When I’m Rich and Famous…

This week the resident hound asked us to answer this question: “If I were suddenly a bestselling author with lots of fame & royalties… how might my life and/or my typical days be different?”

I’d like to think that my life wouldn’t be much different. I’m at the point where I’m pretty content with my daily life. I might move a little more slowly (that’s mostly because there’s more of me to move), but I get around just fine. I’m able to pay my bills and have enough left over to engage in activities I love. My children are all grown and self-sufficient, meaning that they come to visit, but all have their own places to go home to. I have a part time job I love, and have all sorts of things to keep my mind and body active.

Image: Depositphotos.com

So how would extra fame and income change things? The only thing I can think of is that I would be able to hire people to do various author things that take up a lot of my time now. Though I have plenty of time when I’m not working or need to be somewhere, it seems my “writing time” is often filled with other things. It would be nice to have “people” to do them for me. Here’s what I’d have my staff do:

1. Social media: announcing all my new releases, my personal appearances, my giveaways and sales, and sharing pictures of my glamorous life. Right now I can barely keep up with Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, and Instagram. I have accounts at Pinterest and Wattpad but I haven’t checked in at either one for quite some time. And there are so many other outlets I haven’t even tried. An assistant would help me keep up on all that.
2. 

   Image: Depositphotos.com

   Research: Looking up these pesky details that seem to derail my writing at every turn. There’s nothing more frustrating than writing a paragraph – or even an entire scene – and then spending several hours trying to find out if something could have happened the way I’ve described it.

3. Keep track of stuff: I save receipts and write down mileage for the tax man. Unfortunately I have no idea where I saved them. I would love to have someone in charge of keeping tabs on all my little slips of paper that seem to vanish into thin air. So when my accountant asks, “How much did you spend on promotional materials?” I would have an answer ready. It would also be nice to have someone keep track of little snippets of information that I seem to think I’ll remember – but never do.
4. Shopping: I hate to shop. Really. Hate. To. Shop. I eat because my hubby shops for groceries. I have clothes because my mother loves to bargain hunt and when she finds “really big” items (she’s pretty tiny, so anything bigger than a medium is “really big” to her) she’ll pick up something for me. Maybe a personal shopper can make me look awesome. Online shopping is a blessing, but I don’t buy clothes that way – they never seem to fit. So when I HAVE to buy something new I put myself through the agony of trying things on in a dressing room.
5. I like to keep in touch with people, and I don’t mind answering emails and sending out birthday cards. But if I’m rich and famous I will probably have lots more emails to answer and a secretary would help sort out the things I need to see and apprise me of the “need to know” stuff.
6. 

   Image: Depositphotos.com

   Fitness: During summer months I don’t mind going for walks, but when it’s cold (or super hot) I have to remind myself to go to the gym. Sometimes months go by without a workout. If I had royalties like some notables I’d be able to hire a personal trainer to come to my house. Then I’d have no excuse, and I’d be able to look fabulous for those head shots and television interviews.

Of course, I don’t expect to become rich and famous any time soon. I don’t worry about television interviews and walking the red carpet. As I mentioned, I’m pretty darned satisfied with the way things are now. I complain about the lack of writing time, but I love being able to take care of my youngest grandkids when my daughter needs help, and I enjoy going to the older kids’ sporting events and musical performances. I’m glad that I’m available to help my mother when she needs it. And I love being able to spend time with friends. Having help with some of the chores I listed above would be nice and would clear out more time for writing, but truthfully, I don’t know if I’d be able to produce any more than I’m writing now. Sometimes, the things that I do instead of writing are actually ways of procrastinating. If I didn’t have to do them I’d probably replace them with something else. And the writing still wouldn’t get done.

So I guess I’m better off just doing these things on my own and forgetting about the entourage.

Have you ever wanted to have “people” to do your work?

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