories are determined by publishers.

While my numbers right now are awesome in Jewish books, they are much less awesome in romance. But I’ll take what I can get, especially since right now, my book is supposedly selling better than one by Elie Wiesel and Leon Uris, which is kind of cool (not that I want to disparage any writer ever!).

Honestly, I’m not usually a numbers person. I’ve become jaded by hearing how the New York Times bestseller numbers are configured (it’s no longer by popularity—you actually have to pay to get on their list, I believe), and I’m not writing books so I can appear on a list. I’m writing because when I don’t write, I’m miserable.

But the numbers are still fun to watch!

*If you’ve recently bought the book, thanks for helping me out! If you haven’t, but are thinking about it, it’s currently on sale.