Blogger: Wendy Lawton
Last week I wrote about productivity and word counts. Today I’d like to examine work style. Nothing seems harder than actually getting down to the work of writing. Writers are constantly alternating between feeling waves of guilt for not meeting writing goals and experiencing a strange euphoria for exceeding that goal. You see the acronym BIC showing up in writer’s advice all the time. It stands for Butt-in-Chair, which is what the quest actually entails. The simple truth is, no writing gets done unless we put our body in our chair and engage with the keyboard.
We often think that multitasking–not only writing but also marketing, networking, Twittering, blogging, Facebook-ing and, oh, yes, taking care of families, church and household duties–is a new wrinkle in the world of publishing. Listen to what writer Virginia Woolf said in her diary: “I’ve shirked two parties, and another Frenchman, and buying a hat, and going to tea with Hilda Trevelyan, for I really can’t combine all this with keeping my imaginary people going.”
In a wonderful article in one of my old Victoria magazines (January 2009), Jan Karon says, “When I write, I dive headlong into the work as into a river, where I swim for my life, or, depending on the tenor of the story, float on my back, gazing at the clouds. I inhabit that river for five hours or two minutes, ten or thirty, whatever the day may yield. When there’s nothing more to say or conjure, I make my way to the shore, trying to separate fiction from fact, and get on with the business of living.”
Let’s talk about how we get the actual work of writing done, including deadlines, interruptions, and goals. What is your work style? How do you get the work done? Do you have to give anything up to get the work done?
For many years my day job has been wrapped around interruptions. It is part of my job description. I wanted my writing life to be a respite from the demands of others.
*People and their needs kept intruding on my writing schedule. “You called me to write,” I whined to God, “give me the space!” Instead, God impressed on my heart that my writing mission isn’t an excuse to exclude relationships. I get that wrong about as often as I get it right, but I’m working on it.
*I have learned to write in drips and floods. I prefer two-hour chunks of uninterrupted time, but many a good sentence has been completed in a stand-alone moment.
“my writing mission isn’t an excuse to exclude relationships.” Thanks for this word, Shirlee. I think we all need to hear it. Me especially.
Allison Brennan, an author from my area, told me early on, “If you are serious about writing while working full time, you pretty much have to give up having a social life.” While not entirely true, I certainly can’t spend my time frivolously. Every decision regarding other distractions must be weighed between “What’s my word count/number of pages or chapters to edit” and “Is this time better spent with family/friends?”
That balance is hard to find. I hear retired friends, who don’t have a deadline anywhere on the horizon, say that they don’t know where their time goes. They are busier than ever.
I think we all, writer or not, need to answer for our time choices.”
Wendy, I used my time much more effectively when I had a day job. Now I seem to be scattered all over the place and it’s much more difficult to get my writing – or anything else – done than it used to be. But it does help to have a big whiteboard with my daily To-Do list and cross things off when they’re completed.
I never thought about this before, but it just came to me … I give up being an entirely stay-at-home and home-school mom …. My focus gets fractured and split, somewhat, to include writing. How do I get it done? I pour it out daily … with possibly a few complaints added to my lack of perfection. Lol. Mostly from myself. The house isn’t quite as clean or organized for about three months, and I work hard to keep a good calendar checked. And I often say, “What did you say?” Because my mind was in another world. And while others are watching a movie I’ve seen several times, I’m watching another one in my mind. But after three months of hard writing, the dust settles down and life returns to somewhat normal. 🙂
Dust is for people who have nothing else to do.
Just get a big ol’ Shop Vac and put it in reverse. Boom, the house is dusted. Although, the stuff on the top shelf in the front hall may fall down.
(Now, imagine yourself actually doing this? 😉 )
My husband has been known to clean the car with the leaf blower. It works well (pick up the candy wrappers before blowing).
So thrilled you have old Victoria magazines. Hail, kindred spirit! I have four containers of them, separated by season. The old ones were the best.
Two tactics are helping me corral other things trying to creep into my writing time. First, I have set writing hours, just as if I were going to a job. “I’d love to, but I’m working. Can we meet up after work?” People respect the word “work” in a way that they don’t respect “writing.”
I also play specific music only when I write, which sets the mood and helps me concentrate. To me it reinforces “This is writing time.”I use the “Focus at Will” app but probably any music you like would work if you use it specifically while writing. (I play instrumental music only, no lyrics) When my husband hears the music, he knows I’m in the zone–or trying to get there–and it’s not the best time to interrupt.
