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How once woman went from being a SAHM of four to a published freelance science journalist |
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I'm revising this intro after more than 15 years to better reflect my intention When I started this blog in 2004, I was a stay at home mom to two small children, a college graduate with a degree in English and Astrophysics. By 2007, I had four small children, ages newborn, 2, 4, and 6. For several years, Writing.com was how I kept my sanity. This blog began, first as a way of staying connected. Later, when I worked on a novel, I used it to stoke the writing fires as I plotted out short stories and the next step of my novel. Ultimately, I moved my writing preparation to "Invalid Item"  In 2010, I became a single mom who had homeschooled her children for several years. I had a 2, 4, 6 and 8 year old and had never had a "real" full time job, since I was married while in college. Everyone told me that I would have to buckle down and take on a "real" job. Instead, I decided to attempt to live my dream: to make it as a writer. I knew that if I didn't try then, I would never really dive in. I counted my money and set a deadline. If I hadn't began making a decent (defined) amount of money after so many months, I would suck it up and get a J-O-B. After some thought, I decided to play to my strengths. I served an internship at Sky & Telescope magazine while in college and enjoyed writing about space and astronomy. With an astrophysics degree, I thought I would be able to sell myself more easily, and a small niche should be easier to penetrate. It's been about ten years since I was first paid for an article on Space.com. In that time, writing - journalism - has been my primary moneymaker. I've often thought about setting up a blog on my website - www.astrowriter.com - but just haven't gotten around to it. There are a few things I would like to share for those who are interested in scientific journalism in general. Now that I'm back on WDC, there's no reason not to combine the two and use the site blog for that sort of interaction. There are certainly plenty of folks on this site interested in the publication process. So while I'll probably meander around some, that's the intention of of this blog: to share some of my struggles as a published journalist and to help answer oft-asked questions. |
| You would think it would be easier for me to maintain focus, given the recent change in events. I am fortunate enough that my lifestyle does not have to change at the moment, and that is probably what is messing me up, honestly. Intellectually, I know what the results of failure will be, but realistically, I don't grasp it. So it becomes easier to put them off. Which means, I didn't write either yesterday or today. That said, I'm working on getting my head straight (yet again), so I will get it done. I'm going to warm up and then start writing. I am letting myself get distracted by the littlest things, even now, and not getting the job done. Which is a shame, because I am really trying to focus on the writing. And like I said before, it's really coming alive for me. I just lack follow-through, which is generally my biggest problem with darn near everything. /sigh And it is kind of discouraging to write and write and only have 2000 words done, when I know I can write and knock out 4-5k in the same amount of time. Of course, I'd like to think the quality is better than my first draft, but still. I may consider other options so I can pull together that many words. But first, it would be good to actually write during the prescribed time. I don't know, I guess I thought after my situation changed, I would be able to focus more, but I seem more distracted. There are some RL things going on that I'm trying to work through, and maybe I can have those calmed down and vented out in another week. Or a few days. I just need to take a few deep breaths and follow through. I dunno, I'm feeling lethargic today, and the rain isn't helping. No excuse, I know. Maybe I should go back to typing. Or maybe not. Either way, I'm going to go write. Maybe Michael will take care of dinner and I can just write until 8. That would be four hours, and sounds like a plan. I'll go talk to him about it. He will probably be thrilled. Not really. But we'll see what happens. |
