Alison recently talked about writing with a day job. I know many of you out there do work around your day job/night job/school obligations. I quit my job with the airline in 2002. I started writing full-time in the fall of that year. In 2004, I decided I wasn’t pulling my weight around the home front. Mind you, dh didn’t think that. I did. (I feel that way every couple of years. It’s just my nature.) So I went to work part-time at a used bookstore. (I know. I know. Used bookstores are bad.) I thought I’d have plenty of time to write, since I was only working 20 hours a week.
See like Alison, I used to get much more done when I was super busy. But I guess over the last four years something changed. I’d come home from the bookstore and instead of being fired up and ready to write, I wouldn’t want to see a manuscript–much less work on one. I think her advice in her entry was absolutely true. It’s important that your day job be a complete 180 from your writing or you’ll spend all your creative juices at work and have none left for home.
Anyway, back to the small world. Something strange happens when you work from home for years. I still LOVE being home, but my world has shrunk to frightening proportions. Everything ’seems’ crisper/more immediate. Unfortunately, that includes worries and anxieties. I live in my mind 24/7. Sometimes that’s a scary place to be. *ggg*
I don’t have any plans to go back to part-time work, since I make the equivalent in money from my writing and I have no idea what I’d do. Being a flight attendant for fourteen years doesn’t exactly set you up with bankable skills. *wg* But, and this is a big BUT, I do need to get out of this small, small world I have constructed. It’s not healthy. Dh is always after me to go somewhere to write. I do have places around, but I’m never fully comfortable in them. I suppose this means that I need to seek out a location that I do find comfortable. So over the next few months, I’m going on a ‘writing spot’ search. I know there has to be a place out there where I can sit, stare out the window and write without feeling self-conscious.
What do you look for in a writing spot? Does it have to be quiet? Comfortable chairs? Noisy? What do you think makes a good spot?
Archive for November, 2006
I heard the sonic boom that signaled the end of November. Man, what has happened to this month? This year? There’s no time to catch up. Sigh.
For the past six days I’ve worked pretty steadily on my manuscript. I’m happy with what I’ve edited. I have thirty more pages to go, then I’m going to try one of the suggestions Chey made over at the Midnight Hour. I think I’m going to grab note cards and throw out random ideas. I need to take my three act structure and break it down even further.
Without conscious thought, this seems to be turning into my writing process. I start a book with an idea or a line. Eventually I learn enough about the story to break it into a chronological order of events, then I go back and divide everything into detailed chapters.
I’m to the point now that I need to put together the chapters. For some reason it makes the writing process speed up for me tremendously. I am also seriously considering writing the rest of the book in third person, then going back to change it into first. But that would take a LOT of work. I’ll do that as my last resort.
Other than that, had a great day yesterday. Very low key. Putting together everything needed to redesign my site. I know I’ve been talking about doing that for quite a while, but now it’s an absolute necessity. I have to set up something for my new series with Tor. Had an exciting moment yesterday, when I was added to the Tor author list. Kept waiting for someone to say, “Hey, you don’t belong here. Get out!” *ggg*
I’m about to do my Japanese lesson now that I’ve finished working for the day. I re-read my chapters and tweaked a few things before moving onto chapter four. I may actually end it in a different spot, since I like this one sentence so much. It depends on how much I can add to the pages I have. Right now, I’m only sitting at ten pages, if I cut the original chapter. That’s a little on the short side. But I don’t know if that’ll stop me. *g*
I still can’t believe that Thanksgiving is over and we’re heading for December like a runaway Mack truck. My nephew turns two on Dec. 1st and I still haven’t ordered him a gift. Bad Aunt. Bad. Bad Aunt. 
