What's your spirit animal?

Jenn McKinlay: Years ago,  I was driving to my new part-time gig at the Desert Botanical Garden as their head research librarian. I was nervous. This was my first run at an academic library position and I desperately did not want to screw up. 

Driving my Jeep over the dusty back road that led into the research buildings, while the rising sun was just a sliver of peachy orange on the horizon, I spotted something on the road up ahead. I slammed on my brakes. As the dust settled, I saw two Gambel's quail, herding their babies across the dirt track into the desert. The way they ran back and forth, nudging their young with the doo-dads (yes, technical term) on their heads bobbing, I suddenly felt like they were there to tell me 
that this job was a good move, that everything was going
to be okay, and I was going to be just fine. They were right.
I worked with some amazing scientists and educators over
the next two years in what became one of my most favorite 
jobs.

The quail lived in the garden, so I got to visit them every day and when they ran amidst the cactus and creosote, they always made me smile. It was then that I decided they were my spirit animal. Frankly, as my people tell me, their rather frantic personality is a teeny bit like my own. 

While raising my sons, I observed that they, too seemed to have spirit animals. Having just learned to ride, Hooligan One liked to pedal his bike FASTER on a downhill and then would spread his arms and legs wide, looking like an eagle in flight and making his mom scream (on the inside) in complete and total panic.

Hooligan Two found his spirit animal early on. I believe he was just a year old and on our annual trip to San Diego, he belly crawled toward the ocean like a sea turtle heading back out into the wild. I had to chase him before the big waves rolled him and he bellowed at me when I snatched him up, thwarting his escape. Hub recently had a moment while we were in Hawaii where he and an enormous sea turtle out in the wild bonded, so he shares the sea turtle affinity with our son, although up until then, he always reminded me of a big cat but that could just be because he has a fabulous head of hair. Truly, it's annoying.

While writing my most recent series, the Bluff Point series, I incorporated dogs, cats, and birds (but mostly dogs) into each story -- thus the titles ABOUT A DOG, BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE, and EVERY DOG HAS HIS DAY. (Sorry, I'm a punster. I can't help it.) -- and an interesting thing happened. As I researched the various dog breeds and studied their different personality types, I began to match my characters' personalities to that of their dog or cat or bird. Essentially, using the animal in the story as their spirit animal. It wasn't intentional at first but it became a new method for me to understand my characters, a lot like some authors use astrology charts or personality tests to develop their characters. I liked it so much, I think I'm going to keep using it. 

So, tell me Reds, what is your spirt animal? What tricks do you use to flesh out your character's personality?

Time Management for Writers

JENN McKINLAY: Last week, one of our readers (I’m looking at you, Lisa Alber ) asked that I talk about time management for writers. I did some thinking on it, trying to figure out if I have any tips and tricks worth sharing and I’m not sure that I do, but I’m happy to break down what works for me in the hopes that it might work for someone else as well.

The Stats: I write four to six books per year in two different genres with varying page counts. Combined it adds up to approximately 2,000 pages or 487,000 words annually. I write three hundred and sixty-five days per year -- even weekends and holidays. Yes, I’m a badass or crazy or a crazy badass. LOL! So, who wants to go for beers with me? I’m just kidding, I don’t have time. Again, I’m kidding! It’s all smoke and mirrors, because when you do the math out a little further, I only have to write five pages per day to reach my goal. Easy peasy!

Now the full disclosure: I don’t actually write five pages a day. I write ten pages most days, as in Monday through Friday, and then I revise and edit on the weekend. If I don’t write every day, I start to go a little sideways. It’s sort of like brushing my teeth – I’m a compulsive brusher to combat all of the sugar I eat – I feel weird, out of sorts, off-kilter and otherwise all around wrong if I don’t brush my teeth every morning and night. Writing is the same way for me. I have all the same off balance feelings if I don’t write every day. Truly, it’s a compulsion but I didn’t start here from the get go. My style of working is years in the making. So, where did I begin?

I started writing with a specific goal in mind -- finish the book -- in 1995. I sold my first book in 2001. I was on deadline for four years, writing romantic comedies for Harlequin, until the market dried up with my last book coming out in 2005. I didn’t sell again, mysteries this time, until 2008. Afraid the market would vanish again (it has – but that’s another post), I decided writing five series at a time was a great idea. It was. I hit the New York Times, I made a nice living and was able to leave my part-time job behind to be a full-time writer. Yay...and ugh!