| Yesterday's word count: ~2,000 words Total word count: ~4,500 words I don't like the fact that the handwriting produces less words than typing, even if it makes it more possible to write in various locales. Like, yesterday, I managed to write at the park. Last night, I was literally laying in bed writing, which was awesome. Even if I write 7 days/week, that's only about 14,000 words/week, which is well underbudget; at 5 days, that's only 10k words/week. I need to write more. Maybe I should go back to a set number of pages. I have to think about that. Part of it might simply be the matter of warming up, also. Like, last night, I was crazy-writing. In fact, I was visiting with a friend, and when we hit conversational lulls, I kept closing my eyes and trying to figure something novel-related out. I must have looked really intense, because he was all, what's wrong? And I said, nothing. But he kept looking concerned, so I was like, I need to lay out a logical argument for Caroline, because she isn't going to be swayed by emotion alone. And he went, oh.  But the point is, I'm reaching the point where the novel is (finally) becoming real to me. To where the people are becoming real. On top of that, the argument is a great point - Jonathan would totally be swayed by emotion > logic, whereas Caroline is the other way. I thought, what a great way to show what kind of person J is. Except - Jonathan would have known Caroline how many years, so he should know an emotional argument wouldn't work. So instead, I get to show Jonathan struggling to come up with a rational argument, and show how well he knows C, without being heavy-handed (I don't think; maybe a little heavy). Part of the reason for the slowdown is that I made the decision to add a third point of view to the first section; Jonathan from the future. So I'm working carefully there to try to figure out how to make that work. I have to not spill the beans on the fact that he is a different Jonathan, and also try to keep the reader doubting him. That's one of the hardest things I have to manage. Alright, time to write. I had a playdate today, so it is 2:16 and I'm just starting; we're eating dinner at 4:15ish, so that gives me a whopping two hours to write. I don't know if I'm going to be able to churn out 16 pages in that time. Ha. ha. ha. But I'm going to write as much as I can, and try to figure out what to do about the rest of it. So I'm in the middle of making Jonathan convince Caroline. I've laid out his arguments, as best I can. Now I have to deal with her capitulation. I also have to figure out at what point to swap back to her PoV. I don't want an in-depth analysis of her accepting. I think I will change over when she learns about the fire. That seems ideal in so many ways. You know what? With two hours to go, I have some things that have to get done around here. I am leaning towards being lazy today and do some plotting. Completely wrong. Maybe I will just get the stuff done I need to do today, and then spend tonight writing. Actually, that seems like a good plan. The kids will be in bed, and I can focus. |
| The positive side of the notebook made itself shown today. My two oldest had piano lessons, so I took the younger two to the park, and then, when they complained about the heat, to the library. In that time, I managed to write out one and a half pages, in about an hour. Given the fact that I was traveling and distracted, and that I couldn't really get comfortable on a clipboard at the park, I'm pretty happy with it. Furthermore, we're going to be doing soccer 3 nights a week, so I can carry said notebook with me to write. I started charting out the next section last night but took a break. Too much work, you know. The other thing I did, last night, was go for a run. I went for one this morning, too. I think I have a solution to the children problem. Basically, it involves me traveling around my house a lot, lol. Sad, but still exercise, and good for me. I actually got up this morning and did it, and I feel better, and have been more productive. Which reminds me, I'm supposed to be doing laundry right this minute. I've been working on demonstrating Caroline's trust issues early on, with the whole password thing, but I've been puzzling about it. Suddenly it occurred to me that, in her eyes, Jonathan will have betrayed that trust; even if she doesn't actually know that, she feels it, and emotion is a powerful motivator. And actually, to her, not giving her the serum is a betrayal of trust. What if I can make it...I have to think about it a little more, but if she expresses that, and then she sees him, and on top of all of that, Alex is casting doubts on Jonathan. Would he do that? He no longer trusts him. In fact, what if Alex goes off about how Jonathan has betrayed him. That is going to affect Caroline, even if she never acknowledges it. If he betrayed someone he was with for ten years....okay, I like how these are stacking up. Here is the flip. On the one hand, I am uber-motivated to write. I have been doing well. On the other hand - all of this productive crap is wearing me out. I am seriously considering a nap. I know that is bad. I really didn't do anything today. If I can work through it, I can fall asleep early tonight, right? I probably will, actually. I'm still considering a 20 mt power nap, though. Those are supposed to be good for you, right? I'm just worried that if I take it, I will wind up staying asleep. Therefore, I won't. I have to work. What kind of fail professional am I, anyway, taking a nap when I'm supposed to be working? <smacks self> Actually, this is another reason the notebook is good. I have to work at the table downstairs, I don't have the option to set the laptop up on my bed, which is where I'm at now, and get all comfie-cozy and want to nap. So I'm going to go do the laundry, and then write for at least two hours, if not three. Easy dinner, soccer practice (I will probably be socializing at that point, but maybe writing) and then an early bedtime again. That is the plan for the rest of the day. Like, maybe a two minute nap?! |
