Monday, July 30, 2012
Early Rising
Well day one of waking up early to write was a bust. I went to bed early-ish with my husband, but when my alarm went off I hit the snooze and hid it under my pillow...repeatedly. I finally got up at 7:45 and then really only because I had promised to watch my friends kids at 8. Maybe I just needed to catch up on sleep from staying up so late all of last week and tomorrow will go better. Theoretically I am supposed to be getting up tomorrow to go to the gym at 5:30, so I'm not sure if I should feel guilty about getting up early and not going to the gym, not getting up early and thus not writing or exercising, or about getting up to go to the gym when I can't manage to get up to write. So any of you early risers have any tricks to share?
Friday, July 27, 2012
Welcome!
Welcome fellow writers...or at least fellow, hoping-someday-in-the-not-so-distant-future-to-be-writers! My name is Kiera and I am writing a book...in the wee hours of the morning (which also happens to be when I'm writing this blog post, so please don't judge any lack of logical progression). I know two of my close friends who are also at various stages in writing books of their own. I also know of several not so close friends either currently writing books or currently seeking representation in order to be published. So I thought that since writing books seems to be the "in" thing to do, we should have a kind of writers support group where we can all go to vent our frustrations or boast on how many pages we've written when no one else seems to care any more. Hopefully, if enough writers join the blog we can become a help to one another and act as guides through the convoluted world of book publishing. I'll begin.
As I said my name is Kiera and I am writing a book...actually I am in the process of writing three books (as in have words down on paper/computer), but in my head I am really only concentrating on the one. I have the plot outlined out fairly well, I think and am just now getting down to the nitty gritty of filling in all of the details. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be. My story is set in Istanbul. This is a real world city of great repute where many people have visited. Consequently, if the details are wrong it will be very obvious. One of my other books I was working on was an Urban Fantasy. I stopped concentrating on that story when this one sprung fully formed into my head, but also because I thought that writing in the "real world" would be easier than writing in a fictional world where I had to construct an entirely new species, set of rules, mythos, etc.. I was wrong. It is just as hard to write in non fictional settings. But, I have pressed on and have been writing every night this week. I've been averaging 2-3 pages a night (so yes I should be done with a rough draft (emphasis on the rough) in about six and a half months *yikes*) but tonight I only managed 623 words since I was working on this instead. Still I guess that's 623 more words than I had yesterday so that's good.
I've been trying to write at night when my husband and kids have gone to bed. This has worked out pretty well this week since I haven't really had anywhere I needed to be the next morning so it wasn't too big of a deal to stay up until 2am writing. However, I do have four kids and school will be starting next month so I'm planning to try and work my way around to getting up early to write. As in 5am. If you know me at all you will realize how incredibly insane and far fetched this idea of getting up "in the middle of the night" to write is (case in point, that would be three hours from now). I don't believe any sane person should be up at that hour on purpose. My husband, who often has to get up that early for work, informs me that this is because I am not living in the real world. I told him the real world is stupid. ;) So, I'm hoping that my dedication to getting a book written and making my way into the world of published authors will help to drag me out of bed in the morning. We will see. Of course, my backup plan hinges on my two youngest taking long naps every day while the older two are at school. If this would work I would have nearly three hours of free time five days a week in which to write. The problem with this comes when I selfishly think I should be able to do me-centered things with my free time. Like nap. Or read a book, or play on the computer (which I do entirely too much of I might add). So, my goal is to get involved enough in the writing that it becomes something that I look forward to and am eager to get back to when the kids are sleeping. Otherwise it may never happen.
My mother recently attended a seminar by Josi S. Kilpack, who told the ladies there assembled that she and her husband had an agreement that every Thursday night was her writing night. So once a week from 6pm to midnight he would take over making dinner and getting kids to bed so that she could retreat to the study and write. They treated it as a job that she had to be at. I think this is a great idea. However, I don't feel like I can justify locking myself away from the kids for that long every week when I don't actually have any proof that this could be a viable career choice. So maybe after I get my first book deal we can do something similar.
