With the release of my third book, NICE GIRLS DON’T LIVE FOREVER, and three more books on the horizon, I’ve noticed that people seem to have strange perceptions about my life as an author. I get a lot of comments to the effect of, “It must be so nice to be able to stay home and do what you love.” To which I respond, “Yes, I’m really looking forward to that.”

Cue the confused expressions and my explanation that I still work full-time as an editorial assistant for a medical society. I haven’t reached the point in my career that I can stay home and write full-time, but, luckily, my job is interesting and I work with some really nice people.
 
Cue even more confused expressions and demands to know, “So when the heck to do you write all these books?!”

It’s all about having a writing schedule.

I wrote the first book in 2006, while we were living in what I called the Apartment of Lost Souls. We were building a house. My husband, David, was working nights, and every single night, something went wrong. The dishwasher vomited soap on the floor. The washing machine started smoking. I was losing my MIND. Normally, I read when I’m stressed, but all of my books were in storage. So every night, after my daughter went to bed, I wrote something I would want to read. Writing an acceptable draft of my first Jane Jameson novel, NICE GIRLS DON’T HAVE FANGS, took about a year.  Finding an agent and selling it took a little under six months. Now that my “universe” is established, it takes less time to write the sequels.

I write every single day. Weekends, worknights, holidays, vacations. I’m not going to lie. Between working, wrangling two children under six and trying to make sure my husband doesn’t feel totally abandoned to my wild ambition, it’s tough. And every time my husband’s schedule changes, I have to re-adjust my writing routine. But it’s all about the routine, developing the discipline.

I write at least 1,000 words a day, no matter what. Even when I’m sick, tired, stressed, I get those 1,000 words in. They don’t even have to be brilliant. I can go back and fix them. Just the discipline of making time and building a story, that’s what matters. I have to admit that it helps that I have a newspaper background. When I was reporting, I couldn’t exactly wait around for the muse to strike when I had an angry editor standing over me, demanding to know when I was turning in my story. You learn to get beyond the need to get “inspired” and just write.

I try to get all of my errands/chores done before the kids are in bed. (laying out my daughter’s school clothes, signing school papers and checking homework, dishes, laundry, etc.) so as soon as they go to bed, I’m ready to write. I also have to add that my husband is an absolute saint and takes care of more than his fair share of the housework.

I generally work from about 8:30 to 11 or 12, depending on how well things are going. If it’s really flowing, I’ll stay up until 2 or 3. But I try not to do that too often, because I’m not all that sharp at work the next day. (In the way that Britney Spears is not all that great at making decisions.)

It’s difficult to get a routine going, but once you have it established, it’s a lot easier to channel your creativity into that part of your day. And when I have a hard time starting, I write a snarky entry for my blog, singleundeadfemale.blogspot.com, which is like a good warm-up exercise.
 
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Thank you Molly for stopping by today!