| Wow, writing.com has massively upgraded the site. The shineys are distracting me! So, things have more or less settled out. It's Monday. My mind is essentially straight. My kids are essentially dealing with real life okay. So, I'm going to imitate Piers Anthony's writing method, I think. One of the things I have always loved, as a writer, is reading the writer's notes at the end of the novels that deal with the actual writing process. They offer, I think, so much insight into the writer's mind, and because they are not a formulaic "this is how you write a novel" book but a "this is how I do it" section, it's more personalized and intimate, and it makes it easier to discard information. I loved reading PA growing up just because of his writer's notes; they are long, and detailed, and all about the process. The older (and more analytical) I got, the more I disliked the messages in his writing - he's a talented writer but one with a clear agenda - but I still love the notes. So. What he does, he says, is writes his first draft of his novel pen-to-paper. The second draft is typed. I forgot what he does for the third draft, lol, I think he just edits and tweaks. I have always loved the actual writing process itself, and I've kind of wanted to play with it, but I've been lazy. Technically, my first draft was written on computer in December, but because it really was the first novel I have ever written, it really doesn't count except in the wow-I-did-it stage. It needs a massive overhaul. I'm going to start, then, writing on paper. I have enough notebooks in this house to do it, that is for certain (I bought like 100 notebooks this weekend for .15 ea, yay for back-to-school, and I still have a ton from the 100 @ 5c ea we bought two years ago). I like the flexibility of being able to take it on the road with me. And I like the process. I doubt I will be as good as PA and be able to do two novels at once, or only two drafts, not starting out, but we'll see how that goes. I have done quite a few road trips in the last two months. I drove 12 hours from PA to TX and back in June, and I drove 5 hours from PA to VA and back this past weekend. There are a couple of plot points I worked out in the process. I have a draft of the first part with Jonathan, but it needs massive overhauling. Word counting will be harder, so I'll have to guesstimate, but that's okay. I still like the timed method; write from 1-3, or maybe 1-4, although that may be harder with soccer coming up and practices at 5 (think: dinner). We'll see. I may just do 1-4 on the other nonsoccer days. And write at soccer practice, as available. (Note to self: need to find a clipboard.) My goal is to take about a month on this draft; it always rounds out so nicely. The whole 5k words/day - or even 4k - makes it wrap pretty easy in four months. And, from a job perspective. And a personal one. My divorce is now final. You'll recall that I decided to give myself a year to get published, and that if I fail, I will get a full time job. Right now, the way the divorce has worked out, my ex and I are still in the same house (he's in the basement) and will be for at least 4 and maybe even 6 months; we're still working things out. [After that, we'll be moving from PA to GA; I could go without him but I want him to be around the kids, and they him.] Our divorce has been very amiable; he is in the basement. But the point is, he is paying for the house and the utilities. And the kids' activities. In short, I have virtually no expenses at the moment (the trade-off is, no income, but since my income would go straight out, it's not a big deal), while at the same standard of living. So now is the ideal time to get whatever novels written, when my stress is going to be at a minimum. Even with the kids; we told them two weeks ago, but because Daddy still really lives with them, they are very calm, etc. That will change, and will impact my writing, but it hasn't MASSIVELY changed yet. As for the novel: I'm starting from the beginning. I have a few more s-f things that I thought of on this last trip, and I want to try to leave it up in the air as to which side Jonathan is actually on. And...I was going to involve his best friend