Ganging Agley

"Now we've told you about our writing journeys, here are some insights into our writing lives."

by Catriona

Here is my official writing life:

MACRO
I write three books a year. For thirty weeks a year, I write 2K words a day (Mon-Fri) until the 100K first draft is done. Then for nine weeks a year (3 x 3) I research the book I've just written. For nine weeks a year (3 x 3) I edit the researched book. I take two weeks off on holiday in the summer and two weeks off at Christmas.

MICRO
I check email, deal with social media and cross-post blogs before 7 am. Then I go off-line and write/research/edit till lunch. Healthy lunch, quick email check and a brisk walk, then I write/research/edit/re-edit/proof-read/write cover copy till five. I make dinner. Neil comes home. We eat at six. We do the dishes. We work till nine. I write blogs and blurbs, answer emails, read books to moderate, interview and review. All screens go off at nine.

Here is my real writing life:

MACRO, MICRO, LOCO
If I take today to do all the page proofs it'll be off my desk and off my mind and I can get back to the work in progress tomorrow. Then if I write 3K words a day (including on the plane and at Left Coast), I'll only be two weeks late. So if I keep writing that while I research the one before it, I can catch up by cancelling weekends. NO MORE BLURBS! (Oh wait, except that one sounds like fun. I want to read that book. If I'm blurbing it I can call it working). And I need to edit thirty pages a day of the UK version of that one to get it done, so I don't need to take it to Malice. NO MODERATING THIS YEAR! (Oh wait, I forgot to say that in time. Never mind, this panel looks like fun. I'll read all their books in the evening, using the time I've freed up because I dropped everything to proofread in a oney.) Aw man, I'm reading a Guardian article about Trump. How did that happen? Better go to the coffeeshop and say no to the Wi-Fi code. Ooooh, Twentieth Century Women is on at the Varsity. That's what I need: to look at Annette Bening's beautiful face and clear my mind. And a burrito. Email Neil and float the idea of a pictures and Dos Coyotes night. (Oh wait. Neil's in Florida. I knew that. (But that means I can sit up in bed and write without disturbing him.)) Aw man, it's after midnight and my laptop battery has five minutes left. How many words have I written? Five thousand? Is there any chance they're worth the keystrokes they took? I'll fix it in the edit. When am I editing this? Which book is this?? When did he go to Florida???