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Fall, 1998
Volume 3, No. 2 One of the questions we are frequently asked is—What is your day like? Every day varies, of course, but in this issue we talk about the daily routine of being a writer. Each of us has a different response to the question of where and how we put words on the page, but we all agree that the bottom line is placing ourselves in a chair and putting our fingers to the keyboard. We agree, too, that writing is hard work—but that there's nothing we'd rather be doing. Off to work...
Lora Roberts I ordered an ivory tower a long time ago. It was never delivered. So I work in a room that's crowded with desks and bookcases and computer equipment. In the cold early light (or, in the winter, the cold early electric light) I face the blank screen with a responsibility to fill it—and fill it as best I can. Some mornings the words flow from my fingers without effort, and I do the five pages that is my hoped-for quota in record time. Other days nothing comes. Sentences are pulled out word by word like deeply rooted weeds. What I have written doesn't please me. My story takes an unexpected, disquieting turn that will either wrench the whole plot out of shape or have to be extracted later with much red pencil. I write in the early morning because I believe that much of the writing process actually occurs in the subconscious mind, which is more active when we sleep. By writing first, before reading the paper or talking to my family or doing anything more than making a pot of tea, I have better access to that which the sub-conscious has laid out for me, like a kindergartner's school clothes, during the night. Of course, there are mornings—many mornings—when I can't force myself out of the warm bed at 5:30 a.m. Then it's too late to write before the bustling time of getting ready for the "real" world. On those days, I may find time to sit down at the computer after work, but usually I'm swallowed by the paper trail of writing. I must arrange book signings and tours, file a mound of papers, create publicity materials, answer e-mail and letters, compose promotional essays and other bits of writing, as I'm doing now, at night before I go to bed, before another day rushes at me with its fresh demands that swallow up any leftover projects more deeply than the whale swallowed Jonah (who, hopefully, had a laptop with him so he could get some work done). Maybe tomorrow will be the day they deliver that ivory tower. In the meantime, I'm setting my alarm. Freshly ripened and now available, Murder Crops Up finds Liz Sullivan digging up trouble at the community garden.
Jonnie Jacobs In my mind, the writer's life is an enviable one. She rises to sunshine, takes her coffee and muffin to a neatly organized desk in the bright, spacious garret that is her office. She breaks for lunch with friends, then takes a leisurely walk before heading back to her computer where she works diligently until dinner. Alas, my day is quite different. I usually get up around six, but my writing day doesn't start until my kids are in school and I've made a dent in the household chores. My computer is on a card-table in our bedroom, next to the bathroom door. It is also where I lunch. But I do have a window overlooking the garden; I can't think while staring at the screen. Although I aim for four or five hours at the computer, there's usually something that intervenes—often that dratted thing called real life. I've also discovered that being a writer involves a lot of work besides writing. There are letters and phone calls to answer, interviews to give, talks to prepare, signings to arrange, promotional materials to prepare, as well as editorial responsibilities on forthcoming books. I rework each chapter several times before moving on to the next. My first stab is very rough, and mostly dialogue. Sometimes it flows easily from the voices in my head, other times each word is like a lead weight that I slowly drag into place. With each subsequent rewrite, I fill in character, motivation, sensory details, and try to fine tune the language. Writing is my method of discovery. I try to write every day, even if I can only manage a couple of paragraphs. I think about the story throughout my day, however, so I'm working even when I'm not actually writing. In the evening (when I'm not nagging teens), I read, usually fiction but not always mystery. Murder Among Us, Jonnie's latest Kate Austen mystery, involves a missing teenage girl and a suspected serial killer. Evidence Of Guilt, the newest in the Kali O'Brien series, is now available in paperback. Like Valerie, she has a short story in the forthcoming anthology Canine Crimes from Ballantine.
Valerie Wolzien I'm lucky enough to work in a book-filled room with a wonderful view of the Hudson River. There are cats and a dog underfoot; a wastebasket full of apple cores, banana peels, and candy wrappers nearby. Under my desk lamp sits a shell from the island where Josie Pigeon lives. NPR is usually on the radio. My writing day varies. The beginning of a book is wonderful—great fun and no pressure. I write four or five days a week, for a few hours each day. I take lots of walks; I bake bread. And I think—about the characters, about the victim, about shopping for new clothes. (Well, I have a lot of time at this point.) After a month or so, I move into gear. I still work four or five days a week. But I write each day until I'm "written out"—until the words are flat and stale. This goes on for a few blissful months and one day I look at the calendar and realize that I am, once again, in danger of not meeting my deadline. Now I work seven days a week, as long as possible each day, frequently late at night. My family lives on take out and popcorn. The dog doesn't get walked. The litter box doesn't get emptied. I tell anyone who will listen that this is the book which will never get done. But it does. And I take a month or two off to catch up on life before starting all over again. Valerie's new Christmas mystery is Deck The Halls With Murder and stars Josie Pigeon. Like Jonnie, she has a short story in the upcoming Ballantine anthology, Canine Crimes.
Lee Harris Having worked at some money-making enterprise every year of my life since I was fifteen, I have no trouble getting up in the morning and heading to work, which for the last several years has been the third floor of my Victorian home. The difference between the days when I drove to an office and now is that I don't dress for success any more; I dress comfortably, generally jeans in the winter, skirts in the spring and fall, and shorts in the summer. Since I am not an exercise enthusiast, I start the day by leaving home in the morning and doing something. That may be as mundane as getting to the post office and the supermarket. In the winter, this may be the only time of day I get outside. (In the summer I swim every afternoon and nothing gets in the way of that.) Then I catch up on my e-mail. Often there are signings to be arranged, invitations to conventions to be answered, panels to be organized, publicity materials to order, an NMO newsletter to work on. Eventually, I get down to the real business of my life, the book that I'm working on. (There's always a book I'm working on.) I write on an electronic typewriter and each day I read what I wrote yesterday, pencil in hand to edit what I see before me. Then I put the last sheet of paper in the typewriter and continue where I left off. When I have completed a manuscript, I put it on my computer, editing as I go along. (This takes nearly three weeks.) Lunch is quick and I yearn for Meals on Wheels for Writers. I cook dinner, generally while I'm watching the closing prices on the stock market slide by on the screen. I read fiction before I go to sleep; the Times gets read from breakfast on. And when the time comes, I join my NMO friends on the road and leave everything I've just talked about behind! Lee's most recent book is The Labor Day Murder. While on vacation on Fire Island with her husband and baby, Chris is drawn into investigating the murder of the local fire chief—and a mysterious fire that happened years ago in the same village.
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |
