Why would you want to do this? Well, there are a few reasons you might want to spend a day or week being a full time writer. For a start, you will get more writing done than you normally would, and really, you don’t need more reasons than that!

This is my Christmas tree! It's so priddy!

But more importantly I think, it enables you to fully understand what being a full time writer means. Because it’s not just about writing all day (from what I can gather ). Sure, there are plenty things that you won’t experience during this experiment – conversations with your agent, or editor; preparing your book for self-publication; counting up your fortune as a famous author (that one was a joke).

You will be thinking about it though, and you will be experiencing part of it, and you know what? This may be the experience that seals the deal for you. You may fall so in love with it that it changes your outlook. Suddenly you find yourself planning your exit strategy, so you can get out of the doldrums and into writing. This could be the holiday that starts it all!

Or you may discover you hate it. Even this limited foray into the deeper world of writing might put you off completely. But this is still incredibly useful information. Imagine if you’d waited until you’d quit your job to discover that!

There is a middle ground of course, which is perhaps more likely than the other outcomes. Writing (we may have established this already) is hard. You may love it, but that doesn’t necessarily make it easier.

But over the course of the holiday week (or whatever) you can develop strategies to get around these problems. You may discover that you can’t sit down all day – go for a walk, then work that into your routine for the next day. Maybe you write best if you do so in three hour blocks, or half hour sprints – the things you encounter will help you decide how to break up your writing day. This is all good preparation. When the time comes, you may be able to hit the ground jogging, if not running.

Why I haven’t done this so far

You’ve read this blog before, right? You know what’s coming.

I haven’t done this yet, although I think about it every time I take time off work. Then I berate myself for a missed opportunity.

There are a number of things that get in the way of executing this plan. The most obvious one is a lack of discipline, and yes, I am guilty of this. Frankly, as much as I enjoy the sense of achievement and satisfaction of getting writing done, a lot of the time it still feels like work. When I’m taking a break from work, I don’t want to do some more work, even if I would feel better for it afterwards. Sometimes I just want to veg out or play computer games.

Another problem is other people (aren’t they always?) I will often sync my holidays with other people, like, family and stuff. Obviously I can’t arrange this and then disappear for the entire day.

Finally, (and again this is to do with a lack of time), there are other things I need to be doing now that I have the opportunity. Like housework, and those annoying DIY jobs that stack up and never get completed.

In fact, I will often queue up a bunch of jobs to do on days off, and only complete about half of them – writing can quickly disappear off my schedule entirely!

What Might Make it Easier, Then?

So, I’ve been thinking about ways to make this a bit easier, and here are a few suggestions:

Make a plan of your day

Take a little time to think about the kind of things you would be doing as a full time writer. Now look at that list and decide which activities you can do now. You might also want to pick some subjects you can find out about now, if you don’t know about them already – this might form a research slot in the plan of your day.

Some example activities are

• writing new work
• editing a drafted piece
• submitting short work to magazines
• working on a blog, if you have one (if not, you might want to research about that. Then you can get into the whole debate about whether to write a personal blog, a blog about writing, or a blog around the kind of things you write about. Lots to think about.)
• reading – and this might be reading within your genre, reading non-fiction for research, or reading about the process of writing, for example.
• putting yourself out there. I’m being vague here, but the kind of activities I’m thinking about here are internet based, and are about getting involved in the writing community. This means going on social networks, reading other blogs or forums etc. Getting involved as much as possible with the people who are already out there and doing it. Make yourself known to them.

I suggest a good mindmapping session or similar to think up a few others. And they could well be different for everyone. I’ve already mentioned going for a walk for example, but that’s not something everyone will feel is helpful to them.

Once you’ve got your list, fit the activities into your day. I would start with fitting writing new material in your day, followed by editing, then fit everything else around those things. Be sure to think about what breaks you might need as well. You may not be able to do everything every day, so I recommend doing this experiment over several days if you can.

Make sure your working space is ready

You don’t want to be spending your first day/morning/hour even setting up your work space. Make sure you have some time set aside before your holiday to make your workspace writing ready.

prepare people

You probably have other people in your life who might want to spend some time with you, so make them aware of what you would like to do. If this is your significant other, you may have to negotiate and reach a compromise on how much time you spend or when. The important thing is to make clear what is going to happen so they are not demanding your time when you need it most.

