Over the past few months I’ve been
mainly guest blogging on other people’s blogs and have posted their articles here. It dawned on me that I’ve neglected my
Overlords fans by not posting something for them. With that in mind, here’s something for you!
Like
most of you, I’m not a full time writer and have a day job to pay my bills. Years ago, I went to college for Computer Science
and find myself a Systems Engineer today.
Writing fantasy novels simply came from some dark corner of my
brain. Or to put it simply, as my wife
says I’m a Libra and I need my analytical side to keep me focused during the
day so that my creative side can run rampant at night. I do hate it when she’s right! Being an engineer pays well – much better
than a starving author – so I must do what it takes to keep my family fed and
keep a roof over their heads. But wouldn’t
it be great if The Overlords went mainstream with kids waiting in line at the
book store at midnight for the next novel and a movie waiting in the
wings? Then I’d have enough money to
write full time, something I would love to do.
Since Hollywood hasn’t come knocking at my door and the day job has
taken an increased role in my life due to odd hours and travel, my writing has
taken a hit. What to do then?
It’s
time to take my own advice. At my presentations
and workshops I preach to my students and would-be authors to try and write one
page a day. If you can do that, then
after a year’s time you’d have yourself a novel. Some days I write ten pages, others just one,
and then sometimes I don’t write at all, but if I can average that one page a
day, I’ll be close to completion. If you’ve
read my books – and I hope that you have – you’d know that I need to write a
little more than one page a day. Fantasy
novels are on the average of 400+ pages and the fans simply love it!
With
this thought fresh in my mind, I’m going to begin my journey to complete the
final chapter of my Overlords saga. I have
an outline created, albeit with some holes, but a complete and convincing
character set ready to embark on another adventure-filled journey. I actually can’t wait to start! I’ll be using my code to alert my fans about
my progress, you know the one that looks like Bible scripture, 4:01:01, which
translates to Book 4: Chapter 1: Page 1 (I’ll keep a running tally on the page
count). I hope you’ll join my journey as well.
Now,
for my author friends out there, how do you balance the dreaded work/writing
dilemma? Please post any comments here
and be sure to Tweet and Like them on Facebook.
The more people we reach, the more we can help those who are mired in
similar situations.
Until
next time,
Mike
4 comments:
Great post! It's good to see I'm not the only author fighting a daily battle with the Procrastination Monster (one would think that we'd get the hang of it after the first novel, right? Nooo... It's an ongoing battle!)
Me, what I do is pretty sad, actually. I treat writing like part of my job. Since I'm a freelancer working out of my office at home, it's easy to fool myself into believing that that extra hour or extra hour and a half that I put in every day is actually required!
I liked your idea of a page a day better, though. I'm not sure I'd be able to stay faithful to the same book for a whole year, but I think it's worth a try! :)
-Ron
I figure that any way to move your project forward is a good thing. One page a day is just a guideline, because every day life always seems to get in the way. Good to hear you're making time to write -- good job!
Hey, Mike! Wonderful post on trying to balance working and writing. I write full time, and find it hard balancing writing with marketing/promoting. But that's another post! I use a kitchen timer set to 45 mins. max to check emails and go on facebook/twitter. It seems to help. I love your idea of writing a page a day - at least that's a target most authors can do! Cheers!
Mike, this was a great post and one that I am most sure lots of writers can relate to. I tend to make it a point to write every day, but am finding that I am the opposite of what you talk about here. I need to find time AWAY from writing to live a normal life. That's important especially since I'm a wife and mother, but maybe I'm in it too much. But, there just seems so much that needs to be done to get where we need to be. But anytime you need the encouragement and support of a friend, YOU GOT ME! Thanks for being good at this writing thing. Engineer job, I say will soon become your moonlighting gig. Hugs!
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