Discipline me

By Alison

Last week, Toni asked me what Janet Evanovich said/did during the Edgar symposiums that made me feel like cashing it in and never writing again. You ready, Toni? You sitting down? Deep breath... Okay:  Janet described her daily schedule. It goes like this: She gets up at 5 AM every day, and writes straight up until 6 PM (with one hour off to exercise on the eliptical machine, conveniently next to her computer). At 6, she has dinner with her husband. Then, she spends the rest of the evening with her daughter, updating her extremely successful website. Oh, and did I mention she's coming out with seven books this year? You read that right. Seven. Books. This. Year.

I don't know about you, Toni, but my writing schedule is not like that. On the days when I'm not at my day job  at the celebrity weekly in New Jersey, detailing the exploits of Denise, Richie, Heather and Charlie, it starts around nine, after I've gotten my daughter off to pre-school. I then stare at the computer screen for about five minutes before going online, catching up on all my email and reading the news because... you know... it's important to know what's going on in the world. Around then, it's time for the mid-morning snack. And, as long as I'm in the kitchen, which is right next to the laundry room, well, there's always laundry to be done, isn't there? And since the radio is in the laundry room I can catch up on more news. On NPR, there's a fascinating story about how exercise benefits the heart, which reminds me I haven't gone for a jog in a long time. On my jog, I tell myself, I'm bound to come up with countless excellent ideas for my book. But all I can really think of is Heather, Charlie, Denise and Richie. Oh yeah, and what I'm going to have for lunch.

All I can say is, whatever Janet's on, I want some. Now. Please... The final draft of my book is due October 1st, and while I'm liking what I've done with it so far, I have pages and pages and pages to go before the first draft is done. And I seem to have the discipline of a second grade class set loose in Chuck E Cheese's with Ozzy Osbourne for a chaperone.

Anyone else have this problem? Or the solution? Please do post about it because I'm about to start writing, and... you know... I'm going to want to take a little time off and check the blog.

Comments

[J. Carson black]

I'm the same way. I'm here posting on this blog right now, aren't I?

Still, I have no doubt that you will finish the final draft, it will come in on deadline, and it will be great.

All writers are different, but some writers need more space than others. Of course, if you're like Janet Evanovich, the space you're allowed to take is dramatically curtailed. You've got to work your butt off! But if we were Janet Evanovich, there'd be no need for another job.

Probably some of those seven books are 1) reissues or 2)co-written.

I'm a strong believer in subconscious. While you're working on Charlie and Richie and Katie and Tom, you're also working for yourself. So many things fall under the realm of "working" for a writer, we might as well just say we're "always working". Not only is it true, but it makes us feel better!

[Brett Battles]

Right there with you, Alison. My current rush is for a synopsis my contract states I need to deliver by June 1st. So what did I do? Decided to move mid-May...i.e. this weekend. And the state of the synopsis? Well, let's just say I'm glad that after a carefully crafted email to my editor, she responded that we can push the deadline into June a bit.

Now my next concern is how am I going to convince her to move it even more if I'm not ready...(note to the folks at Bantam Dell...no worries, all is good. Please don't read this post as a literal state of my progress...it's...eh...merely an example of where I...eh...would be if I wasn't so...let's see...on top of it.)

[Megan]

But don't forget Janet Evanovich also added (okay, probably in jest) that some days, at 5AM, thinking of the work day in front of her, she throws up before she starts writing.

[JDRhoades]

Doesn't she shower?

[Lori Armstrong]

I'm one of those pesky morning persons, my internal alarm clock goes off at 5:30 no matter what time zone I'm in. However, parking myself in the chair in front of the computer that early every day? Trying to come up with something creative? Yikes. I've got kids to get up, cereal to pour, coffee to drink, blogs to check...I don't really buckle down until the house is quiet.

[toni mcgee causey]

ohmygoodlord. Wow. I think my head just exploded. (Although to log on and see my name that many times? hee!)

And this? This is the funniest thing I've read in weeks:

"I have pages and pages and pages to go before the first draft is done. And I seem to have the discipline of a second grade class set loose in Chuck E Cheese's with Ozzy Osbourne for a chaperone."

Man, I wish I had written that! ;)

My schedule is almost the exact opposite of Janet's (I'm such a night owl, it's getting ridiculous), but even with the whole night to write (which I often have)... I, er, mull. I was just saying to Sandra Ruttan the other night that I tend to surf the web, stare out in space, dance around to some music, sometimes exercise, stare some more. Mull a lot. I really wish I would quit working like that and just write faster because I'd like to have the time to set it aside for a month or (glorious luxury!) two, and then go back and re-read and edit. Instead, I'm going to be pressing right up against the deadline again this year.

(Brett, you cracked me up. I tend to worry about posting about the, er, mulling, on my own site because I know my editor reads it. She emails me comments.)

Seven books? I'd die of exhaustion just trying to name the damned things. Wow.

[toni mcgee causey]

Oh, and I had my kids so young (sigh), they are older now and able to do for themselves. They are also perfectly capable of driving me completely around the bend with some of their choices. I said to my mom, "They're grown! It's supposed to get easier!" and then she laughed at me for about an hour. This cannot be good.

[Karen]

I'm one of those really annoyingly disciplined writers, but I don't have 8 hours to write, I only have one, maybe two, hours a day. But for that time, I'm sitting, I'm writing and I've gotten to a point where I can write about four to five pages in that time.

[AlisonGaylin]

Megan, even if she only said it in jest (and I'm still not sure) the woman even schedules vomitting! I mean... Who can compete with that?! Dusty, good question. Maybe she brings the laptop in the shower. Jake, Brett, Toni and Lori (though kids are a legitimate distraction) I'm glad we're more or less in the same boat. Though, if Brett's editor is reading, he's just kidding! Honest! Thanks for inspiring the post, Toni. I'm a night person too, but since my daughter wakes us at 7, I have to curtail it a bit. (Ah, to have grown kids...) Oh yeah, and Karen, I hate you.

[Allison Brennan]

Alison, we talked about this over at Murder She Writes last week . . . distractions.

I admire Janet Evanovich and Dean Koontz and Nora Roberts and Stephen King for being so disciplined. I think it comes naturally to them, but they also work hard at it in order to get out five, six, seven books a year.

I'm working on discipline now. When I'm on deadline, I'm very, very good . . . when the deadline is more than three weeks away, I tend to procrastinate.

But I do get up by 5 every morning and write until the kids get up; I get the kids off to school and then write until noon, when I have to pick up the three little kids. Then I catch up on email and blogs and all that stuff that's easy to be distracted with while the kids nap and/or have down time after a morning of school. Then at 3 I pick up my older kids, we do kid stuff (gymnastics, sports, etc), dinner, homework, baths, bed . . . and then, for me, it's back to the computer until 11 or so. I'm really looking forward to the time when all the kids are in school full-time . . . . 8:30-3, bliss, LOL.

When I'm on a tight deadline I go to Starbucks after dinner and it's dh's turn to put the kiddos to bed. Of course, I get about a hundred calls in that 2 hour period but the last time I did it, I wrote 16 pages and didn't delete any the next day (always the sign of a productive writing session).

Anyway, we all have different lives and what works for Janet or Nora or Koontz doesn't necessarily work for those of us who have little kids. But I'll admit I am working toward a more disciplined writing time so I can produce more books a year.

[AlisonGaylin]

Very impressive, Allison. I really like the Starbucks idea. I've found I've been much more productive on the days I've taken the laptop to our local coffee house.