Questions from Readers: Time Management

In case anyone else, besides the inquiring journalist, is remotely interested in my personal time management, I've added this info to my Questions from Readers Blog Page. It's just the way I roll. If it's any help to you...yay!

Here are my answers for the curious.

I do not write during the same hours every day. I write according to project deadlines or creative interest. Whatever is shouting the loudest receives my attention for the amount of time available. Still having one child at home, when I write fluctuates around her ever changing schedule. I used to homeschool two daughters, and then writing was tucked into all the spare bits of time.

My schedule is always too fluid to maintain specific, consistent writing hours. The needs of readergirlz fluctuates, and the nonprofit can take much of my time. Also, I need time to play and refill the well. Having strict writing time feels too constrained. That said, almost all my free time is given over to writing and reading. That can be anywhere from 7 am to 11 pm.

I start the day with a mental list of what I'll probably achieve. I keep an open hand with my expectations, however.

I personally might have a 40 hour work week for project managing readergirlz. That is the case in transitions or during special literacy projects. Writing then falls into the other available hours. If readergirlz is sustaining from the other 30 volunteers, I might devote 2 hours to it, readertotz, social media sites, and my own blog. I might write or draw for 6 hours, and then maybe read for 2 hours.

I do take writing retreats several times a year where I work on my novels exclusively, for 8-10 hours a day, for 4-6 days. I do not have internet access at those times.  

Regarding tracking, if they are online projects, I leave the email exchanges in my inbox until the project is complete. I use my journal for tracking creative projects I need to develop or refine. These are generated from chatting with my agent. When projects are completed and sent to my agent, I record them in an Excel file. Longer term online projects and future novel ideas I keep in Window's One Note documents.

That is the story of that. 

Questions from the Netherlands: On Pointe

I just received a provocative email from a teen in the Netherlands who is writing an essay on my verse novel, On Pointe. She noticed how the literary structure itself reflects dance. I thought to share a few of her questions and my answers. How fun when readers make writers think!

Q. Did you mean for the style and structure to influence the movement of the novel?
A. Yes. If you compare On Pointe to my other works, Loose Threads and Hold Me Tight, you'll see that the entries are not titled as they are in the other two novels. By crafting the work without titled verses, my aim was to mimic the flow of one long dance.

Q. Why use this way of portraying the movements the way you did, rather than using more imagery?
A. The structure of the verses imitates ballet steps (pages 126-127) so that a reader unfamiliar with ballet can still gain an impression/feeling of various movements. I definitely didn't want to descend into particulars of steps and lose the non-ballet reader.

Q. Are there any particular sections in the novel that you wanted to convey the movement more than other parts of the novel, and if that were so, which parts would those be?
A. Here are a few examples, at least. I believe I have used repetition of words on page 99 to convey the endless repetition of the preparation needed in order to master the ballet art form. I think of the short lines beginning on page 51 that run onto 52 talking about doing a split. The terseness mimics how Clare is split, cut thin by her situation. Generally, descriptive passages, like those on page 17, have the freedom to meander and run longer, like Clare's life outside of dance. Ballet passages tend to be tighter, more controlled like the art demands. And finally, on pages 4-6, I meant to reflect the long leg of a dancer on pointe.

Q. Is there a particular reason you chose to write this novel in free-verse rather than prose?
A. Yes, I believe the story works well in free verse as the format carries heavy emotion easily. It is difficult to write a work wherein the protagonist does not achieve her goals/dreams. I knew verse would allow the reader to dip in and out of the pain more easily. The white space allows the reader room to breath. And as you've discovered, verse can mimic dance. 

Here's to critical thinking!