I plan to spend the rest of the weekend working. Shocker, I know. I need to get caught up by Monday. I want to write forward. I really hope this book is good because I am bleeding big, fat, crimson drops for it. There couldn’t be much more blood without a body present. I am a little worried that I may freak out my agent. :-/ I’m already freaking out my critique partners. Always a good sign. NOT! *g*
We had a nice quiet Thanksgiving dinner last night. Both dh and I elected to work. He has a presentation to give next week and I had the chapters that have been sitting in front of me for weeks, waiting to be reworked. We stopped long enough to enjoy our turkey with the trimmings, then went back to work. At least I finished three full chapters. I’m going to type in the changes today. It’s strange that I can get more done on one holiday day than I have in the last few weeks. :0/
Other than that, no big plans this weekend. I’d love to go to the movies, but I know they’ll be packed. The stores will also be insane and I don’t like to shop on a good day. My sister on the other hand was up at the crack of dawn to hit ALL the sales. Bless her heart. I do know that some people actually enjoy the chaos, but I’m not one of them. My preferred method of shopping is via Amazon wish list. *g*
Have anything special going on this weekend? Any unexpected news or pleasant surprises?
I hope everyone who celebrates this holiday enjoys a warm meal, good company, and creates lasting memories. For the rest of the world, may you spend time with the ones that you love. Happy Thanksgiving! 
I blinked and it was two in the afternoon. I haven’t managed to do anything other than write my RTB entry that’s due next week. I really don’t know what has happened to the day. I think it’s time to demand a do-over.
Well I’d better scoot. I have Japanese to do and rowing to complete. Then there’s that little rewrite known as chapter 2. Sigh. At least I managed to get a rough draft of chapter one done yesterday.
As an aside, I received the most magnificent surprise in the mail yesterday. It is the little things, the sudden outpouring of kindness, the scrap of encouragement, the phantom touch of souls, that makes life worth living. Thank you, for the most thoughtful of gifts…your friendship. May our wolves always howl at the same moon.
My car decided to stop running last week. I think it’s the battery, but I’m not sure. If it is, then Ford has to replace it for free. If it’s not, it could cost me. What I’m trying to decide is whether to phone them today or tomorrow or next week. Not sure how the Thanksgiving holiday will affect their service.
If I do it today, it won’t be until after I finish my workout and language lessons. I figure it’s going to wipe out a day waiting around for them…even if it’s just a battery. Sigh. The question is which day do I want to waste at the car dealership? Decisions. Decisions. Decisions.
The Japanese and the exercise is coming along nicely. I’ve added the Japanese to my iPod so that I can do them both at the same time. 
I decided to rewrite the opening chapter of my urban fantasy…and quite possibly the rest of the book. I’ve finally picked up on the ‘feel’ of urban fantasies, but it’ll require rewriting/changing most of the chapters. Sometimes it just has to be done, but I don’t have to look forward to it. :-/
I don’t know if you all have noticed the sudden influx of contests, but I have. I think I’ve received at least four emails notifying me of contests that are looking for entrants. I have also seen several contests that have had to drop categories because they haven’t received enough entrants. I wonder if it’s that people are tired of contests or if money is tighter. What do you all think about contests for published authors? Unpublished authors? Do you enter them all/ignore them/or select specific ones?
Okay, I was one of the outraged when I heard that they’d replaced Pierce Brosnan with Daniel Craig. Not because DC has blonde hair (although that was part of it), but because I could never picture him in the role of leading man. I knew he was a helluva an actor. I’d seen his work enough to realize that. I just couldn’t mentally elevate him to leading man status. Well, I’m here to say that I was WRONG.
We went to see the new Bond today (and will go again). Daniel Craig rocked as James Bond. He played the part very different, using some of his ‘bad guy’ casting to bring a grittier side to Bond. And it worked beautifully. He humanized the character. The man may not have a pin-up type face, but there is something about him that screams–sex. And I’m not just talking about his pretty blue eyes. He practically sizzles in every shot. Speaking of shots, the ones coming out of the water aren’t the only ones of Craig’s body we see. He’s actually ‘naked’ in one scene. Craig is the first Bond (since Connery) that looks like he can kick some ass.
Actually, what struck me most about this particular Bond was the writing. Whoever wrote this moved away from the ’silly’ Bond-isms and made the flirty dialogue smart. It made the sexual tension between him and the ‘Bond girls’ enjoyable. It helped that the ‘girls’ weren’t stupid. In fact, they were both very smart and completely onto him. They ‘chose’ to play along. Another nice change from the other movies.
I honestly cannot say enough good things about this movie. If you’re a James Bond fan, then you must go see Casino Royale. Period. You will not be sorry. I can’t wait to see it again.