And that is all for now, but of course, I’m curious as to what your writing day looks like. Let us all know how you divide your day to get things done. If you’re a full time writer, what does your day look like, and what are your hours like?

I referenced this study by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from University College London last week. While it talks about how long it takes to form a habit, there is not a lot of detail about how you can make a habit stick. Here are some common sense tips that can help however.

Context

To reinforce a habit it’s best to perform the behaviour in the same context. As the association grows it’s possible that the context itself can trigger the behaviour. Like it or not, we’re all just salivating dogs! With something as complicated as writing (as opposed to something more basic, like sleep or, I don’t know, going to the toilet or something), this is unlikely to happen, but using context can certainly smooth the way.

Here are some ways to control the context of your writing sessions:

• Same time each day
• Same location
• Listen to music (maybe even the same piece), or perhaps ensure your environment is always silent.

Reduce Distractions

As attractive as writing might be to your psyche, there are always other actions vying for your attention.

• Remove other low resistance actions. These are behaviours that are easy to fall into, like browsing the internet. Turn it off!
• Make sure you have everything you need around you (glass of water, all your writing equipment). That way you don’t have to keep getting up to see to these needs. I’d draw the line at having a bottle to pee in though.

Reduce Resistance

Now that low resistance behaviours are out of the way, you could go some steps to ensure that writing is as low resistance an activity as possible.

• Make sure your writing space is always set up, ready for work. If you feel you have to get things ready before you start, you’re less likely to want to start.
• Finish in the middle of a paragraph, or even sentence. An old trick, this. Next time you start, it feels a lot less like starting and a lot more like carrying on, which is much easier.
• Make sure other people know when you will be writing. It’s much harder to go and do something if people are expecting other things from you. You could also add this as a way of removing distractions – that “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door should be a clear message.

Of Course I’m a Hypocrite

Naturally, I do all of the things above, except for when I don’t. My writing space is always the train during the week. Granted, this takes care of context (I actually do put music on most of the time, depending on my mood and the mood of what I’m writing. Often it’s still ambient music like Treefingers by Radiohead, just to cut out other distractions).

Distractions are still a problem. I should never have installed The Binding of Isaac on my laptop. I had just bought the game and wanted to see what it was like, honest!

Since my baby boy came along I still haven’t really sorted out my writing at the weekend. The dining room table is constantly cluttered now, which means I need a better writing space, which means cleaning my “office” up on the top floor. And, well, it does rather look like a bomb’s hit it. If the explosive in question was a paper cluster bomb. Everything else kind of falls apart until that’s done.

What about you folk in internet land? What’s your experience of writing on a regular basis? Has anyone got any tips to reinforce that habit?

In other news, I’ve just seen that this is the 150th post on Getmewriting.com! Yay us!

Studies on Habit Forming

Have you ever heard that idea that it takes 21 days to form a habit? I’ve heard that a few times (although I forgot the exact figure before I Googled it), but after a little digging it seems likely that this is a myth. Most articles I found simply stated it as a fact without reference to any sources, or simply said, “experts agree,” which is almost always code for, “I couldn’t be bothered to find out,” or “I’m making this crap up.”

I couldn’t even find a definitive source for the 21 days, although this article has a suggestion. Maybe it’s one of those things that got made up and stuck, like swallowing spiders in your sleep.

So how long does it take to form a habit? I couldn’t find a definitive answer there either, and it seems we don’t really know. Most of the articles I found referred back to the study by Phillippa Lally and colleagues from University College London in 2009 mentioned in the Psyblog article above. Here, the magic number is 66 days, or two months! A lot longer than the supposed answer above. Notice that 66 days is an average though – it depends on what the action is that you have to perform.

Another conclusion of the study was that missing the occasional day did not seem to make a huge amount of difference to the overall results. Those who stuck with it more early on however, stood a better chance of making the habit stick. Obviously, as reassuring as this is, there must be a line where missing another day will have a negative impact on your mission.

Habit Resistance

One thing I’ve never understood about the 21 days theory is that it doesn’t take account of how easy the action is to perform or the desire of an individual to perform it. It seems obvious, but some habits catch hold more readily than others. It’s incredibly easy for me to form a habit of playing The Binding Of Isaac (warning about that link – offence may be caused) on the train home, but a lot more difficult to form (or even continue) one that involves me writing.