earlier, but I'm not sure how to make that work; it doesn't become a problem until later in the novel, but I have to deal with the best friend now. Math layout: the novel is in 7 sections. If I work on each section of time for three days, figuring 5k words/day - let's call it 4k, because I'm a pessimist - that's 84-105k words for the novel. Which is where I'm headed. Also, randomly, it's about 250 words per handwritten page, so 4k words = 16 pages. So I want 16-20 pages/day, give or take, although of course time is what is most important. Warmup is over. Going to go write now. Wish me luck. edited to add: So I worked from 1:30 to 4:30, after the warmup. Three hours, yielding 9 handwritten pages. I think I found part of the downside.  I actually type faster than I write. Also...my hand is cramping up from the manual writing! What the heck?! Like, even now, it's hard to type, lol. Also...the hand writing is virtually illegible. That's one way to protect the first draft, I suppose. I need a different pen. (Listen to me whine.) I should go at least another hour - I tried to convince myself that ten pages would be an even 2500 words. But my hand is really killing me.I like what's come out of the pen so far. But I need to do some organizational stuff, too. Like, I have spent so much time dwelling on the intro that I pretty much know what is happening when. Although, in the interest of keeping the reader uncertain, I may well need to...wait. I just had an idea. Except for the whole "do we trust Jonathan" thing. That is the worst part about the multiple PoVs, the switching between the two. I have to figure out what to share and what not to. And when. In fact, it occurs to me that the whole final half of the section, where Jonathan is sent back, to share that would be a giveaway. I think I decided to end it with Caroline? And not with Jonathan being sent back? But then we lose out on the whole Alex issue, which is the biggest reason I changed over to Jonathan's point of view. I have to think about this some more. Anyway. 2250 words. Not a lot. Not even close to goal. But at least more than half of it. For a first day, not terrible. And like I said, I'm more interested in writing time than word count. Right? In writing every day for a specified amount of time. Okay, so maybe it will take me longer than a month that way. But I'll survive. Maybe. We'll see what happens. |
| Well, I went through a period where I was sick for several days and once again I lost steam. On top of that, my divorce will be finalized at some point this week, and I'm trying to sort through what I want to do in the next couple of months. Do I stay in PA or move to Atlanta? I'm trying to figure out what is going to be best for myself and for my kids. My kids more than myself. On top of that, I am trying to get the house cleaned up, if not packed up. And...I'm easily distracted while the kids are having rest time. I'm spending too much time daydreaming and not enough time writing. I've been running fairly constantly, and I was supposed to use that time to work on my novel. However, I...haven't. I've been using it to sort through various problems and decisions. I've been having trouble sleeping at night because my mind keeps dwelling on the same problems. However, last night, I forced myself to think about my novel, and I managed to fall asleep pretty quickly. (Is that a bad sign? It could be...of course, I've been laying in bed awake until 3-5 some mornings, so it really isn't.) I talked through a couple of the problems with a friend last night and that helped me figure out where to go next, because you know I've been having this whole time range thing. On the plus side, my house has been cleaner. Like, when my (almost ex-)husband comes home from work, it's cleaner than when he left. Usually it gets worse. So. When I get to the point of writing, I'm tired. I've been trying to go to bed early - lights out by 11, which is early for me! - but I've been getting up early-for-me, and running, and cleaning...and then emotional stress added in, too. And I know I tell myself "this is a job, do it" but I seem to lack that self-discipline. I need to get it back. It's my brain. When I'm not stressing, I'm daydreaming. My mind wanders. But I need to make it stop, to shut it all out for 3 hours. I need to garner self-discipline. The good news is, I think I have an idea for a third novel. The bad news is, it's based around similar events that happened in a friend's life. And...because they are kind of weird events, it's hard not to see the parallel. Ah well. I'll deal with that later, but I actually think it has a lot of potential. But it's the third one. And I need to focus on the first one. So it's 3 o'clock now. I am going to work til 5, then stop and make dinner real quick, then continue for another hour. It's not ideal, but it's going to happen. I am not going to procrastinate anymore. This