Where's the time?
A common lament I hear from my fellow writers is: where do I find the time to write my novel? Even at Bouchercon, from bestseller writers, I heard the same complaint. Very few novelists support themselves from their writing. It's the day job that pays for the roof over our heads and also unfortunately, takes up a lot of our most productive brain time.
My strategy was to hurry home after work to get at the keyboard and pound at my story. However, life gets in the way. For example, this last week on Monday night I attended a First Monday Art Talk (support your local artists and they'll support you), Tuesday was critique group, Thursday was Mystery Writers of America meeting, and Friday dinner with my fellow writers. (If you don't socialize, don't expect people to show up at your signings.) If I didn't get started by 6 PM, I'd soon fade. Believe me, you have to wring the words out of your brain. It's hard work!
So I adopted a new schedule. I get up at 4 AM and get two hours of writing in before heading to work. The advantage is that no matter what happens during the day, I've worked on my story. The drawback is that I'm always about to crash. This last Thursday at the monthly Mystery Writers meeting, during a lively and graphic talk by Lt Priest, chief homicide investigator for the Denver PD, I fell asleep. And I'm the Vice Prez! (The beer and vodka martini didn't help)
My deadline for vampire book three is March 2007. My goal is to have the first draft done by the end of December. I've got the story plotted out and am halfway there with the word count. As Truman Capote said, When God hands you a talent, he also hands you a whip. (I'm not sure about my talent, but I've got the whip part down pat.)
Speaking of talent, congratulations to fellow mystery writer,
Troy Cook, author of
47 Rules of Highly Effective Bank Robbers.
Not only has his book gone into its second printing, but the film rights have been bought by Film Colony. Think
The Bourne Identity, Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown. You have my permission to be jealous.
The question of the week is: How do you cope with your busy life and the lack of time?