Catching a Calm Day

On Friday, we launched our sailboat for the season. Everything went perfectly—unlike last year, when we battled high winds and put a scratch in the fiberglass before we got Freizeit under control. This year could have gone the same way if we hadn’t been flexible.

The marina scheduled our launch for early Saturday morning, and neither Roland nor I was thrilled. But when Roland was preparing the boat, he got into a conversation with another owner who was scheduled for 11:00 a.m. on Friday. The other owner had to be out of town that day, so Roland switched with him.

That was fortunate for us. This year we launched in light winds and, as I said above, everything went perfectly. I hope the other boat had an easy launch, too, but that may not have been the case. The winds picked up on Saturday and the clouds cried with those unfortunate enough to put their boats in then. We were grateful that we had the flexibility to do it on Friday.

My writing life is like that, too. I need to be flexible enough to write in the calm periods, even when that’s not what I had originally planned. If I wait until I my scheduled times, I may discover that the light winds have turned into a gale. Maybe my brother is called into work and can’t take my mother to her dentist appointment—so I have to do it. Or my daughter pulls the television down on her head and I find myself rushing her to the doctor. (Okay, that was almost thirty years ago, but you get the point.)

So be ready to write whenever you can. It may be your best opportunity.

Writing When Life Interferes

I’m a full-time writer, so I don’t usually have a problem finding writing time. But even when I worked in Chicago as a lawyer, I managed to find several hours a week to write. I could do that because my life had a routine, and I slotted my writing time into it.

But what happens when something explodes the routine?

My husband just got a knee replaced, and I went from full-time writer to part-time writer and part-time caregiver. I still have some writing time, but it doesn’t feel like enough.

Writing is in my genes. It’s also what keeps me sane even when I’m tearing my hair out looking for the right words and trying unsuccessfully to avoid clichés. I can’t not write. (Yes, the double negative is intentional.)

So what do I do? I look for every spare moment and use it.

Roland’s knee surgery is a good example. I spent a lot of time waiting that day. No, that’s wrong. I spent a lot of time reading as research for my next book. If I wasn’t in research mode, I could have taken my laptop and written. Or, more likely, I would have done it the old-fashioned way.

I keep a notebook labeled “WIP” (Work in Progress) that I carry with me when I expect to have a few minutes of writing time away from home. I use it when I take my elderly mother to doctors’ appointments, and I will use it when I take Roland for follow-up and physical therapy.

My WIP notebook contains four tabs.

The first tab is for typed notes such as:

·         The basic story line/plot, which is a short summary at the beginning of the project and a chapter outline later on;

·         Character sketches;

·         Notes that I made as I thought of things out of sequence, recorded so that I can add them to my draft at the appropriate spot; and

·         Anything else that I may need to refer to as I write.

The second tab contains the current manuscript. I double-side it to save space, and if it is still too long, I only take those parts of the manuscript that come right before the section I am working on now. (Or before and after for a second or third draft.) Having the entire manuscript is better for continuity, because I can look back if I can’t remember what my character did or said in the past or what the living room looks like. But if I don’t have that section, I make a note to check it when I do.

The third tab is for photocopies or printouts of any research documents that relate to the current part of the story.

And the fourth section is the most important. It has lined notebook pages to write on.

Have you ever thought about setting up a WIP notebook? You don’t have to follow my categories. You can even do it on your laptop if you prefer. But make sure you have something you can grab and take along whenever you might have some waiting time.

Because that may be the only way to write when life interferes.