In Search of the Writing Zone

I had an epiphany regarding my novel-writing today. I finally figured out why I write in fits and spurts, in weeklong marathons bookended by multi-week dry spells. It's why it took me fifteen years to write my first novel and why my second is such a slow process.

First, here are some links to posts where I've posted excerpts (please feel free to read and comment--a lot of people that read my blog now didn't when I posted those, and I'm always eager for feedback). First, here's an excerpt from my completed (but alas unpublished ... for the moment, anyway) first novel, Unbreakable. Speaking of Unbreakable, here's a post where I followed a trend other aspiring writers were exploring at the time--25 things about your novel. It was actually a very valuable experience for me, so if you have a WIP (work in progress), I strongly recommend that you give it a shot (and let me know if you do ... I'd love to read your posts on the subject). But anyway ... then, there are the first two chapters of my new novel (although I've reworked the beginning a bit so these aren't completely up-to-date, they're pretty close).

Okay, back to my epiphany. In case you haven't figured it out yet, I'm wordy. Like, very wordy. As in, I at times use five or six words when two will suffice. And I have an unhealthy attraction to both adjectives (bad) and adverbs (worse). And no, this paragraph is not an intentional example of what I'm talking about--it's just me. *Sigh*

I have to be completely immersed in the world I have created in order to write. It's necessary for me to be 100% in tune with the actions of characters, all events (because, as I tell my students, everything ends up connecting at one point or another), and the narrative voice to ensure a seamless continuity. To accomplish this--to find my writing zone, so to speak--I need to reread my entire piece if I've gone more than a week or so without writing. This is not a problem when your work is fairly short, but Unbreakable is over 600 pages, and Novel #2 (I have to name that poor baby) is at 35,000 words. Between being a single parent to two little girls whose company I enjoy more than anything and teaching full-time in a job I adore (but which requires a lot more work than the seven hour schoolday when you figure in grading, planning lessons, and reflecting on ways to always make your class a better learning experience for your students), finding the time to reread my WIP, to bring myself back there, is rather difficult.

Am I going about this the wrong way? It seems rather obvious that I am. If you are a writer, how do you stay in the zone? If you're not, perhaps you might have some thoughts on how you manage to fit in your passions : )

Oh, and keep clicking those ads ;) ... writing full-time and teaching part time would be a dream come true, and blogging seems to be the main writing I do these days (although I suspect I'll whip out 30-50 pages over Thanksgiving weekend ... it's all about time ...)

Increments of Time Don't Always Coincide

I'm sitting in the parking lot at Addie's school waiting for her to get out of chorus.

I took half a personal day to go to a Mother's Day tea party at Belle's preschool. That got done at two, and I contemplated going home knowing that I had to pick Addie up at 3:30, but I had to go to the bookstore and stuff, so then I figured I'd take Belle to the bookstore so I didn't have to go later. It seemed logical that this would sufficiently entertain her for an hour or so, then it'd be pretty much time to get Addie.

Big mistake! Belle has my bookstore addiction, and her wish pile kept growing until I checked out in self-defense. Plus, there were some WEIRD people hanging around the train table in the kid section.

So then we had,like, forty minutes to kill. I'm a lousy mother--I took her to Burger King, where she got this horrible Star Trek toy that says, "Kirk to Enterprise" over and over every time she presses a button.

She keeps pressing the button. Like, she's pressing MY buttons.

We've been in the parking lot of Addie's school for what seems like forever (especially considering Captain Kirk), and I'm wondering how I could have planned out the timing of things this afternoon.

Are most people able to make a schedule and stick to it? Plan things out and have them work? Figure out when it would be worth it to go home, stare at the clock for five minutes, and then go pick up the person you're supposed to pick up?

Here's Addie ... Gotta run!