Welcome guest Rachelle Chase

Rachelle Chase is an award-winning romance author, speaker, business analyst, and model. Her most recent books, MEN ON FIRE, SEX LOUNGE, and SIN CLUB were published by Kensington Publishing. When she’s not writing (or procrastinating), she loves to dream up fun ways to promote her books – such as her “Finding Derek” contest, where hunky guys competed online to be the hero of SEX LOUNGE. In fact, she’s got some fun contests and promotions underway now. For the holidays, if you buy a copy of her hunky firefighter book, MEN ON FIRE, at participating bookstores, 15% of sales will be donated to the San Francisco Firefighter’s Toy Program. And, she and co-sponsor Leigh Michaels are gearing up for the 4th Annual “Chase the Dream” contest for writers – their motto is “We pick winners” because each year, some finalists have landed agents or book contracts as a result of the contest. It’s free, fun, interactive, and educational, so Rachelle encourages all romance writers to enter. Details are at her web site, www.RachelleChase.com.
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My friends and family know that, in addition to being a great procrastinator, I’m a great “starter.” I love, love, LOVE to start things. The only things that get finished – like, oh, say … books, day job deliverables, Christmas shopping, or shaving … are things with deadlines (in the case of shaving, a date or a doctor’s appointment is a surefire deadline that’ll have me taking a razor to my arm pits).

With the exception of crafts. Deadlines do not work with crafts.

Unlike Rachel, I oftentimes start making a handcrafted item for a loved one’s birthday or special occasion at the last minute (see procrastination above). Which means that the I-just-had-to-make-it gift gets stuffed into my Started Projects bag.

Case in point, the Granny Square projects. When my mom quit her day job to become a cross-country truck driver, I started a blanket for her, in hopes it’d keep her warm in her truck at night. On the day before her birthday, I FedExed it to her in Florida, half finished, and with the promise that I’d finish it later. Ten years (and a career change for my mom) later, it’s back in my bag and I’m still promising to finish it.

The second granny square project was a baby blanket I started for my niece. She’s six now and far too big for her blanket. I’m planning to finish it in time for my great-niece.



Then came my Small Project phase. Thinking that perhaps smaller projects would have a chance of getting finished, I asked an ex-boss to teach me a simple knit stitch – a large, loopy stitch that would enable me to finish a scarf quicker than knitting row upon row of small, tight stitches. Only, she didn’t show me how to finish-off or tie-off or whatever it’s called. So I don’t know how to cut the yarn without unraveling the whole thing – a perfect excuse for not finishing.



Next was the Fuzzy Yarn phase. I bought beautiful, expensive (to me) yarns, figuring that if I loved the yarns, I’d be excited to finish the projects. Not. It’s been so long, I have no idea what these projects were supposed to be when finished.



This year, I’ve entered the Teeny Tiny Project phase. And I’ve found the perfect project: Baby booties. They’re small, simple, and don’t take much time to finish. The fact that I don’t know anyone with a baby is no deterrent. I’m sure I’ll know someone by the time the first (and last?) pair’s finished.

Thank you, Penfatales, for having me as a guest. For without you and your deadline, this blog post never would have been finished.

Any other starters or procrastinators out there?

Please help Rachelle refine her procrastination skills by leaving a comment on her blog, and friending her on Facebook and Twitter.