One Sentence a Day

[alanajoli]

So, amieroserotruck passed on some excellent advice the other day: no matter what, write one sentence a day. She apparently picked this up from Stephen King, but I'm still crediting her brilliance in keeping up with it and passing it along. Because of this new rule, I'm happy to say that I have *actually started* that elusive YA novel that I've been talking about for months and months. Hurrah!

In the mean time, I still have other projects that I'm working on--which is a good thing, because I just realized that I only have three outstanding invoices. While John Scalzi* says not to count your chickens before they're hatched (or to count your invoices before the checks get there), I do my darndest now to only work for companies (or other freelancers) that will, reliably, fulfill my invoices. Having only three outstanding means, well, that I'd better get back to work!

*If you are a writer who makes a living via writing--or are a writer who would like to--this essay is really excellent. My only quibble is that there's a difference to me between making a living writing and making a living writing what I want to write. I picked up Well Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Freelance Writer in Six Months or Less from the library when it was recommended to me and discovered something about myself: I would rather make a living doing something *not* writing--like working at the library (which I enjoy) or going back into bookselling--than making a living writing memos and promotional materials for companies. I don't think that people who do are sell outs or anything like that--but like some of my freelance-artists friends can't imagine going back to a 9 to 5 job, I've found that I'd much rather have that steady job if it means I get to write what I want to write. I'm in a balanced place right now: writing half time, working a reliable job half time, and it seems to be working out okay for me (though I'm not making nearly the figures of Mr. Scalzi). I suspect work environment is all a matter of preference. And now I've completely blathered on when I meant to stop a whole paragraph ago--I've got work to churn out so I can submit invoices! :)

Comments

[faerie-writer.livejournal.com]

I'm more of the write-one-page-a-day writer myself. ;)

[smerwin29.livejournal.com]

My experience in the MFA in Creative Writing program at Vermont College was interesting in this regard. Most of the fiction writers who taught there had other jobs, mostly teachers at colleges.

In the 2.5 years I was in the program, one of my instructors had his book chosen as an Oprah Book Club selection. Obviously at that point he didn't need to teach anymore. He stopped teaching for a while, but then he actually went back to teaching because he loved it. Another instructor's book become a worldwide bestseller, and after taking time off from teaching, she finally went back to it. I imagine it was for the same reason--a love of teaching.

Even the instructors I knew who didn't teach (outside of the Vermont MFA program) and who considered themselves fiction writers first and foremost earned at least part of their living doing other things: writing reviews, public speaking, etc.

I could go on for a long time on this subject, but I would end up boring even myself!

[jeff-duntemann.livejournal.com]

There is a terrible danger in writing for your day job if you want to write fiction "in your spare time." Good quality fiction and nonfiction draw from the same well, and when the well's dry, it's dry.

Back in the midlate 70s and early 80s I was doing pretty well in SF, selling material regularly (if not for a lot of money) and even getting a little critical mention, plus a double Hugo nomination in 1981. I was workshopping with the Chicago powers (Gene Wolfe, A. J. Budrys, George R. R. Martin, among others) and later learning at the knee of Nancy Kress in Rochester NY. In 1983 I started selling computer-related articles to various tech magazines, and at the end of 1984 I took a job with Ziff-Davis Publishing as tech editor of one of their lead magazines, a job that involved a lot of "developmental editing" (translation: heavy rewrites of illiterate material from tech people who could not write worth a dime) and regular contributions of my own original articles. I soon had a monthly column. I loved the work, and tore into it with a fury.

And by the time I got home, the well was dry. I didn't write any more SF until I became unemployed for 18 months in 1988, and didn't write much fiction at all until my publishing company grew to the point where I was "kicked upstairs" and did more managing and planning than writing and editing. At that point the floodgates opened again, and I did a 145,000 word novel in 18 months while still working full-time as #2 man at Arizona's largest book publisher.

Some people have a near-infinite supply of words in them. Most do not. I certainly didn't, even as a relatively young man. It isn't how hard you work. It's what you do.

Most of my computer tech writing is long obsolete and largely forgotten, and while I did well financially and was reasonably well-known back in the day, in my darker moments I find myself admitting that tech writing ate my SF career before it ever quite got off the ground.

I heard this at Clarion: "If you want to write SF, don't be a writer in your day job." I think it was Damon Knight's advice. It's true. My only defense is that it paid well; nay, very well. I think I made the right decision, which doesn't mean I don't regret it now and then.

[bccreations.livejournal.com]

When did you live in Vermont?

[bccreations.livejournal.com]

I can't remember if it was Diana Gaboldon or George Martin that suggested a writer shouldn't quit his day job until his advances = his royalties and that dollar amount is an amount they can reasonably live on. Seems like wise advice.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Considering my other assignments, I'm having trouble committing to a sentence--but as soon as I commit to it, usually a whole paragraph pours out. :)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

That makes me wonder if I really should just go on and get the right degrees so I could be a college instructor. ;)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Jeff, that's really encouraging. It makes me feel better about my own decision, at least! :)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I hadn't heard that one. I like the advances = royalties part of the equation. Pretty sage wisdom. :)

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm glad you've been reading. I kept seeing you on FFF and thinking we were already friends, then realized I'd better check. ;)

I do a lot of non-fiction writing and reviews, but it tends to be work that's interesting--not creative, per say, but analysis and synthesis. Writing obituaries has been fascinating for me, and I think it actually puts a lot of fodder in there for the fiction later. But I'll have to look at those days and see if I feel like writing fiction when I've been working on those assignments.

[smerwin29.livejournal.com]

Never lived there. The program was a low-residency one. At the beginning and end of each semester you would spend two weeks in an intense (and I mean INTENSE) time of writing, attending/giving lectures, meeting with your supervising writers, discussing works with other students, etc. Then you would go home and write like mad, sharing your work and discussing writing with your supervising writer for the semester.

So I guess I did live in Vermont for about 4 weeks a year for a couple of years. :-) In Montpelier.

[smerwin29.livejournal.com]

I think it works for some people who love to teach and can write despite the teaching. The problem can be what you have to teach. If you get saddled with a bunch of freshman comp classes, with 25+ students in a class, it is hard to be a good teacher and a good writer. If you can get into a position where you are teaching a more manageable load, it is possible.

Then the problem becomes spending the time and money to get the PhD (if you want the full time job) and then getting the job with the 200 other applicants. If you get an MFA, you have to deal with the people who say it isn't a real terminal degree (insert joke about it almost killing me), or those who expect extensive publication along with an MFA to get a tenure-track position. To which I always joke, "If I had the kind of publication credentials you are looking for, I wouldn't be applying for this job." Of course, not many college writing teachers find that amusing. ;-)

[bccreations.livejournal.com]

There's a low residency program at Southern New Hampshire University, but unfortunately I cannot afford the tuition. Even with tuition reimbursement, it only covers half the cost (not counting fees and taxes).

[amieroserotruck.livejournal.com]

Hee, saw your post on my blog. HAD to make me feel guilty, didn't you? ;)

[amieroserotruck.livejournal.com]

Dude, I'm a tag? :) That's cool! Glad my advice is helping, although it seems so pitifully small at times.

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

I'm preparing for your sometime-in-the-future guest blog (as well as your upcoming release!). ;)

[amieroserotruck.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, the guest blog! :) We were thinking use of mythology or folktale in writing? Is that right? I might actually be able to do that this or next month, miracles never cease!

[alanajoli.livejournal.com]

Yep, that's the one! You can apply it to your own writing or (given the amount of lit crit I've seen alluded to on your site) do a more general/scholarly approach, depending on your mood. ;)