The question was posed, How do you live your writer’s life?, which makes me smile because I had romantic notions once, too.
Well, first, I work a day job, so eight hours of my day are devoted to that. During my lunch break I bring along my notebook and scribble whatever thoughts I have about what I’m working on now (currently a Spice It Up novella for Torquere, a couple fandom short stories, another Noah/Sawyer story, the screenplay and the next City by the Bay story—my head is a very busy place), and if work things go into a slump, as they do, the notebook gets dragged out again.
After work and weekends is when most of the writing happens. I am most productive when I turn off the TV, turn on iTunes and open up the netbook, which has the wireless turned off so I’m not distracted by shiny internet things. I have two desks but both of them are buried under things that really need to be organized (and I’ve only got one desk chair and it needs to be replaced), so writing usually happens on the couch or the bowl chair I have on my back porch, or if I’m feeling really lazy and taking the day off from the world, in bed. If I have a bad case of cabin fever, I go to a library or a coffee shop or bookstore. I have them ranked by availability of outlets and convenience to coffee.
When I was a kid I always imagined myself writing on a classic Underwood at a big wooden desk, glasses perched on my nose and pens stuck in my bun, in my reference library with a research assistant hovering around to bring me snacks and look things up. The only part that came true is the glasses. Not that I mind. My reference library is actually pretty kickass even if it’s smaller than what I imagined.
There’s not a whole lot of glamor to the writing life. There are muscle spasms, neck cramps, lower back pain, comfort over style (I could write a treatise on how much I hate bras, I really could) and neglected housework.
But there’s also the joy of creation, giggling over a particularly pleasing line, occasional reader feedback and seeing my name on the covers of my books. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Mirrored from Jenna Jones.com.