Wednesday, April 17, 2019

WRITE-crastinating with Kris Frieswick #bookgiveaway

HALLIE EPHRON: Here on JungleRed we've talked about PROcrastinating and PREcrastinating ... now comes WRITE-crastinating from award-winning journalist, editor, humorist, teacher and author Kris Frieswick. She's been cranking out pieces for national magazines, newspapers, and books for more than twenty years.

Now the woman who hit every deadline shares why it took her 12 years to write her debut novel, a paranormal thriller (Jenna Blum calls it "Indiana ones with a female lead") The Ghost Manuscript
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Welcome, Kris!

KRIS FRIESWICK: Hello. My name is Kris Frieswick and I’m a write-crastinator.

I love to write. I do it as a profession (I’m a journalist) and I’ve been writing for over 30 years.

That said, my debut novel, The Ghost Manuscript, which launched on April 2nd, took me 12 years to write. I loved the researching so,
so much (it’s fun, it’s easy, it doesn’t hurt your brain!) that I write-crastinated and put off the actual writing, and the book came out in dribs and drabs. I didn’t take the project seriously for much of that time. I was just playing around with ideas, words, plot lines. It only became real to me when I imposed a deadline—through a workshop (often at Grub Street Writers, the best writers program in the country, IMHO), or through some other mind-gamery to force myself to apply ass to seat and type words. It wasn’t pretty and it never became a habit. It was a slog.

Now that that book is out there, finally, dear goddess finally, a new ugly version of this affliction has reared up: writer-negotiator.

I can negotiate myself out of just about anything that looks like it might lead to a steady, productive writing practice, which is what I need more than anything right now.

It should be easy, right? Pick a time of day when you’re most creative and just write then. Get up extra early or stay up extra late if you have to.

Try in the morning, when my brain is the freshest? No, I need to work out in the mornings in an attempt to regain the muscle tone that has been lost from all that time sitting around writing the last book.

(Of course, since the book launched, I haven’t worked out a single morning. Sleep is my new workout. By the time I get up, no time for writing. Gotta go to work.)

Evenings after work? Nope. My full-time job at a national newspaper means I’m sort of an air-traffic controller of words. I’m too brain dead when I get home to do much of anything but drink the martini my husband hands me, bless his furry head.

I’m not a morning person.
I can’t do it during the day.
I’m not a night person.
I can’t. I won’t. I Blah blah blah.

Writer-negotiator is gonna make sure I never write another darned word. Everyone thinks once you publish a book you have this whole “writing routine” thing beat, but that, obviously, is not true. And I won’t feel like a real novelist until I beat it.

I’ve got the next book all queued up… just waiting to be written….but the write-crastinator in me is willful and strong. What’s a girl gotta do to create a writing habit that sticks? One that prioritizes the creation of words, for better or worse, over the other things that crowd into the midst of a person’s life and shove everything truly important to the side?

What has worked for you? What mantra should I hold in my head to drown out write-crastinator and writer-negotiator? I’m especially asking people who work full-time. There’s a signed copy of the The Ghost Manuscript in it for the person with the best answer! 


HALLIE: Great question! And I can't wait to see the answers. Because like Kris, I'm a write-crastinator who needs all the help I can get. I KNOW my best time to write is in the morning, but do I take advantage of that? Nope. I even have tried bribing myself. So, short of handcuffing oneself to the keyboard, solutions, anyone??

KRIS FRIESWICK is an award-winning journalist, editor, humorist, teacher and author whose work has appeared in national magazines, newspapers and books for more than 20 years. “The Ghost Manuscript” is her debut novel. She is currently Deputy Editor of the Mansion section of The Wall Street Journal and prior to that, was an executive editor at Inc. Magazine. She wrote a humor column for the Boston Phoenix newspapers for almost ten years. Her work appears in a wide variety of publications including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Medium, Entrepreneur Magazine, The Boston Globe Magazine, Departures, The National, and Hemispheres. Her humor columns were included in two best-selling anthologies. She is an avid cyclist, cook and traveler who divides her time between New York City and St. Croix, USVI.

Yesterday's winner of a copy of Edith Maxwell's CHARITY"S BURDEN: Cynthia (picked by random.org) - Cynthia, find my email address on the CONTACT page on my web site and send me your mailing address. 
  

