This writing life
Posted by: Toni Jordan
6 December 2008
Before I wrote my first novel, Addition, I worked for 19 years in normal jobs. You all know what that’s like: there’s a starting time and a (looser) finishing time. There are forms to fill out for leave, collections for going-aways and sometimes cake for morning tea. There are colleagues who become friends. I didn’t always like it, but there was a routine that provided a structure to my day, and more broadly, to my life.
Now there’s…well, it’s just me really. And my laptop. And my next deadline for the new novel is the end of September next year.
If you think this sounds like a recipe for disaster, you might be right. So here are a few things I’ve learnt about working by myself.
1. Work out when you’re at your best. I’m rubbish in the mornings, always have been. (When I was a teenager, my granny would keep a wet washer in the freezer, to drape over my feet when I slept in so I wouldn’t be late for school.) So I spend mornings answering emails and doing chores. The emails might be from publishers, publicists, librarians, reading groups or writers’ organisations. I do a little writing too: talks and lectures, things like that. I also try to read some new fiction and catch up with the news and blogs. I lot of this can be grouped loosely under the heading of ‘procrastination’, so I get it out of the way before midday. On the domestic front, I’ll often start preparing dinner too, because by 6 or 7 pm, I know I won’t want to stop writing.
2. Human contact is essential if you don’t want to go loopy. Most of the year I spend one day a week lecturing in novel writing in the Professional Writing and Editing course at RMIT. I love this. I have wonderfully committed students with exciting work, and I’m forced out of my pyjamas at least once a week. I also try to have lunch or coffee with a friend once a week. And, although I’ve never blogged before this, it seems a great way to connect with people who love books.
3. Get an assistant. Here is my assistant:
Myron the wonderwhippet has a varied job description. He lets me know if someone comes to the door. He walks me to the kitchen and the bathroom. He runs around in circles when the phone rings. And he lets me know IN NO UNCERTAIN TERMS when I’ve been sitting at the computer for too long and it’s time to go for a walk. AND, in perhaps his most important role, when we do go for a walk and I’m caught muttering lines of dialogue under my breath like a crazy person, people in passing cars assume I’m talking to him. Genius.
December 9, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Myron looks like an excellent assistant. Such alert ears.
December 8, 2008 at 11:49 am
Lisa I can’t thank you enough for the review. I’ve discovered that writing the DSN (difficult second novel) is largely a matter of holding my nerve, and kind words like yours really do make an enormous difference to my confidence and enthusiasm. And good luck with your work!
December 8, 2008 at 10:03 am
Hi Toni, thanks for sharing your working life, there’s something fascinating about getting a glimpse into the creative process. I’m up against a book deadline at the moment too and I can see a little of myself in your procrastination techniques. Unlike you though, I’m definitely a morning person, so I force myself onto the computer first thing. I also have an assistant who has remarkably similar duties to yours! Though sometimes I think she’s working against me - she loves it when I get blocked, because that’s when I clip her into her lead and take her for an extra bonus run in the park.
Also, I finally got a chance to read Addition, and loved it. (I wrote about it on my blog, if you’re into reading reviews! http://www.lisadempster.com.au/?p=129)
December 7, 2008 at 11:53 am
Well, I reckon if you don’t know what you’re going to eat later on, and one can’t afford to faff on down to the local for someone else’s grub, it’s bloody hard to work at all, let alone on your own. So me pre-Jurassic, aussi, and for similar reasons (it was Elizabeth Jolley, by the way).
I had a lovely friend who visited when I was struggling with the whole husband and new baby thing many years ago, who turned up with a bread roll and some garlic and parsley and made us some garlic bread while telling me how creative cooking was, how its goal was to relax you after a long and busy day. Hey, we were young. But I still think of that from time to time when things are simmering.
December 6, 2008 at 5:29 pm
Hi Simon,
Starting my own business was terrifying, but strangely it was the little things that threw me–organising my tax, how does GST work, what to wear…things like that. The company that I worked for was going through a high-stress, low-morale time, and together with my own personal mid-life crisis, this proved the perfect opportunity to make a change.
I’ve just clicked on your link. I’ve never been to LA but this would definitely be on my list of places to visit and frankly, I’d also be in love with Nikola in that photo. And just imagining Grace packing makes my head explode.
I used the Victorian Writers’ Centre manuscript assessment service. The reason I chose it was because it was anonymous, so there was no risk of my assessor saying nice things to me in the hope I would use them later for freelance editing. I found it very worthwhile but I’ve since had publishers tell me they dislike manuscripts that have been assessed, mainly because the assessor will try to bend the manuscript in a particular direction and that might not be the direction the publisher wants to take it.
Hello Genevieve!
Making dinner is the sad last gasp of my Jurassic pre-feminist tendencies. I blame my mother and grandmother who both believed in no higher calling than looking after a man. (My mother greeted my husband thus on our last trip back home to Queensland: ‘Is it true you do your own ironing?’) But as far as last gasps go, I’m glad mine is cooking. I’m fairly good on the fang.
thanks, and best wishes
Toni
December 6, 2008 at 2:21 pm
Hello Toni,
Was it scary to give up a full-time job after 19 years to work for yourself? How did you overcome the fear to take the plunge?
Have you been to the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles? It has a huge Tesla Coil housed in a special chamber http://flickr.com/photos/acejace/3055565965/. Alas, it wasn’t turned on when I was there one evening a few months ago. There is also a black and white photo of Nikola sitting in a cavernous room conducting an experiment. Underneath flashing electric sparks arching across the ceiling, Nikola, dressed in a lab coat, sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, legs crossed like a gentleman, calmly writes in a notebook. I think Grace would fall in love with the photo. Perhaps Grace and Seamus can go there for a holiday? Will Grace be OK on a plane?
You mention in an article that you paid for a manuscript assessment before sending your MS to publishers. Was the assessment worthwhile?
Look forward to your next post.
Regards,
Simon
December 6, 2008 at 10:54 am
Toni, I hope this won’t upset you, but an illustrious predecessor of yours, one damn fine and famous Australian writer, also used to make sure dinner was sorted before she sat down to work (to the chagrin of some feminists). So you are in great company there.
Wonderwhippet - heh