Of... The Day Job

Michael Bourret at Dystel and Goderich wrote a recent post suggesting that authors keeping their day jobs. He's definitely not the first; I'm pretty sure I've seen such comments on every agent blog I've read. Don't go into writing for the money; you won't make any. Don't quit your day job until you make enough money writing to cover what you make from your day job. Holly Lisle has a series of small articles on the subject too. I suggest anyone looking to quit their job and live off his or her writing read them first.

The problem with keeping the day job, especially where I am now (which is to say, working on the first, probably not publishable, novel) is that the paying day job has to come first. And right now (I wrote "write" instead of "right" there... I do that a lot) I'm out of my house from 7 am until after 8 pm. And taking a class. And then there's the whole matter of having to eat and, y'know, sleep once in a while. It doesn't leave much time for writing.

Most of the stuff I've read about writing professionally says that unless you can force yourself to come home after a long day of work and write, you'll struggle to force yourself to write if that becomes your only job. (Am I making sense here?) And there are the references to people staying up all hours of the night, or getting up early in the morning to write.

And it makes me question myself, because that isn't me. I just can't function on less than, say, 5 hours of sleep (usually need at least six if I've been missing sleep, which is often). I'll stay up til four in the morning on Friday and Saturday nights, but that's because I can sleep in on Saturday and Sunday mornings. But beyond that, I just can't write for more than an hour a day right now, and it leaves me asking myself if I "have what it takes." Y'know?

I know that some of y'all reading this are fan fiction writers. If you're diligently working on a story, how do you go about finding the time to write. Do you take your current project(s) seriously and force yourself to find the time, or do you write when you get the chance and whatever?

Un-published writer wannabes, you too. When do you write? How do you find the time?

Published authors (if any read this, those with and without day jobs), do you stay up all hours, get up a few hours before work all the time? Just with deadlines looming? What's your style?

On prologues and the beginnings of books...

Back in the swing of writing after the holiday, and hopefully back to blogging more regularly, as I promised what, a week ago?

I'm almost 40% through my book and keeping a constant eye toward revision. To that end I was wondering something.

Do y'all ever read prologues in fiction novels, or do you bypass them completely?

The agents whose blogs I read view prologues with, for the most part, utter and complete disdain. They're poorly written, useless, meaningless, waste of time, don't make sense except in the context of the entire book.

So, what do you non-agent readers think of them? Worth having? Or should I consider scrapping it in my rewrite?

More regular blogging coming soon...

The job I'm on is drawing to a close, and I'll have at least a few days of more regular blogging and writing time before the next one picks up, even with the holidays coming.

But I wanted to post the following for anyone who hasn't seen it yet:

OJ Simpson Book Cancelled

About time.

I confess...

I have not written much lately; I've been working some later hours and it's been one of those weeks where I lie down for a few minutes at night and just don't get up. (No lie, I lay down last night for a quick fifteen minute nap, and woke up at 5 am. FIVE am. I should have just stayed up and written for a few hours.)

And tonight I'll have homework to do, but I'm writing tonight if it kills me. I should be refreshed, raring to go, full of ideas.

Right?

(I'll let you know how that goes.)

I've also made the decision to start reading more, too. Because, how can I write when I don't read?? I'm starting with a Catherine Coulter novel my mom loaned me (the title escapes me now) and then I'll move on to the Clancy and Ludlum books I bought a while ago but never got around to reading. I'll let you know how this goes, too.

I also might pick up Ally Carter's I'd Tell You I Love You but then I'd Have to Kill You for some lighter reading. It's supposed to be very good. Young adult, but nonetheless...

30,000

Broke 30,000 words on Sunday. (Yay!) And got feedback from family on my my Summit Prologue and my romantic suspense summary.

I also came to the conclusion that I won't be writing romantic suspense, per se, but rather a suspense novel with a heavy romantic theme. I have nothing against category romance -- for one, they're huge sellers. And whatever people choose to write or read is their own choice, and its all about what serves our needs as readers and writers (making us think, educating us, escapism, whatever). But I just can't envision myself writing category romance. I don't think I could write a 60,000-word novel. (Props to those who can, though.)

