All my days have been writer's days, since October 1, 1990, when I was first hired to be a technical writer. Some of the other LadyKillers know about being a technical writer--it doesn't really make for interesting stories, most of the time. Tina the Brittle Tech Writer is a funny character on Dilbert, and my hat is off to Scott Adams for making technical writing funny.
As my fellow Ladies have pointed out, being a writer doesn't mean writing twelve hours a day, six days a week. Well, not most of the time. It's not so different from technical writing that way: 80% asking questions, reading specs, playing with software, and laying in wait for developers to ask them hard questions like "You said this field had a precision of 8, but it's rounding off after six, whiskey foxtrot tango, dude?" and only 20% writing. On a good day.
For years before my first tech writing gig, I dreamed of being a full-time writer of stories like Dashiell Hammett or Dorothy Parker, minus the booze and depression. My mother had looked to external sources to give her permission to write--she'd enrolled in a writing correspondence course (no Intertubes at all back then!), but never finished it. I poured through the binders they'd sent her. I don't blame her, it was pretty dull stuff. She then fell in love with horses, then flying, and forgot her writing dreams.
Many things were packed away after her accidental death in my teens, and writing was one of them. I held on to an old typewriter, and noodled, like many people do, and got as close as I could to writing without actually committing.
Pursuing a degree in linguistics kept me busy and enthralled. I wrote a paper every week, plus my other classes exercised fiction and non-fiction muscles. Those were good times, even if I lived on mac-n-cheese and ramen-n-catsup. Next came my first technical writing gig, which I stumbled into because someone thought she was the only nerd at an arty party until she talked to me. I'll always be grateful, Elisabeth!
For five years my days were filled with interesting technical questions, and a narrow but engaging set of writing challenges. How to make something understandable, how to write without any voice at all, because when people are reading about software, they want to stop reading and get back to their software as soon as possible. Structuring information in an intuitive way, so people know where to find what they're looking for, was perfect training for my first committed writing pursuit, screenwriting.
I love story structure. Don't even say the words around me unless you are ready for a very long, very one-sided conversation. Seriously.
How I started screenwriting was, I took an offer from my employer to go out to a newly acquired company and teach them how to use FrameMaker, then wrote documentation for that company. Boulder, CO was good to me. The snow kept me indoors all winter. I finished my favorite screenplay about a gay soldier finding his way home after the Civil War.
Then I took my six week sabbatical, moved my kit and caboodle to Los Angeles, and set about becoming a screenwriter. I'd go to classes, do research, (there wasn't as much to read on the Intertubes back then), and of course see movies. Movies movies movies. Okay, Los Angeles, you do have some of the best movie theatres and some of the best-behaved movie patrons in the country. And I discovered one of the best writer/teacher/mentors on earth, Neil Landau. Thank you Neil!
Much to my surprise, I discovered that without my day job, I still only wrote about two hours a day.
Two hours a day? I'd spent years blaming my day job for my slow progress. That lesson has stuck with me through thick writing seasons and thin. Nowadays I have a day job I absolutely love. It challenges me to grow in ways that I thought impossible. Sometimes it eats my weekends and spits me out, a wasted hollow mess of a person with psychic wounds that require the steady application of junk TV to recover from.
This is all the long way of saying that a writer's day, each writer's day, needs some writing. Because you can't make it all up on the weekends. Your brain just doesn't work that way. Much as I abhor routine and fear committment, my brain muscle stays fresh and strong through daily application of pants to chair. Nothing else will do.
Just last night I had to stay home, turn off the television, and get to work, even though my work week had been the longest and the hardest in a long time. What I wanted was a beer and some friends and a lot of dancing or screaming, but what I did was sit down and write. I was "rewarded" by discovering that I have my San Francisco detective in two places at the same time. One more thing I have to fix before this WIP is ready for an agent's eyes. So here I am today, back at it.
See you in the chair tomorrow!
It's tough when friends call with a better offer, isn't it? But we're your friends, too, and we're waiting for that WIP, 'cause if it's as interesting and sparkly as your blogs, it's going to be a great read!
Posted by: Camille Minichino | May 28, 2011 at 08:08 AM
Hey, I agree with Camille's comment... can't wait to read your story, attend your signings, etc. etc. It will happen!
And I realized, reading your post, I shouldn't feel guilty about not getting to the fiction writing every day, because as a tech/science writer (like you and Tina the Tech Writer!), I write a LOT every friggin' day of the week. One word followed by another, and, in the end, they all have to work together and make sense. It's *all* writing and strengthens the writing muscles.
Thanks for another great post, Mysti! :-)
Posted by: Ann | May 28, 2011 at 10:22 AM
Sounds like you're getting awful close to having your WIP ready! Keep going!
I used to be a tech writer too and would always use my daily work as an excuse for why I wasn't writing more during my off hours. Now I have kids and use them as an excuse for why I'm not writing more. But for me, it's about discipline and prioritizing. At least the TV season has ended, so that's one less distraction!
Posted by: Staci | May 28, 2011 at 11:39 AM
With friends like these, I'll be finished in no time. Thank you for high praise, kind words, and camraderie. As my husband said last night, a shadow of worry in his smile, "the next one will be faster, right?"
Posted by: Mysti Berry | May 28, 2011 at 11:41 AM