Thanks so much for having me, Allie. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a writer/blogger with a propensity for blending genres in my writing.
I've always kind of used writing fiction as a vehicle for self-expression, but I never really shared it with anybody until 2013, when I participated in NaNoWriMo for the first time. I attended write-ins at my local library, and it was there I first met people in my local area that liked to write as well. I was all like this:
So, I finished my first novel, got all the words down in less than a month. I was super excited. I proofread it and told my NaNo buddies I was ready to publish, but their response was not what I expected.
I was like:
I have no formal training. I have no “writing schedule.” I tend to just go about my life, and whenever I experience a sensation – be it an emotion, a scent, a picture, a piece of music, or anything else, really – that resonates with me and gives me inspiration for something, I write it down immediately in one of a dozen notebooks I carry with me at all times.
I never really seem short of inspiration. My struggle tends to be having to pick and choose the best things to include in my writing. Also, revisions are a struggle, since I have SO MANY ideas. I can't tell you how difficult it's been to discipline myself to keep revising, nor can I calculate how many revisions my work has been through. Scrib has been hugely helpful to me in the revision process.
Another amazing factor in my journey as a writer is my local writing group, Book Builders, which meets at my local library and evolved out of the aforementioned NaNoWriMo group. Essentially, we just decided at the end of November 2013 to keep meeting and workshop our manuscripts together. It was through Deb, the lady that sort of took charge, that I discovered Scribophile was my obsession.
I literally check Scrib everyday when I wake up and also check it throughout the workday when I get a spare minute. Thanks to working from 6:30 pm – 7:00 am (yes, you read that right), I have plenty of time to write, since my job entails a set amount of paperwork that takes me all of an hour to complete at a leisurely pace, then just monitoring the kids in the mental hospital, where I work at night.
Since my sleep schedule is reversed (though this will change when I move positions soon), my breakfast of choice is usually Chick-Fil-A's or Wendy’s dinner menu. I love to cook, and I bring my lunch on the go, then pick up McDonald's on my way home. I do the McDonald's dinner/breakfast thing so I get to flirt with the cashier (who is my spouse) before I go to sleep for the day.
My beverage of choice is Barq's red cream soda, and I chug it while writing like nobody's business. I also love all varieties of unsalted nuts; they are wonderful, and I will literally put them on anything and everything; stir fry, pizza, ice cream, eggs and bacon, literally anything.
So, let me take you through my day (when I don't work, since that's a whole other situation).
Wake up.
Check Scrib.
Write, if I feel like it.
Shower.
Groom my increasingly fantastic beard.
Write, if I feel like it, until lunchtime.
Eat lunch.
Check Scrib.
Write, if I feel like it.
Do some prep work for evening D&D session.
Quality time with the spouse (who now joins all activities hereafter.)
*Wink wink*
Grab dinner with friends/family.
Play D&D
Go home.
Movies/TV/Reading/Write, if I feel like it.
Sleep.
The End.
This is pretty much my day off in a nutshell.
I grab inspiration from all over, and that leads to certain personal quirks, especially openly exhibiting peculiar, specific fascination with things that inspire me, while everyone around wonders why I'm staring/prying/etc. However, to that I say, be yourself. Be quiet or loud, humble or proud. Whoever and whatever you are, love your skin, whether or not you fit in, and express yourself in the most beautifully you way.
Thanks for having me, Allie.
Happy blogging!
Twitter- @partridgequill
Blog- The Partridge Quill
Thanks for sharing, Steven! I totally know how you felt after finishing your first draft and immediately thinking, "I did it! It's done!" only to discover that it was not even close to being finished!
To see how other writers handle daily life, check out the rest of the "A Day in the Life of..." posts! If you want to share your life, comment here or find me on Facebook or Twitter!
~Allie
4 comments:
I'm trying to figure out if your backwards schedule makes it forwards for me or . . . yeah.
:D I think you're working during my daytime.
I recently thought about joining an in-person writing group but find that I get enough feedback online without having to find someone to watch the kids while I go out.
I'd imagine it's a whole new dynamic!
I have a love/hate relationship with revising. It gets to the point where it drives me crazy to NOT fix something and I HAVE to revise to keep my sanity. But long stints of editing make me want to burn everything. It's the worst form of torture.
Hahahaha. I'm still trying to work on writing more than once every few months. April is the key, I hope. But when I do have a completed story and then I have to edit it... the whole thing is exhausting.
I don't really have any friends in town who write, but I do have some a couple of hours away. One I met online before I wrote and have since met in person a few times and talk to almost daily and another is my best friend from high school, also before I wrote.
Sometimes I catch myself staring at people and have to force myself to look away lest I be thought rude. It's not *usually* an inspiration thing. I'm just thinking they're so beautiful or their tattoos are so neat or something.
Scriboholics unite :)
Regardless of how many revisions are needed, there is still something awesome about finishing the first draft :)
I feel like that GIF every time I finish a novel! Then comes the revision process, sure, but still, it's a completed work! And I wrote it!
Your days off sound so nice and chill--I love how you work writing in around everything else. And carrying a notebook around to jot things down is a really smart idea, one I need to implement as soon as I can stop losing notebooks/pens/pencils/etc.
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