When the Hooligans were little, I got up two hours earlier than they did and wrote before I was in full on Mom mode. I also wrote when they napped, and if I could manage it, I wrote after they went to bed. Things I didn’t do were watch television, surf the Internet, or read (gasp!). I know. It is shocking but when you have finite time to achieve your goals, adjustments (hard ones) must be made. I have zero recall on what shows, movies, and books were popular during the aughts. Seriously, if Sesame Street didn’t cover it, I was lost.

Now even with the hooligans older and in school, the time management is still a challenge but that’s because multiple deadlines breathe fire like a many headed dragon and you can’t mess around while slaying them or they will eat you alive, so I still don’t watch regular television or aimlessly surf the Internet, but I do have time to read again, and I read everything, for which I am so grateful. In fact, that is my reward when the work is done for the day. I get to read. Big happy sigh here.

So, that is the journey that carved out the following time management rules by which I live. I hope they help.

      1. Writing time is sacred. There are no errands or appointments to    be made during writing time. None.

      2. Figure out your most creatively productive time of day (mine is late morning through early afternoon and again in the evening) and make that your sacred time and guard it fiercely with a sword at the ready if need be.

      3. If you can’t work during your best time, make another time your sacred time. Seriously, I hated getting up at 5 AM to write but it was the only time I had. If being a writer is truly important to you, you will make the time.

      4. Set a realistic page count to hit each day. Do not call it a day until the page count is done. I have fallen asleep and drooled all over my keyboard, trying to get to my page count. Seems daunting? Think of it this way, a 75,000 wd book can be accomplished in less than a year (approx. 325 days) by writing one page per day. ONE PAGE! Come on, you got this!

      5. Stop watching TV. Stop cleaning stuff that doesn’t need it (I used to clean my oven – a lot). Stop looking at other people’s phony lives on Fakebook. You’re a novelist! In a year, they’ll be looking at your book – and it will be real! If you can’t control your Internet surf time, install a Waste No Time app on your computer. Mine kicks me out of all social media after 30 minutes. Here’s a link to help you out: http://www.businessinsider.com/13-best-apps-to-stop-wasting-time-2015-10

      6. Find a buddy to encourage you along your way. There’s nothing like accountability to others to motivate. Try to find a pal that is firm but gentle or a mean one, if you really need it. You can also go full tilt and try to write your novel in one month by joining NaNoWriMo: http://nanowrimo.org 

    Those people make me look like a slacker!

      7. And this one isn’t time management so much as writing advice but it factors into time management, so here it is – lose yourself in your story. If your characters are scared, you should be twitching with nerves. If they are sad, you had better be crying. The opposite is true, too. If you find your characters are boring or the scene you are trying to write is boring – guess what? It’s boring. Flip it on its head until it’s interesting to you and it will be interesting to your readers, too. For me, after so many years, writing is like falling down a rabbit hole. I have worked through dinners, school pickups, and doctors’ appointments because I got swept up in the story and forgot where I was and what I was supposed to be doing. Oops!

Pro tip: Forgiveness can usually be had for a signed book or a chocolate milkshake.

So, how about you, Reds? What’s your best time management advice?

Writers' Challenge Week FIVE

JAN: Okay, we are closing in on the end. I managed to write even while vacationing in a house right on the beach in Puerto Rico -- and I didn't check my email for three whole days. It was terrific.

I learned a trick to make myself write when I'm on vacation. I didn't bring my manuscript, which would have involved hauling along a lot of paper -- not just 250 pages of the manuscript, but also a critique from a writer friend. Instead, I decided to start an essay, and I told myself each morning that I didn't have to sell it. Didn't even have to show it to anyone.

And you know what? Writing didn't seem like work anymore. It seemed like this really fun thing I was doing every morning before I went to the beach.

This week I went back to the manuscript and got a lot done. I'm a third into what I hope is the final, final draft. Already new ideas for books are percolating -- a sure sign its time to move on.

After five weeks, I've gotten better about not checking the Internet in the morning, but I can revert to compulsive behavior later in the day. I'll have to devise a challenge for that someday.

Any ideas?