One Hobby Down

Writing has always been the thing I've done on weekends and during holidays for as long as I can remember. The more serious I get about it, though, the less it's like a hobby and the more it is like work. And I'm not complaining.

However, when I get together with friends, I don't have a lot to say. I work at home. I write. I spend exceptional amounts of time in my own head, and a lot doesn't translate to casual conversation. I wondered if I'd backed myself into a socially dull corner.

And then I realized that most of my favorite authors—the ones who produce multiple books a year and who write almost as fast as I'm ready to read them—they've all talked about how they are workaholics, working seven days a week for the most part.

I've never considered myself a workaholic (quite the opposite when I worked in the corporate world), but with the recent ongoing experience of NaNo, I can see how I could easily fall into that category. I've been writing about 2 hours every morning before switching over to work. Those two hours fly by. If I could write all morning, edit in the early afternoon, and do non-writing author work in the evenings, I'd be a happy girl.

I was just reading about Janet Evanovich's writing schedule (get up at 5 a.m., write until 2 p.m. with a break for exercise and eating, work on other author stuff in the evening five days a week, and just write in the mornings on the weekend). It sounded ideal.

NaNo has also reminded me how important it is to work on the weekend. It's so helpful to be in the story every day. A day off throws my personal rhythm, and a day off makes it easier to take the next day off, and the day after that...I've learned that from experience, too.

So maybe I'm on to something when I can't think of a hobby I'd rather be doing than writing. And when writing becomes my career, I guess I'll be a workaholic, because I still don't think there will be something else I'd rather be doing.