is my goal, and what I am counting on as income for me and the kids, and it's going to take some serious self-discipline. edited to add: I am having an "I don't want to write" day. I just kind of want to curl up. I don't know why. It's not depression. I just feel kind of lackluster towards my novel. It's hard to focus on it. I can't figure out why. I am trying to write here so as to keep the flow of writing going, but...I don't know what the problem is. Maybe I am just overly optimistic, and putting things off. Frankly, the easiest time to work on a novel is right now, while I am still in the same house with my husband, while I don't have to stress over the bills or money or receiving child support. While I can sit in my own room and not have to worry about things.Even so, I can't seem to make it happen. I wonder what would happen if I got up at like 4 and started writing? And then went running at 7? That is so early. I wonder if I could handle that. There are pros and cons to it, and I'm not sure it would work out. On the days Michael is home, I could even run at 4 and then work. That would wake me up sufficiently, get the blood flowing. But...I don't know. I'm not sure if that would help anything. I'm really trying to resist the urge to kind of pull the covers over my head. I'm telling myself this is what I need to do. I'm staring at this "THIS WILL KEEP YOU HOME!" sign I made. Still I'm having a hard time. |
| Yesterday's Word Count: 672 Total Word Count: 8,177 Yeah, I wound up deleting a huge segment yesterday, and then I didn't get a lot written to replace it. Sad. But, I know exactly what I want to write. What distracted me yesterday was a side-story. But I'm going to blame it on the fact that it was the first day my kids were home in a month. Actually, if I had thought about that, I would have scheduled not writing yesterday, only because I should have known it would be tough to focus. My mind was kind of everywhere. And I was worn out. It takes time to readjust to having four kids home. Yeah, that's it. Anyway, everything I was going to write yesterday, well, that's what I'm doing today. Except. I decided to go back and rewrite the whole scene on how Alex gets ahold of Caroline. Even Caroline isn't that obtuse. Rather than work it out in the edit, I decided to just snip and redo it, since it was going to have to be redone. I actually am still not completely certain of how I'm going to phase to Jonathan, which is where I got hung up yesterday, before I decided to go back and delete. But. I need to just write, so I'm going to start wherever, and I'll...you know what I'm going to say...catch it in the editing process. One other thing. I want to get Caroline to Alex's lab. I'm trying to figure out the best way to do that. I've been having difficulties trying to do it smoothly. But suddenly, I think I'm going to shift it around. I'm going to have Alex tell her that Jonathan took her serum there. But if he's trying to stop her research, why would he give it to her? This is today's conundrum. I hate conundrums. Actually, this whole get-Caroline-to-the-lab scene has always been a massive PITA to write. How do you make a smart character do a stupid thing? You just have to have the write motivation. Yeah, I think I'm going to do some more deleting today, basically the 600 words I wrote yesterday, and try a new method of getting her to the lab. She's not really thinking straight at the moment. Oh my gosh. I just had a realization. A thought. Okay, I need to go pace and talk to myself.... Edited to add: Okay. I don't know why, but this time thing doesn't seem to be working. Of course, part of it is that I keep letting myself get distracted. And I got something of a late start. By the time I got the kids down, it was close to 1. I have been working for just over an hour, maybe an hour and a half, and I've only written 1,300 words or so. Part of it is processing. I wrote, then deleted, then rewrote. So I guess that's not all bad. And I'm trying to figure out how to reasonably get Caroline taken care of. I make it work, then I delete and redo. So, okay, it's not dreadfully awful. It's not like yesterday, when I get off subject. Yes, my mind is on occasion wandering, and I need to work harder on focusing and pushing things out of it. So, that's a habit I work on building. I will probably only get to the end of this section today, and then hopefully by tomorrow I'll figure out how to bridge to Jonathan. But I'm not worried about that right now. I keep trying to figure out how much scientific info to share at once. I think I spilled too much from Caroline; I think I'll need to move it to her conversation with Jonathan. Which means changing what I've written slightly. But I'm also trying not to stress about that at this moment, either. I need to write. So next up, I'm trying to figure out how to get Caroline actually *in* the machine. I have to figure out how to set it up right. And what Alex is going to say. And I get to do this knowing that about the time the ball starts rolling, I have to go pick up my son from day camp. So maybe I should quit stalling and start writing. (How many times did I use the word 'so' here?) |
