A Full-time Writer...

...for four months, at least.

I had some good news this week: MPOW granted my request for sabbatical leave, to allow me to pursue writing on a full-time basis. So, for four months beginning September 1, 2008, my (temporary) full-time job will be writer! Sabbatical leave isn't a benefit most employers offer, and I'm incredibly lucky MPOW does.

The goal of the sabbatical, as stated in my application, is to produce a book-length manuscript for a scifi/fantasy idea I'm developing. Obviously, four months isn't nearly long enough to crank out an entire book. I've a lot of research and planning and writing to do before my leave even begins. And I'm recruiting all of you to help me!

Hey, procrastination runs in our family, and I definitely inherited the gene. Since most fiction writers aren't fortunate enough to have a book deal that sets a deadline for a finished manuscript, we control our own schedules and set our own deadlines--which we're free to meet or blow off as we feel like. That lack of accountability is dangerous for a well-practiced procrastinator like me.

On January 30, 2008, the Write to Done blog published a post called "How to Hold Yourself Accountable as a Writer" that suggested the idea of a "virtual boss"--someone, perhaps even a blog audience, you answer to about your writing:

Blogs work great for this. If you tell your blog audience that you're going to post your writing one section at a time, every day, then you'll have pressure to actually write, or you’ll look bad in front of a large crowd of friends. No one wants that. Ask your blogging audience to hold you accountable. Of course, if you're looking to publish this writing elsewhere, you might not want to publish it on your blog, but instead you could just give them a word count or some other update like that each day--as long as you’re honest!

See where this is going, blog audience?

I'm going to set some goals and deadlines, and share them with you on this blog. I'll also report my progress, and (this is the important part) you'll call me on the carpet if I don't post when I'm supposed to or fail to meet one of my goals or deadlines. Fun, right?!

Now, I probably won't be saying much about the content of my writing. Writers are warned against talk about their ideas too much, because you risk depleting the creative energy of those ideas: Don't talk about your ideas; use them to write!

None of us have been very diligent about keeping up our blogs. I mean, there's a whole basement remodeling I never posted for you to see. But to be honest, my life usually isn't so extraordinary to tell you about. Using this blog to let you share in my writing process, and to keep my writing on track, seems a lot more fun and exciting anyway.

TIA for your help. I'll list you all in the acknowledgment of my first published book. :-)

Is This a New Year's Resolution?

Late in 2006 I sidestepped my natural inclination to procrastinate and started working on a writing project. Fiction, not theater-related (so I'm still not really using my college degree), but still an actual artistic endeavor.

Unfortunately, I seem to have the most success writing in the morning before work, which is when I'm supposed to be at the gym. However, even though I succeeded in motivating myself to start writing again, the writing is a demotivation (you can tell I'll be a good writer because I make up words) to working out. My pride in writing is undercut by my shame in having barely gone to the gym during the last few months.

So, in 2007 I need to figure out how to balance both writing and working out. Maybe it's okay for me to go to the gym only three mornings a week--Tuesday, Thursday and one weekend day--instead of the 4-5 I think I should be going. Then I would be free to write before work on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Writing three days a week is better than not writing at all, just as working out three days a week is better than not going to the gym at all.

But let's not call this a New Year's resolution. People have a tendency not to keep those.