44 comments:

  1. Congratulations on your book, Kris . . . .
    Alas, since I excel at procrastinating, I have no answer for you regarding the whole write-crastinating issue . . . perhaps setting yourself a small goal you’d find manageable and easy to reach [a number of words or a number of pages or a set amount of time spent on the writing] will help you get started and create the momentum you need to overcome the procrastinating and work on the new story . . . .

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  2. So funny, Kris - and congratulations on the book! When I was writing mysteries around the edges of a full-time job as a writer (software user guides), I couldn't write during the week, either. So I would carve out three-day weekends and hie myself off to a cottage, a friend's empty house, anywhere, really, and write like a maniac. Morning, afternoon, night. No excuses. Breaks only for quick simple meals and a daily walk. And every Saturday morning I could at home, too. But it's hard. Deadline-induced panic is also a good motivator. The first book often doesn't have one. When you have a due date four or eight months ahead, you don't want to squander it. Good luck!

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    1. Writing retreats have definitely worked for me, Edith. I've gone to my agent's place on Nantucket several times (in the off-off season, that's important) and got a TON of writing done each time. I thought being alone at home would be like that, but it isn't - too many obligations and chores that I can distract myself with!

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    2. Thank you Edith - I would LOVE to hie myself away somewhere. Hie-ing sounds extremely cathartic.

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  3. Some writers treat themselves to a writing retreat. Go somewhere and cut yourself off with only one goal for the time spent: write. I don't know if it would work for me. (My first book took me 10 years. trying to shoehorn the writing in around a full time job and family.)

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  4. It's Lent, which means hot cross buns, one a day AFTER I've met my revision and writing goals (juggling multiple projects). Short-term, it's worked. I'll have to find a new motivator after Easter.

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  5. Oh I can't imagine writing a book on top of a full-time writing job! Small daily deadlines keep me on track (sort of), and yes like Edith, deadlines! But I lose track of my story easily, so steadily chipping away at a the draft is my best bet.

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  6. Martha Grimes had a character in one of her novels who was a writer--and who chained herself to her desk in order to keep butt in chair and write.

    As a fellow procrastinator--I find that setting smaller goals--as Joan suggests above--works for me. As in, no, I do not need to write the entire thing (report, chapter, novel) in one sitting. I only need to find time to do X today and that could be 15 minutes.

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    1. Flora, I would consider that, but my bladder is the size of a peanut and things would get ugly fast.

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    2. Flora! I’m gonna go get myself a pair of handcuffs. I think, for real, this might be the only thing that would work for me!!

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  7. These are all great ideas!!! Keep them coming. Glad to hear that it took you 10 years, Hallie, and now you're on a regular writing schedule! I think my biggest issue isn't that I work full time. It's using the free time I do have to write when there are so many other things that need to get done during the free time. I need to give myself permission to prioritize the writing.

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    1. Did I say I was on a regular writing schedule? I wish. What takes over is promoting. It's SO MUCH MORE FUN and SO MUCH EASIER than writing!

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  8. Flora! I love that advice so much I often give it to other writers. Following it, however.....

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  9. I wish I had some suggestions, Kris, but I'm a procrastinator/negotiator who is trying to work around a full-time job, also, and I'm greedily sopping up all the suggestions. I just can't do it during the week. I'm not a morning person at ALL, and there's not much left of me after work, dinnner, clean-up, etc. Grub Street has helped me quite a bit, also!

    Congrats on your book! Can you tell us more about it?

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  10. Mary C - I'd love to - Here's the blurb:
    It starts when Carys Jones, a rare book authenticator for a large Boston auction house discovers that her biggest client has been committed to an asylum. He makes Carys an offer that eventually turns her world around and destroys her reclusive existence. In exchange for the client’s entire library of priceless British Dark Age manuscripts, Carys must track clues hidden in a previously unknown journal written by a long-dead monk.

    Her journey leads her to some enchanting and dangerous places – physically and emotionally – that she never thought she’d go; to her estranged father’s beautiful homeland of Wales, into bed with a charming and mysterious Welsh diver, deep inside her own psyche when the monk who wrote the journal 1,500 years ago appears and assists her in the search, and finally to a remote stretch of beach on Cape Cod, controlled by a Native American tribe, where something strange and wonderful is hidden.

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    1. Oooh, Kris, that sounds fabulous!! Just my cup of tea--going to order right now!!

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    2. Thank you Deborah! I’m so happy it sounds interesting to you - it’s one of those types of books that you’re either gonna love or ignore. My reviews have been so schizophrenic. It’s either the BEST thing ever or TERRIBLE! But that’s another blog post I think!