| Yesterday's Word Count: 4,475 Total Word Count: 9,109 Alright, that's kind of ficticious because I took Sunday off, as usual, but it keeps it straight. I seem to be good on 4.5k/day, give or take. Of course, today will be the exception, but that's okay. In addition to writing again, I have also taken up running again. There's a long and complex story in which a friend offers to watch my kids while I run, and I say 'okay', but I won't bore you with it. The short version is, for the last three days, I've gone out for about a half an hour and run. This ties into my writing because it really gives me the chance to let my mind wander and I make connections. For instance, after agonizing for I don't know how long, I finally came out with a simple and rather obvious solution to the double Jonathan problem: his hair. One Jonathan will have it cut military-style short, the other will let it grow out. Simple solution, easy to note in passing without being obvious, and yet clear. I came up with a few other things, so today will pretty much be an editing/reviewing day, but that's okay. The word count will be lower, but I'll survive. I have had a problem with the way my main character behaves, and I decided on a way to change that around; it's still kind of sloppy but doable. I decided that I revealed too much information in the first twenty pages, so I'm going to delete some and save the revelation for later; that keeps it more mysterious. I want to change the villain's threats. You know, I'm looking at this and I'm not so certain that I should stop the writing part and start revising yet. I mean, I hate to lose the momentum that comes from writing every day. A lot of this is will take a bit, and I'm thinking I'd rather not lose that push. Let me ponder. You know what I think I'll do? I'll take a note from Piers Anthony. I love his author's notes, maybe even better than the book, just because he talks about his writing process. Anyway, I think I will print out what I've written each day, and carry it on a clipboard. Or put it in a binder. And then I can revise through the day as the idea strikes me. I like that. I prefer to revise by hand writing anyway, most of the time. So yeah, okay. Today I'll write. Hmm. I may even be able to do some of the faster revisions after my runs, when they occur to me. But I can steal them away through the day, either way. The other thing that today's run really pulled out for me was the point of view. If you'll remember, I wrote the entire novel from Caroline's PoV back in December. Then I realized that it needed to be told from Jonathan's. The problem with that is, keeping it from Jonathan's PoV means the time gets squished up. But today I was wondering if I could tell it from Jonathan's pov while following Caroline's time stream. I don't know. That might be confusing. I mean, there's a lot that Jonathan would already know that would have to be deliberately kept from the audience. Anyway, the idea occurred to me. I still have to write in the first segment today, so it's not a huge problem for the moment. I don't know that I like either option, though. I will think about it some more today and tomorrow. Alright, enough of the warmup. I'm going to go write. I should be able to wrap up part one today, give or take. I think I said about 15k words/section, right? Yeah, cuz that's 85k words, give or take. So we'll see how it works out, lol. |
| Yesterday's Word Count: 4,652 Strange, I know, but I'm actually coming back two days in a row. There seems to be some kind of kick going on here. I woke up this morning at 6:45 - me, the late riser - and couldn't fall back asleep, so I decided to go for a run. The theory was that I could clear my head and think about my novel. The reality, since I haven't run in about a zillion years, was that all I thought about was, What in the heck am I doing?! So, yeah, not much plotting got done, but then again, I really know how today is going to go. One thing I did think about was whether or not to keep Jonathan's identity hidden. I mean, that's how I laid it out, but I'm wondering if I shouldn't just get over it and introduce him. It's too much faux tension, and I think it's too obvious. Wouldn't she ask his name sooner? I will probably go back and fix that on the edit, but I think that's one of the things I did wrong already, and I'm only like ten pages in. <sigh> So I'm having a generalized personal crisis while I write, but that's okay. This time, I've decided to write through it rather than around it. I've cut back on my gameplaying - I know, I've said that before, but proof: I went to bed