Finding time to write

Since placing in Writers of the Future, I’ve been in a bit of a panic. That was all I had ready, so now what? I can’t be a writer on just one published story. Shortest career in history.

So I’ve been trying to find ways to slip writing into my schedule more than I have. Which is tricky. I go to conventions and sit in panels filled with men who tell me that finding time to write at home is easy. All they have to do is focus and if the kids act up, they just send ‘em to talk to mom!

Well, that’d be a lot easier, if my name wasn’t mom.

My reality, that I’ve had to accept, is that I simply won’t ever have 14 hours a day for three straight months to focus on spitting out a novel. I just won’t. I’m not the primary breadwinner. I am the primary caregiver. And it's pretty much going to be that way until the youngest leaves home. The best I can hope for is 8 hours a day, 5 days a week during the school year once my little one hits first grade. Only somebody still has to do the laundry.

Anyway, in my quest to find time to write, I bought the NanoWrimo Writing Tools Story Bundle as advertised by Dave Farland. It’s a bunch of e-books about writing, one of which was Million Dollar Productivity by Kevin J. Anderson. In his 25 year career, he’s written something like 130 books or so. I’m assuming that number is higher by now because that man never stops writing!

I was a bit skeptical at first. I was expecting things like, “Think about your story all the time.” That one was in there and it wasn’t a surprise. But do you have any idea how hard it is to follow even the simplest thought from point A to point B with “Mom! Mom! Mom! Mom!” interrupting your thoughts every 30 seconds? It’s like wearing the thought canceling earphones from Harrison Bergeron, designed to make even the brightest of person below average in less than a day!

But then there were some other suggestions that really caught my eye. Keven J. Anderson hikes A LOT. Which, when he first mentioned I was a little jealous of. I love hiking and it’s one of the things that have given way in the face of all the rest of my life’s responsibilities. But as he hikes, he dictates into a voice recorder. He can dictate several chapters of first draft in a day, then he sends it out to be transcribed. There are times when he employs 3 typist full time to keep up with him. Cool Huh?

Wasn’t sure it’d work for me, but I thought I’d give it a go. For the past 2 days, I’ve turned my phone off and hiked into the nearby national forest. I’ve always talked to myself anyway.

Total breakthroughs on the story that I’m working on! I’ve been stuck for a week. This afternoon, I took my laptop, got as far as a picnic table and pumped out 1200 words of the climax in about an hour and a half. When I got stuck, I got up, hiked around and brainstormed into the recorder. When I figured it out, I sat down and wrote. Not quite his method, and I haven't exactly climbed any 14ers, but 2 days in, it’s working for me.

And bonus, because I was 20 minutes from home, there were no looming chores to bother me. Everybody else’s needs got left behind. All I had to focus on was writing, brainstorming and enjoying an incredibly beautiful fall day. Now all I need to do is figure out where I can go in the winter time where I can walk around, talk to myself and not get kicked out for weird-ing out the other people in the room.  

I’m a fan. Even though I have an office, I’m going to keep leaving the house to write. I’m going to start carrying my voice recorder everywhere I go. And I’m going to keep taking advantage of the little moments I can find in the day. Eventually progress will be made, right?

I’m hoping to get my story finished before NanoWrimo starts so I can spend the month doing first drafts. Only 7 days to go. NanoWrimo has made November the best month of the year!

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Holy Freaking Cow, I still can't believe I've won!

Monday night, I got the phone call I’d been waiting for from Writers of the Future. My short story “The Graver” won second place in the third quarter. I am so excited! Come April, I will be flying to LA for the awards ceremony and book launch. But the real prize is the week long conference leading up to the ceremony where I get to learn from professional editors, agents and authors. From what I've read on other blogs, classes in the past have consisted of things like "how to give radio and television interviews" and "how to decipher contracts". But mostly, I get to network with all those editors, agents and writers!

It’s been a weird couple of days. You enter a contest like this, and you spend a lot of time fantasizing about what winning would be like. At least, you do if you're like me. You picture yourself getting off the plane. You imagine conversations you might have with other winners. You think of questions for the editors and agents that you might not otherwise get the chance to ask. You pre-write an acceptance speech about a billion times in your head.

But then, you make yourself forget everything because entering isn't winning and there are literally a thousand other stories that are bound to be better than yours. And all this is empty fantasy anyway. It's wasting time you could be using to write your next story that might actually have a chance of winning. Because this one was awful and it's a good thing the judging is anonymous because no one wants to be laughed at by a professional.  

Only, since the phone call I've had to put my brain into reverse. I actually get to get off that plane. I have to start thinking about how I'm going to interact with the other winners. Editors and agents will happily answer my questions and Holy Freaking Cow, I actually have to write a real honest to goodness acceptance speech!

So, so weird.

I keep telling myself that it's real. At some point in the next few months, I'm sure I'll come to believe it.

This is the moment when it starts. I'm a Writer. Technically an award winning one. Someone wants to pay me money for my words on paper, for my imagined characters and worlds. And sooner or later, someone else will pay me a second time for the same. And then again.

There will be rejections. This is going to be hard. No writer starts a career with nothing but acceptance. Writers start with 2ft tall stacks of rejection letters and then struggle up from there. But with this first acceptance, it's begun.

The first act of a story has always been my favorite part!

Patience - Not my virtue

It’s been two and a half weeks since finding out I was a finalist in Writer’s of the Future. Sometime in the next week and a half I’ll find out the final results. I’ll have to admit, every day that goes by, I’m a little more nervous than I was.

When Writer’s of the Future posted the names of the eight finalists on their blog, I was excited. I cyber-stalked a few of them. A couple have already published. So you know, I’m like, not intimidated at all, right?

Well I knew intellectually what it meant to get this far in the contest. From what I understand, they have somewhere between 800 and 1200 entries per quarter. So to be at the top of that list is pretty good for the self-esteem. Even if I don’t place, my story made it to the top eight and that rocks! But last night, they posted a list of all the finalists, semi-finalists and honorable mentions. I read down the list and it just kept going, and going, and going… Suddenly I started to realize just how many people 800-1200 must be. And the names on that page that kept scrolling were the very best of all of them – just a fraction of the stories submitted. It sort of made it real, if that makes any sense. I was terribly humbled to be included in that top group of writer’s in any capacity.

So now I wait. And I’m really not very good at waiting. I know so many people who are so good at patience. My neighbor across the street is one of them. Nothing seems to ruffle her. You should see her with kids, she’s amazing. Patience seems to be one of her primary virtues. I’m so not like that. I’ll keep chewing at my fingernails and try not to snip at my poor kids while they just try to get through their own day.

My husband likes to remind me that whether I’m good at waiting or not, the same amount of time will pass. Worry won't alter the time stream. I’ll still have to wait, so I might as well not worry.

Wish I could actually apply that wisdom. :)

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