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  11. I'm reading it now and it's riveting. Sharing the opening of Chapter 1:
    "The sight of the envelope on Carys's desk set her left eyelid twitching. Her name and work address were hand-printed on the center of it in small, compact letters, set in unnaturally straight lines. It could have been her own writing."
    Right away, my reader antennae go up.

    Kris, I'd love to hear about the research you must have done to write the book.

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    1. Hallie, the research was really intense. It’s what I do professionally, so I got really into it, as I said. It involved LOTS of books, interviews with rare book librarians and curators, lots of reading about archeology, ancient burial rights, Native American folklore, illegal antiquities trade, etc. I could pick any one of the strands of that book and go down a rabbit hole of research for a year and still not know enough. At some point, you have to pull your head up and write something. But i still am collecting string on all those topics because after 12 years they’ve sort of become hobbies. Plus it’s all fodder for the next one!

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  12. Congratulations on the book, Kris!

    I still have a full-time job. Here's what worked for me.

    1. Surround yourself with a cheering squad. I post my intention to write on Ramona DeFelice Long's daily Sprint Thread on Facebook. Stating my intention publicly helps me stick to it.

    2. Protect your writing time. This is one of Ramona's mantras. I wrote my first two books in one hour a day. I had my lunch hour at work and that was it. Oh sure, sometimes I got some bonus weekend time, but with two kids I didn't get a lot of free time. I always had something to do. So that one hour was my sacred writing time. I didn't go out with the teams at work for lunch. I brought my personal laptop to work, parked my butt in a chair in the cafeteria, and wrote. Religiously.

    3. If you don't have a deadline, set one for yourself. What's that saying, the only real motivation I need is a deadline?

    I got a dog recently, and I work from home, so I've switched up my routine. That sprint now happens between 6am and 7am. No matter what.

    Good luck with book #2!

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    1. I start every day at seven with Ramona's Sprint Squad, too!

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  13. Oh, the constant struggle! Ridiculously, I know I am not a morning writer. So I don’t beat myself up over not writing first thing in the morning, I just say: that’s fine. You’re not good in the morning. And I allow myself, without criticism, to do whatever I want— usually administrative stuff, or promotion or other writing, that kind of thing, all book related! — and not feel guilty. Then I set a time, usually say 1230. And that is when I promise myself I will be at my desk. So I think some of the trick is letting go of the guilt. Carve out a time where you allow yourself to be productive—but not write. That’s fine. But then make an appointment to do it. And keep it . Plus, I have a word count per day that I must make. So I say, if I procrastinate: that’s fine, sister, but you’re still doing your words!

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  14. And congratulations on the book! Congratulations on the book! It sounds fantastic

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  15. Hallie- thank you so much for reading. I'm so happy it's caught your imagination! Would love to wax poetic about the research. As I said, it for sure was my favorite part! Hank I LOVE your attitude. It takes so much pressure off. Pressure to get things done is such a double edged sword for me - on the one hand it motivates me, on the other it paralyzes me.

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    1. Also, not sure why that posted as Unknown!! It's me KRIS!!

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  16. Replies
    1. Blogger can get very tricky. It seems to depend on where you sign in from and what browser you're using.

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    2. ...and what else you're logged into.

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  17. So so tricky.
    So here’s another question for the team: what is your “mantra” that gets you to stick to your plan? It’s easy to say “i’m going to do this.” Then writer-negotiator comes along and blammo, all your plans are rearranged and another day goes by with no writing.

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    1. "No book, no paycheck." Easy peasy.

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    2. Ha! That’s awesome, Hallie! I wish I HAD a paycheck at the end, but at this point, i think I’ve spent so much money on my book tour/ publicist/ etc. that I’ll never earn it all back. Although hope does spring eternal! My favorite mantra I’ve heard was from Steve Berry, who told me “Your job is to write and sell books.” OK. I’m in.

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  18. Kris, what a great post. I feel your pain, and writing novels is my full-time day job!! Even after twenty-five years, it's hard for me to prioritize my writing. It sounds like carving out weekend time might work best for you, or retreats, or both. Some great suggestions above.

    While I don't actually sign up for Ramona's sprints, I've borrowed the idea. I put a "sprint" block, or blocks, in my daily planner. "I'm not going to do anything but write for this hour." No internet, no email, no social media. No cheating! That really does help, but then there are always the things that come up... And as Hallie says, the promotion! Just going into that phase, too. Sending you good writing wishes!!

