I spent another weekend at home, spending a low key Father's Day with my parents while my brothers are off in the wild blue yonder (summer camp in Wyoming), and got to see a lot of family, many of whom are wonderful, loyal blog readers. When asking about my new job, one of my aunts said, "Well, I knew that you must be happy in your job, because you stopped writing your blog."
In some ways, this is definitely true. My one post a day habit has fallen by the wayside, mostly as a product of my being busy and engaged, as opposed to sitting at a reception desk trying to pass the time until 5 pm. However, my mission toward forward motion continues, in conjunction with the fact that I just took one big step in the self-fulfillment direction, and I think the blog needs to, as well.
While I was home going through some old books and papers that my mother keeps telling me I need to throw out, I came across a little blurb from a young female writer that I printed out around this time last summer, when I was living at home and anguishing over what my next step would be. The author is J. Courtney Sullivan, and she wrote a book called
Commencement that came out last summer about a group of girlfriends that attend and graduate from Smith together (take note, all Barnard readers, you'd like this one - it's a great summer book. I'll lend you my copy). Anyway, the
New York Times has a fantastic book blog called Paper Cuts (although the name makes me squirm) that has a few regular features that spotlight authors, one of which is called Stray Questions. J. Courtney's is
here.
Anyway, the point of this is her answer as to what her writing life and schedule are like (they ask the same questions of each author, and the answers can be illuminating). What struck me is, unlike a lot of the authors the
Times talks to, Sullivan works full time
and freelances, plus she still finds time to write fiction. Being a full time worker bee myself, I felt a connection (despite one important difference: she has written a bestselling novel. I write blurbs in a moleskin.). Ultimately, she treats her writing like a second job - from 9-5 on the weekends. While I keep trying to drill a writing schedule into my own head, this seemed to be so simple it just might work. In conjunction with my wino pursuits, I have decided to devote Saturdays from 9-5 (wish me luck) to writing, anything, even if I think it's awful. And, of course, this blog. So, expect to see more little excerpts from me in addition to the rants and musings I already attempt to supply.
Back to the publishing world. More later!