So now I think I'll be making my second book "chick lit suspense" rather than romantic suspense... maybe. Something like that.

And does anyone know what liquor stores are called in various European nations?

Not a bad day...

Got a fair amount of work done today; a fair amount of writing done as well. As I write this, though, I'm not convinced it's falling firmly into the thriller genre; I just don't think my writing is tight enough, fast-paced enough. I don't see a sense of urgency in the writing yet.

I think part of the problem is that it's building up to things; things are happening, but nothing big and important that demands the quick pace and the can't-wait-to-turn-the-page type of reading. I'm hoping a couple things: 1) it feels more drawn out than it is because I'm writing it a couple thousand words at a time, 2) I can tighten it up when I go through revision.

Otherwise... hmm.

I'll just make a couple friends read it when I'm done and see what they think from a reader perspective.

Of politics, writing, and Bobby

Holy cow. After watching the ad for Bobby and seeing who I thought was Anthony Hopkins, I checked the cast listing. Sure enough, Anthony Hopkins. Also about a thousand other big name actors. This movie is going to be fabulous. I absolutely cannot wait!

This election day needs to, y'know, end. AP calls Virginia, Webb is claiming he's won, but CNN won't call it and Allen hasn't conceded. So, yeah. The fate of the Senate is in limbo. Over Virginia. This is almost as bad as waiting on Ohio in 2004.

And, on the subject of CNN, when they've been announcing about AP calling the race for the last three hours, I don't know that it qualifies as breaking news anymore.

And on writing, since it's in my post title... I'm making myself go to bed early tonight, though I am hoping to at least manage 1000 words. Tomorrow's got to be a big day, work-wise,
and I'm already exhausted.

Tell me what you think...

This is an idea I just sketched -- I'm forever trying to think of more book ideas, because if I don't, I know that by the time I finish my first book I'll end up staring at a blank page with absolutely no idea what to write about.

Please, please, please tell me what you think (i.e., would you read it, or is it utter drivel?)

I promise there's action. Maybe even death.


[Character 1] has a life anyone would love to have: shootouts at 10,000 feet, explosions that light up the southern sky, and drug lords stalking her through the streets of Miami are just a part of her normal day -- though the explosions get a little monotonous after a while. As a change of pace, the Bureau sends her back home in pursuit of one [Character 2]. He's sexy, smooth, suave -- and a contract killer. Sparks fly, and it isn't long before [Character 1] is reminding herself that the attraction is all part of the job.

But [Character 2] has his own agenda, and [Character 1] fits perfectly. But, "the best laid plans...often go awry" and soon [Character 1] and [Character 2] are running from the mob, and forced to rely on each other just to stay alive. Of course, it's all moot if they kill each other first.

James Carville is God

The man is just a trip. Listen to him sometime. And check out his site.

Quite pleased to see the Democrats take back the House (finally!!), and biting my nails over the Senate results. Way too close for comfort! Absolutely amazing that, so far at least, no Democratic incumbents lost. Fabulous, especially considering 2004. (painful still)

I've lost all respect for Lieberman in this campaign, because for all his campaign claimed Lamont ran negative ads, he was even worse. This campaign season here in Connecticut was just atrocious overall though. It's sad.) Funny, though, that they're still counting Lieberman as a Democratic regarding control of the Senate. Doesn't make sense to me, but, hey, I'll take it.

And, congrats to Nancy Pelosi. Let's hear it for the first woman Speaker. Third in line for the Presidency. This is ENORMOUS! She is a fabulous public speaker, too. Impressive. *applauds*

Pelosi for President, anyone?

And on the subject of President.... I absolutely cannot wait until Bobby hits the theaters. I will go and see it alone if I have to. Je t'adore Kennedys!

And on the writing front, I'm not matching my numbers from last night (not by a long shot) but I think that the whole election night thing is a valid reason. Plus, i spent almost an hour reading Skillman's book. And I've still written over 1700 words today. Am happy.

Writing the Thriller

Oh my gosh. So excited I can barely stand it. (And, no, this is not about the possibility of the Democrats taking back one or both houses of Congress. Though that would be fabulous, I'm not holding my breath.) I found an affordable (read: less than $100) copy of Trish Skillman's Writing the Thriller on Amazon.com last week. It was actually only like $15 or $20, which was awesome. But anyway, I got it today and I can hardly wait to read it.