relatively early last night - and write. A friend has asked me to run a 5k with them in August, so I'm going to start getting up and running. She said I could bring my kids over to her house in the morning and run. I think I might see if I can get up before Michael leaves most days and run, and just take her up on that when he leaves at like 4 am or is on the road. I don't know how long I will be able to continue that, but I'd like to stay in the habit. Joking aside, once I get my stride, running helps me clear my head and keeps me focused, and I certainly need both of those right now. So I wrote for three hours yesterday and came up with 4.5k words. If I keep writing M-F, that's over 20k words/week, as cited before. That puts me at 80k in a month (four weeks), which is novel-length. I may try to write on Saturdays, too, just to keep the steam, the momentum. My theory is that I can get the novel written in a month - this should be even easier than last time, because I generally know what's going to happen - then take two weeks to edit. Then I will send it off. <gulp> Not the whole thing, of course, but enough of it. Then I will start on the next one. I already know which one I'm going to write, and guess what? It's going to be tough. Really tough. But it's a good novel, and I'm a good author, so I'll get over it. For now, it's almost nine, and I've done my warmup. I have seven sections, so each one needs to be close to 15k words; that's about three days worth of writing. I think I can manage that. Maybe. The biggest problem I'm going to have is alternating on point of view. I think I'll probably spend most of today on Caroline's PoV, and then we'll be swapping back to Jonathan's. I think that will make it work. The other problem I have: I gave Jonathan a cast. I think it is just too obvious. I wish I could come up with some way to be less obvious about there being two different people. I meant to talk to my friend while I was in Texas, the one who has read the first draft, but I forgot, and now things are a little tense. I've walked around talking to myself but I'm not seeing a third option. I'll play with it some more, and I'll probably change it, but for now I'll leave it as is. That's what the edit is for, right? It could be something simple as his face being slightly more wrinkled, his eyes being a little more ancient. That may be way too subtle, though. Especially since we already know about the time machine. Too subtly obvious. Does that make sense? LOL This has been bugging me for weeks, and I can't figure out a good solution. But anyway, I'll get there. For now, three hours of writing! |
| Alright, well, I keep saying "I'll start writing my novel on a Monday." Well, pfooey to that, I say. I'm ready to get started now. Last time I did it by word count, but in one of the books - The War of Art, very good - the point was made to do it by time. I like that idea, so that is what I am going to do. Four hours a day of steady plugging. Write write write. Once my kids get home, I can do it from 12-4, while they are resting and playing outside, but for today and tomorrow, I'll do it as is. The point is to do four hours. After the last entry, I pulled out my sister's notebook and backtracked the setting. I started with what I wanted it to be as most futuristic and then took it backwards from there, in each time period. So I have a pretty good idea of the setting as I write. I'm going to skip over to "Invalid Item" by A Guest Visitor and figure out how I want to do the PoV for the first section, but I think I have a good idea of it. Also, I am going to start running first thing in the morning next week. I have someone who will watch my kids. This means I'll be up early and moving. I can use the time to run through what I'm going to write in the upcoming day. I think that will be highly beneficial. I would really like to try to get the novel done in a month again. Frankly, I think at four hours a day, I can come up with at least a rough draft, and then I can go back and re-edit. It may not happen, but I think that's a doable goal, and I'm going to shoot for it. Mind you, we'll be breaking the news to the kids in a week, so real life may intrude somewhat, but we'll see how it all goes down. |
