Recently, I came across a brilliant article by Canadian writer Iain Reid called 'Really, how do writers spend their day?' Ian writes that the most common question readers ask him is how writers spend their day, and so he decided to keep a diary. He starts hopefully:
8:52 a.m. I’m anticipating productivity. I have the entire day cleared of other work, responsibilities and commitments. Today I’m a professional writer working on a book! Today I have time for a second cup of coffee.
From that second cup of coffee it all goes downhill, and what with phoning the manufacturer of his new shoes and searching the cupboards for non-existent crisps, Iain's account of the procrastination which gets in the way of his good intentions makes very funny reading.
But it strikes me that apart from the stereotypes, we don't know very much about how writers spend their days. A novel is such a long project that it seems like somehow the individual weeks, days and hours of work that go into making it get forgotten along the way. In fact, it's something we should talk about, because making a life that helps your writing to flourish is a surprisingly delicate balance. For example, people are often surprised to hear that although I have been writing professionally for eight years, I have actually only written full-time for a total of about a year and a half. Strangely, I found that my writing was sharper and better if it took place alongside other aspects of life. I suppose it might be because it's always been important to me that writing comes from having something to say, and not the other way around -- I don't want it to become a process of sitting at a desk trying to manufacture something to put on paper -- so maybe full-time writing just puts too much pressure on the act of creation.
So out of choice, I don't spend every day writing, though I suppose I can still claim to spend every day as a writer. Rather than a day in the life, here's an attempt at describing my typical week...
At the moment I'm a part-time teacher. So on Mondays I get up early (sometimes well before six if I have to get the bus) to travel to the next town. I usually end up having breakfast on the way to save time. I work with a very kind group of colleagues and some brilliant students, which makes arriving after the journey quite welcome. I start the day by reading with students while I have a cup of tea (which then usually gets forgotten somewhere around school until I discover it again, cold and slightly congealed, at 3.00!) After the day starts properly, things get very hectic. I spend my days teaching English and Literacy to several different classes. You can never predict how a day is going to unfold when you work in a school - at least, I never have been able to yet... At around 3 the students leave and I spend a bit of time on gate duty - I quite like this, because if you get out there quickly enough it gives you a chance to say goodbye to all your students personally (and, if you're really lucky, to be offered various bits of food made in cookery class). After the students leave there is still much more to do. I usually try to set off for home by about five. When I get back, I might have time to note down a few ideas I've had for The Heart at War, which is nearing completion at the moment, or work for half an hour on a small part of the draft, but mainly I try to finish off any work I still have to do for school -- things like marking work and planning lessons. I still love reading the pieces of writing my students hand in. Often while I'm doing this, I'll realise with surprise that my legs are aching because it's the first time I've properly sat down in ten hours...
Tuesday and Wednesday are writing days. I get up at around eight -- even at this time of year, that means the sun has actually come up and it feels properly like morning. I have breakfast with my fiance, Daniele, then try to start writing around nine. I usually set myself a target for the day, but this might be very different depending what part of the draft I'm working on. I'll also pause at some point in the morning and check emails and contact anyone I need to -- anything from emailing my foreign rights agent with the answer to a question from the Estonian translator of my books, to contacting a blogger about an interview, to phoning my agent to keep him up to date with how the draft is progressing. Around twelve or one, I make lunch and take a break. I usually try to find something interesting to watch or read to take me out of the writing for a while -- recently I've been watching TED talks on YouTube, which are always strangely inspiring even if they are nothing to do with your own field of work: the other day I found myself learning about amazing sea creatures. Today, instead, I ventured out of the back door to get some fresh air and take some photos of the snow which is still submerging the north-east of England at the moment. In the afternoons I might take a couple of breaks to update my website or contact anyone else I still need to speak to. I usually tell myself that I'll stop writing at around six, but rarely do. This tends to be when I end up getting my best ideas. If I'm ready to finish at six or half past, I'll learn part of a new song on my guitar or read for half an hour, then check through the work I've done today and save it.
On Thursday and Friday I'm in school again, so by Wednesday afternoon I try to leave my writing at a point which I know I can pick up again. Friday is often a shorter work day; I try and leave by about 4.00 as I'm often very tired from the week. I'll work on Sunday afternoons to prepare my lessons, and I also sometimes get the chance to write for a few hours in the weekend too. So the writing and my part-time teaching job balance each other out quite evenly. I don't work intensively on the draft of The Heart at War every single day, although I don't think a day ever passes without me writing something, even if it's only a sentence or two, and I come to my writing days with many ideas and ready to focus. Strange as it sounds, I'm certain that I get more done than if I tried to write full-time.
What about my time off? I try to spend most of the weekend when I'm not working doing things I enjoy with my fiance, Daniele, and catching up with friends and family, so that time is quite relaxed. At the moment I'm enjoying exploring my new town, Durham -- there are lots of places to walk here, and some unexpected hills. Sometimes we'll also travel to visit family or friends. On a quiet weekend, we might just watch a film or have a takeaway, or go to a pub in town with some friends. It's also a good chance to catch up on the reading that I don't have a chance to do during the week; this weekend I'm hoping to finish reading The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and start The Vivisector by Patrick White, which has been waiting on my shelf for a while. And recently I've been working on this website at weekends as well, to leave my writing days free for finishing the draft. As a writer I do occasionally get the chance to spend a weekend or holiday doing something really amazing -- for example when my Canadian publishers brought me out to Toronto to promote Voices in the Dark. But a relaxed weekend is great too; it's welcome to get some space to think...
