I crawl out of my office pale, ragged and stressed. I'm wearing blue socks with black pants and I have a grease spot on my yellow sweater. I don't even remember whether I combed my hair or put on makeup until I glance in the rear-view mirror of my car. Ugh. That face would scare cats and small children, but I'm late to a meeting and have no choice.
"Looks like you've been writing," my friends note.
I wish. What I have been doing is proofreading and reformatting a new edition of a 1998 book. I didn't realize how much work I was in for. It seems the scanned pages have lots of missing or mangled words and none of the photos, italics, dashes, or Portuguese punctuation of the original. Plus we're changing the page and type size. Since I haven't actually read the book in years, I'm also finding things I want to rewrite.
It's actually fascinating work, but every chapter takes hours, and if I'm formatting, I'm not writing.
I also have a new book coming out this spring. I recently spent several days compiling lists of conferences and contacts for the publicity department. Also enjoyable, but not writing. Soon I'll be embroiled in editing and proofing that book. I expect to spend much of this summer promoting both books. I'm already dealing with correspondence about past and future books, sending out a monthly newsletter, keeping up a website and maintaining a Blog, tasks designed to keep orders and assignments coming in. All fun, but not writing.
Perhaps you're not dealing with books at this point, just hoping to publish some articles, short stories or poems. You've been diligently writing every day, as all the teachers and textbooks tell you to do. There's nothing else you'd rather be doing. I know the feeling. When the words are flowing, I resent taking the time to look up a word in the dictionary. But if most of what you've produced is sitting in a binder somewhere and you want to get it published, you will have to stop writing at some point and start doing things that are not writing. Those tasks include studying markets, writing queries and cover letters, matching your manuscripts to the markets' desired length and style, and keeping track of submissions, rejections, and sales. To get maximum mileage out of your work, you may also want to look for ways to reslant and resell what you've already published.
It's a dilemma that too many writing guides ignore. Being a writer is not just writing. But is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Like crops on a farm, writing has its seasons. First you prepare the soil and gather the seeds, then you plant the seeds, irrigate, weed, fertilize and hope for good weather. Come autumn, you harvest the crop and sell it. Each of these tasks is necessary and valuable. If you don't take the time to prepare the soil and tend your crop, the corn won't grow. If you don't harvest and sell it, the corn will wither and rot in the field.
So it is with writing. Now you're researching, now you're writing, now you're proofreading, now you're marketing, now you're soaking in the glory of being published. It's all good. The non-writing tasks give you an opportunity to rest and refresh your muse, and to gather new ideas to start the process all over again.
How do you juggle the writing and the non-writing? No one has a perfect answer for that question. First, keep writing something so that your writing muscles don't stiffen up and you don't run out of work to sell. If all you've got is a half hour between events, write one page or one stanza.
Second, recognize that the writing business has its seasons. A wise publisher once told a group of eager writers that they should write something, read something and do at least one thing to advance their career, such as sending out a manuscript or making a phone call, every day. Which of those things gets the most attention will vary. All you can do is ride the wave and see where it goes.
Just don't forget to shower and put on clean clothes now and then.
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P.S. My book on freelancing for newspapers is due out this spring from Quill Driver Books. I'll let you know when they start taking orders.
Copyright 2007 Sue Fagalde Lick
About the Author: SUE FAGALDE LICK is a former newspaper editor turned full-time freelance writer. She has published four books, countless articles and many poems and stories. She teaches writing workshops online and at Oregon Coast Community College. Visit her web site at http://www.suelick.com, and her blog at http://www.freelancingfornewspapers.blogspot.com.
To Every Task There is a Season
