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.
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.