So my 'week in the life of a writer', while it doesn't involve as many comic procrastination methods as Iain's, still probably makes the writing life sound very ordinary. The truth, I guess, is that the most exciting part of the process is what happens on the page. I suppose that's why I often end my writing days by looking up and realising it's dark outside the window, I haven't switched the lights on and it's almost dinner time -- I've been so absorbed in the story that I just haven't noticed. That's probably what, to me, makes writing one of the most absorbing jobs in the world.
So out of choice, I don't spend every day writing, though I suppose I can still claim to spend every day as a writer. Rather than a day in the life, here's an attempt at describing my typical week...
At the moment I'm a part-time teacher. So on Mondays I get up early (sometimes well before six if I have to get the bus) to travel to the next town. I usually end up having breakfast on the way to save time. I work with a very kind group of colleagues and some brilliant students, which makes arriving after the journey quite welcome. I start the day by reading with students while I have a cup of tea (which then usually gets forgotten somewhere around school until I discover it again, cold and slightly congealed, at 3.00!) After the day starts properly, things get very hectic. I spend my days teaching English and Literacy to several different classes. You can never predict how a day is going to unfold when you work in a school - at least, I never have been able to yet... At around 3 the students leave and I spend a bit of time on gate duty - I quite like this, because if you get out there quickly enough it gives you a chance to say goodbye to all your students personally (and, if you're really lucky, to be offered various bits of food made in cookery class). After the students leave there is still much more to do. I usually try to set off for home by about five. When I get back, I might have time to note down a few ideas I've had for The Heart at War, which is nearing completion at the moment, or work for half an hour on a small part of the draft, but mainly I try to finish off any work I still have to do for school -- things like marking work and planning lessons. I still love reading the pieces of writing my students hand in. Often while I'm doing this, I'll realise with surprise that my legs are aching because it's the first time I've properly sat down in ten hours...
Tuesday and Wednesday are writing days. I get up at around eight -- even at this time of year, that means the sun has actually come up and it feels properly like morning. I have breakfast with my fiance, Daniele, then try to start writing around nine. I usually set myself a target for the day, but this might be very different depending what part of the draft I'm working on. I'll also pause at some point in the morning and check emails and contact anyone I need to -- anything from emailing my foreign rights agent with the answer to a question from the Estonian translator of my books, to contacting a blogger about an interview, to phoning my agent to keep him up to date with how the draft is progressing. Around twelve or one, I make lunch and take a break. I usually try to find something interesting to watch or read to take me out of the writing for a while -- recently I've been watching TED talks on YouTube, which are always strangely inspiring even if they are nothing to do with your own field of work: the other day I found myself learning about amazing sea creatures. Today, instead, I ventured out of the back door to get some fresh air and take some photos of the snow which is still submerging the north-east of England at the moment. In the afternoons I might take a couple of breaks to update my website or contact anyone else I still need to speak to. I usually tell myself that I'll stop writing at around six, but rarely do. This tends to be when I end up getting my best ideas. If I'm ready to finish at six or half past, I'll learn part of a new song on my guitar or read for half an hour, then check through the work I've done today and save it.
On Thursday and Friday I'm in school again, so by Wednesday afternoon I try to leave my writing at a point which I know I can pick up again. Friday is often a shorter work day; I try and leave by about 4.00 as I'm often very tired from the week. I'll work on Sunday afternoons to prepare my lessons, and I also sometimes get the chance to write for a few hours in the weekend too. So the writing and my part-time teaching job balance each other out quite evenly. I don't work intensively on the draft of The Heart at War every single day, although I don't think a day ever passes without me writing something, even if it's only a sentence or two, and I come to my writing days with many ideas and ready to focus. Strange as it sounds, I'm certain that I get more done than if I tried to write full-time.
What about my time off? I try to spend most of the weekend when I'm not working doing things I enjoy with my fiance, Daniele, and catching up with friends and family, so that time is quite relaxed. At the moment I'm enjoying exploring my new town, Durham -- there are lots of places to walk here, and some unexpected hills. Sometimes we'll also travel to visit family or friends. On a quiet weekend, we might just watch a film or have a takeaway, or go to a pub in town with some friends. It's also a good chance to catch up on the reading that I don't have a chance to do during the week; this weekend I'm hoping to finish reading The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov and start The Vivisector by Patrick White, which has been waiting on my shelf for a while. And recently I've been working on this website at weekends as well, to leave my writing days free for finishing the draft. As a writer I do occasionally get the chance to spend a weekend or holiday doing something really amazing -- for example when my Canadian publishers brought me out to Toronto to promote Voices in the Dark. But a relaxed weekend is great too; it's welcome to get some space to think...
So my 'week in the life of a writer', while it doesn't involve as many comic procrastination methods as Iain's, still probably makes the writing life sound very ordinary. The truth, I guess, is that the most exciting part of the process is what happens on the page. I suppose that's why I often end my writing days by looking up and realising it's dark outside the window, I haven't switched the lights on and it's almost dinner time -- I've been so absorbed in the story that I just haven't noticed. That's probably what, to me, makes writing one of the most absorbing jobs in the world.
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