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    1. Deborah - lucky you! Also, your post makes me not feel quite so bad about my work habits. If you don’t have it nailed after 25 years, then, well, I guess I can cut myself a tiny bit of slack. But not too much - I will definitely take advantage of my own self-compassion and slack off!

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  19. I really enjoyed this post, Kris. So funny. It sounds like my relationship with exercise. No excuse is too small or unreasonable to avoid it. I looked up The Ghost Manuscript on Amazon, and I was delighted to see it has a Wales connection. I haven't been there, but I've fallen in love with the place and hope to visit someday soon. The books sounds wonderful, and I've now added it to my TBR list.

    I wish I had an answer to your writing dilemma, but I'm not the best person to ask for advice to combat procrastination. I know in writing my book reviews though that the best method for me is to start writing the review as soon as I've finished the book. The review gets done and the details are still fresh in my mind. I do think I would function better if I had a dedicated office space, which I don't at present.

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    1. Kathy - I found that creating a dedicated office space helped IMMENSELY. My chores call me loudly throughout the day when I’m working at home, and the only way to focus is to physically remove myself from the house. On Cape Cod, we have a converted barn that has an office in it now so I can close myself away and concentrate.

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    2. Kris, my favorite retreat getaway is the Quaker retreat cottage in West Falmouth! No wifi in the house, helps (but the library is across the street for emergency wifi jonesing, I mean, needs).

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    3. Kris, I think an office in a converted barn on Cape Cod must be just about the most perfect location there is for a dedicated office.

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  20. Shalom Reds and fans. I am not a writer (yet) but I am a procrastinator in every facet of my life. Particularly when it comes to things that are projects that take more than one day. Early in my life, I learned that the jobs that I excelled at were ones where each day’s work was completed by day’s end. That said, I am a slow reader and a slow writer. Several months back, I was asked by my alma mater to write a few paragraphs for our alumni magazine about myself. And the deadline was as fast as I could finish it. It had to be terse and they needed it by the next day. So, I sat myself down, and in the space of five hours, I completed something that I was satisfied with. I knew that they would cut fat, so against type, I kept the writing lean so to speak. They sent a photographer out to my house and the portrait they went with was rather flattering. So, overall it was a good experience. It was my first published work in 40 years.

    I am very challenged by paperwork. I would rather scour grout than getting and filling out forms. I’ve found someone to help me. The woman is sort of acting like a coach. It’s been about 6 months and we are succeeding about 50% of the time. That’s much better than what I was doing by myself.

    I am hoping to start a blog within the next 4 months. As I envision it, I will publish once a week. All of the content is still in my head but I think I have enough stored there to last me for the first 6 months. I hope this will not be as demanding as writing a book but I will still have to pace myself week by week. While this is something which will primarily be my efforts, I have in the last year, tried to find places where I can find help, mostly on the web, with the mechanics of such an undertaking. It’s one of the reasons that I have followed Jungle Red Writers so faithfully.

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    1. This is good news, David! We'll be watching for it...

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    2. Keep working that writing muscle, David! I promise it gets easier. Not a LOT easier, but some. :-)

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  21. I’ve found that stacked up deadlines keep me from procrastinating because I’d have a nervous breakdown if I put off the pages since I have a book due every four months until the end of time - or so it seems! LOL.

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  22. As a non-writer, my procrastinating would be the numerous reports I reconcile every week. Since they don't change, it's really a matter of picking the priority for that week - payroll or missed visits or dropping bills or whatever else needs doing. As a crocheter (is that a word?)my procrastinating comes from having too many projects happening at the same time. The one hard deadline I had a cup!e of years ago, I barely made. I was crocheting a memory blanket for my aunt's and uncle's 50 anniversary. Short one crab and the border, I had it assembled 2 hours before the party. I still had to arrange the flowers for the reception table too but 2 dozen roses in a small punch bowl is easy. Needless to say, I'm probably not a person to give advice on the avoidance of procrastination.

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  23. I was a special education teacher for 30 years and I understand stress and deadlines for getting paperwork done! 1) I think you need to go off on your own to a very quiet place where you cannot be interrupted. If music helps, then play the kind of music you like. 2) Make sure you have a treat (chocolate!!) nearby! 3) If you have a pet, keep your pet nearby! They are always there for you! And 4) Set small goals for yourself that you can reach daily!

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