Today I’m facing the bonus-round challenge that is writing with houseguests. Tips welcome!
“So thrilled you have old Victoria magazines. Hail, kindred spirit! I have four containers of them, separated by season. The old ones were the best.”
I agree 100%. And I still have every one ever published. All the color inspiration and design inspiration I ever needed could be found in those pages. I’ve even sent issues to clients– like the all-England issues to Julie Klassen. 🙂
My style is to write WAY in advance. Book #4 isn’t due for months, but I’ve already finished it and given it a solid polish. I’ll polish it one more time just because I can. And this week I started on book #5, which I won’t talk about because then I’ll have gotten it out and why write it at that point? Who even knows if the publisher will want it? But it they do, it will be well on it’s way to finished. Of course, when there’s an editing deadline that simply requires buckling down and doing it. And yes, things must be sacrificed. Like reading! Man, this writing business really does cut into my reading time!
I’m working on Book 3, yet Book one is still single. It’s patiently awaiting a committed relationship.
“I won’t talk about because then I’ll have gotten it out and why write it at that point?”
Yep. That’s exactly how I have always been. Many people have to talk through the incubation of a book but, for me, if it’s talked about it loses the joy of discovery.
Such beautiful quotes, Wendy! Love Victoria so much. During the years it was out of print, I found a secret stash of them on the bottom shelf of the used bookstore at my university for ten cents a copy. Even a broke college student could afford that, and oh, how much joy those old copies brought!
As for writing, these days my BIC time happens mostly in the wee hours of the morning before the family rises– and then a second shift in the afternoons for an hour or so. It’s a developing rhythm, and seems to be working. I now keep an open document running in the background on my computer called “Things to do in MS”, and add bullet points to it quickly throughout the day so that I don’t forget items that fly into my brain in between writing sessions.
Isn’t it amazing how much can be done in small dedicated sessions?
Yes, there is sacrifice. In the summer (and those years before all my boys were in school) I give up watching movies at night with my hubby so I can get up at 4:00 or 5:00 and write. Sometimes I can still get an episode of Psyche of Monk in with him if he is home in the 8-9 time slot that I have when the boys are reading in bed and I have not yet begun to slumber. But yeah, it is a sacrifice for both of us. He is so great though, he tries his best to be there at that time so we can spend a bit of time together and I in turn strive to be understanding if he is not (youth guys are most often night owls, spending late evenings with teens, especially during summer camp season when his workday doesn’t end until midnight). This wouldn’t work for everyone, but it has for us and my writing. So yep, early mornings is the only way I get in writing time in the summer. Nothing else has ever worked.
Interesting you should post and ask this today. After a month off writing/editing to research agents etc., I have literally just come back from my lunch hour. today I returned to my story to tighten it up and make some changes to improve the story and characters. That is what I sacrifice, my lunch hours. The problem is, I have come back all pumped up. I want, I need, to keep at it. I don’t want to stop. I’m enjoying it too much. I really want to make sure my words match the intensity and excitement I feel for my story and characters. If only I didn’t have to work.
Another area where there is conflict between writing and life, is reading. I have always loved reading, but since I started writing, I want to read more! If I’m reading, I’m not writing! Still, I can at least claim that reading is research and honing my own craft. 😉
I’m guessing you get more writing done in your much-anticipated lunch dates than you would if you had a whole day to fuss around, do email, Facebook, lunch with buddies, etc.
Just a guess. 🙂
my writing time is basically evenings, weekends, holidays and lunch hours and i use that time to my advantage.
one thing i employ is to sit in my chair until i finish a word count. if i have a free saturday i cannot waste time due to writer’s block. so i make myself sit there and if something isn’t working or i get stuck, i move ahead to something else until i get the flow and then loop back.
i think as a writer what i have sacrificed the most is vacation. before, holidays were actually holidays away from work –now they’re uninterrupted writing time 🙂
Oh yes, the joy of a week off from work to WRITE! I have one coming up . . .
Superb advice. Writers, take note:
“i cannot waste time due to writer’s block. so i make myself sit there and if something isn’t working or i get stuck, i move ahead to something else until i get the flow and then loop back.”
Zen. When I write I write. I am free to put it down. No zone, only the now.