I've also heard that Nora Roberts writes for eight hours every day. Even if I didn't have four kids and a house demanding my attention I'm not sure if I could do that. But Ms. Roberts is older than I am and all of her kids are grown and out of the house. She's also written enough books to completely justify this work schedule (208 I think at last count though that figure could be off). Maybe when my kids are gone and I'm a world famous author I'll do the same...though really I can't picture myself doing more then maybe 4-5 hours at a time.
When do you find time to write?
-Kiera
6,962 words and counting.
PS: I have sent invitations to join this blog to those who may be interested. If you have stumbled upon it yourself and would like to be a contributing author just email me your info. Thanks :)
PPS: Email your address to: kthaden1 (at) gmail (dot) com. ;)
As I said my name is Kiera and I am writing a book...actually I am in the process of writing three books (as in have words down on paper/computer), but in my head I am really only concentrating on the one. I have the plot outlined out fairly well, I think and am just now getting down to the nitty gritty of filling in all of the details. It is a lot harder than I thought it would be. My story is set in Istanbul. This is a real world city of great repute where many people have visited. Consequently, if the details are wrong it will be very obvious. One of my other books I was working on was an Urban Fantasy. I stopped concentrating on that story when this one sprung fully formed into my head, but also because I thought that writing in the "real world" would be easier than writing in a fictional world where I had to construct an entirely new species, set of rules, mythos, etc.. I was wrong. It is just as hard to write in non fictional settings. But, I have pressed on and have been writing every night this week. I've been averaging 2-3 pages a night (so yes I should be done with a rough draft (emphasis on the rough) in about six and a half months *yikes*) but tonight I only managed 623 words since I was working on this instead. Still I guess that's 623 more words than I had yesterday so that's good.
I've been trying to write at night when my husband and kids have gone to bed. This has worked out pretty well this week since I haven't really had anywhere I needed to be the next morning so it wasn't too big of a deal to stay up until 2am writing. However, I do have four kids and school will be starting next month so I'm planning to try and work my way around to getting up early to write. As in 5am. If you know me at all you will realize how incredibly insane and far fetched this idea of getting up "in the middle of the night" to write is (case in point, that would be three hours from now). I don't believe any sane person should be up at that hour on purpose. My husband, who often has to get up that early for work, informs me that this is because I am not living in the real world. I told him the real world is stupid. ;) So, I'm hoping that my dedication to getting a book written and making my way into the world of published authors will help to drag me out of bed in the morning. We will see. Of course, my backup plan hinges on my two youngest taking long naps every day while the older two are at school. If this would work I would have nearly three hours of free time five days a week in which to write. The problem with this comes when I selfishly think I should be able to do me-centered things with my free time. Like nap. Or read a book, or play on the computer (which I do entirely too much of I might add). So, my goal is to get involved enough in the writing that it becomes something that I look forward to and am eager to get back to when the kids are sleeping. Otherwise it may never happen.
My mother recently attended a seminar by Josi S. Kilpack, who told the ladies there assembled that she and her husband had an agreement that every Thursday night was her writing night. So once a week from 6pm to midnight he would take over making dinner and getting kids to bed so that she could retreat to the study and write. They treated it as a job that she had to be at. I think this is a great idea. However, I don't feel like I can justify locking myself away from the kids for that long every week when I don't actually have any proof that this could be a viable career choice. So maybe after I get my first book deal we can do something similar.
I've also heard that Nora Roberts writes for eight hours every day. Even if I didn't have four kids and a house demanding my attention I'm not sure if I could do that. But Ms. Roberts is older than I am and all of her kids are grown and out of the house. She's also written enough books to completely justify this work schedule (208 I think at last count though that figure could be off). Maybe when my kids are gone and I'm a world famous author I'll do the same...though really I can't picture myself doing more then maybe 4-5 hours at a time.
When do you find time to write?
-Kiera
6,962 words and counting.
PS: I have sent invitations to join this blog to those who may be interested. If you have stumbled upon it yourself and would like to be a contributing author just email me your info. Thanks :)
PPS: Email your address to: kthaden1 (at) gmail (dot) com. ;)
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