I am on a road trip again this year! Woohoo! So anyway, nothing has been done since before Memorial Day. Actually, that's a lie. The best part about a road trip is all of the time I get to think while I am driving. And I have done a lot of thinking, and some of it has even been about my novel.  So, first, if you love to write, pick up The War of Art by Steven Pressfield, author of The Legend of Bagger Vance (the second of which I have never read), and several other fiction novels. The recommendation is nonfiction, and on writing or really any art thing, or really anything you want to do, although specifically art-aimed. An excellent read, a quick read, and it really made me think. In fact, it makes me think too much, I haven't finished it yet, but it is awesome thus far. Second and more specific, I realized what part of my problem with my novel has been. Actually, I read How to Write Science Fiction by Orson Scott Card; I think that's the title, I'm not 100%, but it's the gist of it. And even if you don't write sf, I suggest reading it, if only because it helps with non-sf stuff, I think. Anyway, that pointed me in the right direction towards clearing up part of my writer's block. So here is the thing. As I wrote my novel, I really didn't deal with the setting. I mean, I dealt with the immediate locations, but that was about it. I didn't consider the fact that 'setting' also includes 'time', other than in the most barebones sense, nor did I consider that 'time' implies what is going on in the world around that doesn't even touch your novel. For instance, my novel is basically about time travel. When I considered the 'official why' for the creation of time travel, it related lightly to space travel. But I never really thought about WHY the people of that time were investing in space travel. Or how that affected my characters. It does affect them, perhaps not significantly, but it does. Furthermore, since they are going back in time, they are going to be living in a world that is building up to space travel. If it were for political reasons, then they would see it develop, and so forth. So while I was driving a million hours in the car (I actually drove from PA to Atlanta to TX, and now I'm heading back north), I started figuring out the 'why' of space travel, and how this affected my characters. And it opened up so much to me. Now, when I get home, I will really break it down. Not just the technology of each time period, although I'll need to figure that out to some degree, but how they build up to the final time period. I've been flitting with it over the course of the trip, nothing solid but enough to start forming these worlds in my head. For instance, it is obvious to me now that space travel was occurring for years before my novel began. Before even the research began. And here's the other thing I solved. I mentioned before that I had been telling the novel from Caroline's PoV but it was obvious that it should be from Jonathan's, or at least that Jonathan's provided more depth. It had been recommended to me to do it from both PoVs, but I rejected that as too difficult. However, in retrospect, I think it is possible to do it. It will be remarkably challenging, absolutely. I think I want to stay primarily with Jonathan's PoV, and have him as my main character, but one thing I really regretted was the intro with Caroline, where we didn't know if Jonathan was really good or bad. I think I can continue to make that a mystery, to build tension, and to introduce us to both of them. It will be obvious to the reader by the end of the first section...hmm. That is my other sticking point. I was also going to build tension with Jonathan's distrust of Caroline. Still, if done correctly, I think I can make it work out. Again, I really have to map out how I am laying it out, and it will definitely, definitely be a challenge. But I think if done properly, it will add to the richness and depth of the novel. So, one thing Pressman emphasized was that the professional writes every day. Let me dig up the quote..."Someone once asked Somerset Maugham if he wrote on a schedule or only when struck by inspiration. 'I write only when inspiration strikes,' he replied. 'Fortunately it strikes every morning at nine o'clock sharp.'" (pg 64) He talks about it in his intro, as well, how he writes for a set amount of time, not pages. He says, "How many pages have I produced? I don't care. Are they any good? I don't even think about it. All that matters is I've put in my time and hit it with all I've got." (somewhere in the intro) The point being that he sits down and DOES it, rather than stressing about it. That is the point I want to reach. Once I get back from vacation, that is the point I will reach. So. I'm on vacation, on the road, but at the moment I am doing nothing. I wish I had brought my notebook. I am going to sit down and figure out a few things. I will be home on Sat. On Monday, I'm going to get to work. I'm going to employ all of the things I have been reading and pondering, and I'm going to make them into a novel. I'm going to write every day for two hours, because I am only semi-pro, with four kids. It's not ideal, but it is better than I was doing. I am going to decide if I am going to write at night. That would probably be better. I'm cutting back on a lot of things, going to bed early, and trying to figure out a way to make things work, a way that fits into homeschooling and my kids. I'm going to finish my novel, watch and see. |
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