It’s Wednesday morning in Tucson—sunny but quiet and still cool—and I’m having a day off.  Why?  Because the book tour for Downfall is over, and last night I sent the manuscript for the next Ali book, Man Overboard, to my editors and agent.

Let’s just say that finishing a book and being on tour at the same time is NOT RECOMMENDED.  As that old Helen Reddy song said, “Hasn’t it been a long hard climb.”  And that would definitely be a yes.  It’s a little daunting to know that the publisher has already created the cover long before the manuscript showed up on anyone’s desk to say nothing of on the screen in my computer..

Let’s say a word here about publishers being unreasonable.  They are not!  The editor has not been hounding me to finish.  I think there’s a general belief out in the world that editors are somehow slave drivers inflicting unrealistic requirements on hapless writers, not only in terms of delivering manuscripts but also in terms of what’s inside them. In my experience, that’s just not so.

For one thing, I’m the one who volunteered and signed up to write two books a year for two different publishers.  I’ve also said yes to book tours twice a year.  In other words, the fact that my literary life is complicated is entirely on me.  A few minutes ago, also on my day off, I completed my registration to attend ThrillerFest in NYC next July.  That means that, once again, I’ve just said yes when saying no might have been a: easier and b: less complicated.  And if I start whining about the schedule next summer, please feel free to remind me of what I wrote in this paragraph!

Earlier this week a fan wrote something to the effect that she was tired of reading books containing too many “publisher-dictated” sex scenes.  With a thirty year history of writing more than fifty books, I can say quite honestly that no editor has ever demanded that a sex scene be included or dropped.  Writing is an art, after all, and what goes in or is left out of a work of art is up to … well … the artist.  My personal decision to write books that are generally considered to be PG-13, is based on my own personal preference and on the knowledge that my kids and grand-kids would be reading my books.  My stories are the way they are because of who I am rather than due to requirements imposed on me by others.

So now that I’m almost finished writing this blog, what am I going to do with the remainder of my day off?  Read a book, that’s what!  I started Dan Silva’s new book on the way back from our cruise, but the complications of writing a book and being on tour meant that I haven’t been able to look at it since. But now I can, and today’s the day.

As a child going to school and later, both as a student and a teacher, that’s what summer vacations were all about—reading books—preferably one right after another.  Having the school library open one day a week back then was a real blessing for me, and I dragged wagon loads of books back and forth in the family Radio Flyer.

Occasionally, some young person who is longing to write—someone still in grade school or high school—will ask me what they should do to get published.  I tell them that what they need to do first is become readers.  Readers become writers, not the other way around.

And today, on my day off, that’s what I’m going to be—a reader not a writer.

Enjoy.