A terrific quote from Virginia Woolf, Wendy. Just say no to multitasking. My writing happens best when the children are occupied. Just yesterday, they sequestered themselves in the girls’ room to listen to The Hardy Boys on CD. (It counts as a book for our library summer reading program.) I had a blissful couple of hours to research and brainstorm. Have I given anything up to get the work done? I don’t have coffee with friends, and I don’t spend afternoons shopping. I don’t plant flowers or make my own bread. With homeschooling six children, I’m not sure those things would happen anyway.
Studies show that the cost of “multitasking” in terms of productivity are huge.
And congratulations on a daughter with a driver’s license. No more mindless chores for Mama?
At this point, it’s just a learner’s permit, but there is an end goal…for both of us. 🙂
I can multitask stuff just fine, but not when it involves writing. Yes, I can toss a load in the wash, etc, but when it comes to creating a story? I need silence. And I can’t be hopping around in the story. I need to start at A and aim for B.
Oh, and I need a heating pad on my back. Yes, I am the Queen.
This is exactly me! Even down to the heating pad when writing. Hahahahaha.
Really??
I often wondered who else needs heat to endure all the sitting.
Although this time of year, I need a fan blasting at me, while I have the heating pad on. 😉
I get into writing rhythms depending on the seasons and my kids’ schedules. This month I’ve needed to push myself to complete a manuscript, which means basically NaNoWriMo-ing during the entire month of June–no breaks, no excuses. Otherwise I don’t usually write on weekends.
Same here. I HAVE TO write as much as I can during the school year, because summer is just as busy, except we can sleep in. And wer’re a hockey family, so hello weekends chock full of games and travel.
If you can do that in June, I take my hat off to you. The garden is at its prettiest in June and the weather a delight. (Well usually. Over the next week we are slated for 108-109 degree weather.)
Wendy, how fitting that Jan Karon would be quoted in a Victoria magazine as she writes so beautifully. I hoard my old stash of old Victoria magazines as passionately as I hold onto my gardening ones. I give up my mornings to writing as it’s the only time of day I’m sure not to be interrupted. All appointments, lessons etc. must happen (if possible) after 11:00 am. My garden isn’t as ticky-boo as it used to be because it’s not getting as much attention from me, but I’m learning to garden on the run between other household chores. I aim for a 1-3 hr deep writing chunk. I love having written at the beginning of the day. 🙂 It makes the rest of the day sweeter.
Blessings ~ Wendy Mac
Perfect rhythm for a day. (And yes, besides sharing a first name we are, indeed, fellow Victoria/ Gardening aficionados.)
For me, the only thing more important than writing time is people time. Well, and food. I love food. I have been known to delay food because of writing, but not often.
As a stay at home mom, giving up writing time because my childcare fell through for the third time that week is frustrating, but I also love the freedom I have to be home with my kids. So it’s a weird kind of balance. I do have to remind the people in my life that I have deadlines and that keeping my consistent writing routine makes me a happier person, and they’re happier when I’m happy.
And ask any mom who presides over an empty nest. How we’d love to go back for a day or two. (Not much more, though. :-))
At present, I write only when all my other obligations are complete. So, if the check book is added and balanced, if my budget spreadsheet is current, if the filing basket is empty, if household chores are done, and if household projects are on schedule, then and only then will I go to The Dungeon and write. That’s assuming the body and the little gray cells decide to participate in the writing endeavor, which they don’t always. If all this aligns, I write whatever my heart decides to write so long as brain and body cooperate and the wife doesn’t feel too neglected. When one of those last three balk, I edit from paper upstairs in the living room rather than write—assuming I have something printed to edit. If not, I read, mostly for research, occasionally for pleasure.
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It’s not a terribly efficient way to be productive, but it’s all I have this side of retirement, which will be in 2 years 6 months and 9 days.
I write a lot when I’m alone at home. The decision to write becomes a task when people are around me, either at home or in church, as it is at this moment. I’ve discovered though, that if I botch the few relationships I have for writing, there’d be no one there to pray for me, encourage me when a manuscript is rejected, laugh at a funny comment in my stories, or pop the wine when the story finally gets accepted…
Relationships matter. It’s the essence of platforms as it were. People matter, and it doesn’t really count if I don’t get the work done in time (though that might not be professional), I’d not deny interactions when necessary.
And this I’ve learnt: there’s a time to say no to EVERYONE but your friends in fiction, those wonderful characters…