The only problem being that if I read it, and watch "House" (I must watch "House") and watch the election returns come in (how the heck am I gonna do that if I'm watching "House"?), that doesn't bode well for getting much writing done...

Writing the Thriller, "House," and fudge (did I forget to mention fudge?). All is well.

Back later, either to cry or brag over the election results. We shall see.

E-day!

I'm leaving soon to go and vote. Though this is not the first time I've been in a polling place (the first time I was a poll runner for the 2004 NH Primary), it's my first time voting in a polling place. (Up til now, I was always away at school and so I voted absentee. Not that 45 minutes or so is a long drive, but there's no guarantee between classes and work that I'd have been able to make it home.)

Anyway, please please please go and vote if you're registered. And if you aren't... why??? You'd better have a good excuse. Miss Snark, though, says it better than me, as does Jenny Rappaport but then, that's not surprising.

And does anyone know how to make the body of these blogs a little wider? I used to know...


Heather

I've decided that I like middles

I adore Holly Lisle, because she has done just so much with her site (click here) to try to help and educate hopeful writers. I can't say how much I learned about writing and about the business from reading that site. I highly recommend it to everyone, regardless of your preferred genre. And this paragraph, from her article on "Middles," makes me laugh every time I think of it.

So here I am, right at the end of the middle, finally remembering all the things I intended to do at the beginning (but didn't do), with a bunch of tap-dancing clowns singing the Star-Spangled Banner and a dancing bear who refuses to eat the clowns (though I wish he would), and my fireworks are exploding in the wrong places and at the wrong times, and I'm on that tightrope that now consists almost entirely of Celtic and Gordian knots, but they're tied around my ankles so that if I cut them I fall and if I don't cut them I'm stuck.

Boy, do I hate middles.

I used to feel that way myself; I could get started, and wrap things up relatively well, but in the middle I'd lose direction and work in all sorts of things that I didn't need, that really didn't work with the plot, etc. (No dancing bears yet, though.) But with this current book, I have decided that I much prefer middles. I have struggled so much to get this damn thing going, but tonight I wrote over 3,300 words. Only twice since I started writing this have I met my goal of 2,200 words per night, and tonight was the second time. It just flows so much better for me when things start happening. All the introduction, set-up, etc. just kills me.

So I hate beginnings and Holly hates middles (*makes mental note to read one of Holly's books - they are fantasy and look quite intriguing*).

I am now feeling much better about my book than I have of late, despite being very far behind where I'd like to be.

I've decided that I'm going to print a couple copies of whatever I have written by the time Thanksgiving comes around and bring them with me to my father's and my mother's and see if I can't convince (read: coerce, threaten or blackmail) people into giving some sort of (even broad) feedback.

Now if only I could visit Germany and actually see the places I'm writing about.

Ha, right. Maybe with my first movie advance.

Hallo

(In the spirit of my book, set in Germany and all that)

I do have a livejournal account, but I really prefer the look of blogspot so I'm going to make most of my writing-related posts over here.

Below (and this may look familiar, as I've posted it on my LJ account as well) is the query-letter-version of my synopsis for my as-yet-untitled manuscript, which is a murder mystery/political thriller. If you happen to find it interesting/intriguing/annoying/utter blather, please let me know. And if it raises any questions in your mind, by all means post them. I may not answer them here, but I will attempt to answer them in my book. ;-)

German detective Josef Brandt responds to the murder of American diplomat Russell Fisk at the very hotel where the G8 Summit is scheduled to open in just two days, certain that the motive is obvious: someone has taken politics a little too far. CIA Agent Chelsea LaBrecque is anything but pleased when she is assigned to baby-sit Brandt's investigation, but she isn't about to fight the Director.

Chelsea and Josef discover that Fisk's murder is just a small part of an attempt to keep a long-held secret. As they track a killer connected to one of the most powerful men in the world, they must consider which is more important: that the truth be exposed or that foreign relations between the world's greatest nations not be jeopardized.