Sticking with this example, I guess that’s because playing a game is more immediately rewarding. Don’t get me wrong, I do get a sense of achievement (even after writing only 300 words on the train), knowing that I’ve been disciplined enough to do it and that I’m a little closer to reaching my goals for that week. But that doesn’t stand much of a chance against a game designed to make every minute rewarding.

In fact, with enough data, you could probably come up with a formula for habit forming that takes into account the size and frequency of reward and the difficulty in completing the behaviour. We might call the “Habit Resisitance”. That in turn might even give us a rough picture of how long it might take to form such a habit.

Make it Stick

But for now, it’s good to know that if you aim for 66 days of writing every day, you stand a good chance of getting that behaviooiur to stick and become almost automatic. I certainly know from my own experience that lapses in my routine make it harder to get back into the “habit”, but if regular, writing becomes easier and easier. It’s not truly felt automatic yet, and perhaps this is the reason – too many breaks and not a long enough run. Something I will remedy.

Everyone else thinks your book looks like this.

Unfortunately I do not read as much as I used to. I know it’s important to read as a writer, and I do as much as I can. I enjoy it, after all, so it’s not like I avoid reading. But, as anyone who has leant me a book will know, it does take me ages to finish reading it. I was never a fast reader anyway. I tend to savour a book – I will take my time, and I will reread paragraphs that “don’t go in”.

So, I want to get the most out of every book I read, from a “learning to write” perspective. One of the ways I do that is to have a few leaves of rough paper (A5 size or thereabouts) tucked away in the back of the book. If I read a passage I particularly like (or dislike), I will make a quick note about it on one of those pieces of paper, along with the page number, and tuck it into the book (I note the page number in case the paper slips out later). Once the book is finished I may go back and read through those notes and the passages in question.

Something else I am about to start is a word diary. This will be a collection of words I had not come across before. It need only be a small notebook – easy to carry around alongside the book I’m reading. When I come across a new word (or if I am unsure of its meaning) I will jot it down, and either look it up straight away, or save it for when I have a dictionary or internet connection to hand.

Obviously as a writer it’s important to have as large an arsenal of words at your disposal as possible. This is especially true in modern English, mastery of which requires a conciseness and exactness – the more words you have to hand, the easier it is to pick the perfect one over four less-than-perfect words.

What about you? I’d like to know if you have any tips on how to get the most out of the reading you do. Do you study each book, or read rapidly to get the most books read in the shortest time? Let loose the comments!

The Perfect Recipe

What I noticed (and what was perhaps the great tragedy of the film) was that despite the heartache they went through, the three founders of Facebook had just the right mix of personalities for a successful business. The combination of genius, showmanship, and a level-headed business mind was perfect. Unfortunately the team failed to communicate and were prone to petty squabbling.

I wouldn’t suggest for a moment that Facebook would be more successful without these arguments – it’s hard to comprehend what “more successful” would even mean. But the big three could have saved themselves a lot of trauma if they had been able to recognise each others’ talents and what role they had to play. Instead, stupid emotions got in the way. At least, in the film.

The Perfect Writer?

I was thinking about this, and came to the conclusion that the perfect expression of this would be to have the best personality traits of these characters in one person. Imagine how successful that person could be!

Then I realised – that’s exactly what a successful writer needs to be! These days, more than ever before, the writer is expected to be a creative, have a business head, and a nose for good marketing. It’s no longer enough to be able to churn out words – a writer, especially in the early stages of their career is required to build a platform for themselves. So let’s take a look at those characters and just how they relate to writing.

The genius

Mark Zuckerberg, as played by Jesse Eisenberg

The genius is the dreamer – the one with the big ideas and the know-how to make them happen. In The Social Network, the genius is of course Mark Zuckerberg, who invented Facebook. But the genius doesn’t necessarily get on with people (especially in the film), preferring to lock themselves away and work on their project.

If left to their own devices a genius may move from project to project if they take too long – there are always newer, more exciting ideas. A big idea has to be worked through to completion in a fever, or must be changeable enough to hold the genius’ attention over the long term.

It’s easy to see how this pertains to writing. Ever got bored of writing a novel because you’d had a new idea that was fresh, and demanded your immediate attention? Many writers I know leave a trail of unfinished projects in their wake. Many are also shy, and prefer working on their own (which is just as well, in many ways, because a writer’s profession can be a lonely one).

The frontman

Napster didn't make a lot of money, but it made Sean Parker a lot of connections.

Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) was portrayed as bold, brash and arrogant. At first it seems like he has nothing to offer but hot air. But he’s the one that secures the company the angel investor they need to go big. He can sell, and he knows people.

A writer needs to know people. A writer needs to be able to shake people’s hands, get to know them a little, and help them out occasionally. They need to be able to talk about their book without being embarrassed about it, and they need to be able to sell it and themselves, whether this be to an agent or publisher, or to the public on their website (or the back of the book, even).

At the very least, as a writer, you need to be active on social networks and the internet in general, building up a fanbase (or at least people who know you exist, if you’ve got nothing to sell yet), and creating a place or places where people can reach you or find out about you.

Of course, on his own, the frontman is not much good. A lonely frontman has no product, and no one to promote after all.

The anchor

And finally, poor Eduardo Saverin.

The anchor is there to stop the madness. They formulate a plan and they make sure people stick to it. And they work hard. They are the reliable people. If I can screw with my metaphor to the point of confusion, they not only keep people’s feet on the ground, they also help steer the ship (metaphors in a blender, switch it on).

For a writer, this part of them is essential. It’s essential in getting things done; in making a career out of their hobby; in sticking with it when it seems most difficult. Your anchor helps you plan ahead, give yourself deadlines, put your nose to the grindstone and write every day, and stick to a project until it’s complete. It might sound like the boring role, but you need it!

To Each Their Own

People are very rarely everything they would like to be, or even everything they need to be. But at least we can be aware of it, and this should help us develop and take control of our lives and our writing.

I think I have moments when I am each of the people above, but I don’t know if I’m the right person at the right time or for long enough. I couldn’t even say that one particular part is stronger than the others, although I’m aware that my frontman persona is still a little too shy to be really useful, even though he’s come on leaps and bounds in the last two or three years.

So what personality fits you? Do you have bits of each? Is there one you have yet to master, or are you successfully harnessing the best of all three? Or maybe I’m talking rubbish! Rub your comments in my eyes, please!

But in my daily life, that writer’s mind, though present, stays somewhat dormant – in the background. I go about my day job, my life as a husband and father, and although the writer is there, he does not act. Not yet.

Could my superhero fantasies be coming true?

My Secret Identity

Is it a bird? Is it a... Oh, yes - it is a plane. Never mind. Image courtesy of Chris Gladis on Flickr

I guess this feeling comes form the nature of writing. It is a solitary practice, and takes place in your mind a lot of the time anyway – your fingers may be moving over the keyboard but it’s all going on internally. Not only is writing locked away in this respect, but often (ideally), it is compartmentalised into dedicated time-slots in your day.

This combination makes it seem like a hidden practice; a secret.

And it is a somewhat heroic secret, no? It’s the steady toil against unstoppable forces of writers block, insecurity, other commitments, sleep, and all that evil stuff. Achieving anything out of the ordinary – striving to make any part of yourself better, does seem to require a tireless commitment akin to a superhero’s training.

Superpowers and Saving Lives

Sure, we don’t have superpowers, but neither did Batman. Then again, he was fighting a never-ending battle against organised crime, and I’m trying to finish a book. Hmm…

But, I thought, surely I’m not the only one to compare the secret writing identity to superheroes? Sure enough, someone’s always had your idea before you.

M. McGriff talks about the superpowers that heroes have – the ability to see what others can’t, skin of steel… Now I know it’s only a bit of fun, but I wouldn’t like to compare these things (true though they may be) with superpowers. It implies innate talent, or a gift. Writers to me are normal people, but people who are trained in their craft. Like Batman. Does it sound like I want to be Batman?

Amy Sunderberg makes the case for the writer as a true hero. For her, it’s not just about the toil, dedication and training that a writer has to go through; it goes beyond beating impossible odds to get a book written and published, to something that can deeply affect other people’s lives.

Again, I am somewhat reluctant to agree with this. Not because I think writers can’t affect someone deeply and improve (even save) lives, but because I don’t think that applies to all writers. Perhaps more relevant to my position is that I don’t think my work could possibly have this affect on someone. Maybe one day I will have that magical idea that infuses my work with such depth, but for now at least, that people are entertained and think a little is more than enough for me.

Then again, maybe that is something worth striving for in those lonely writing hours. The amount of effort required, even to get something finished, should be worth having some real affect on people. Maybe, after all, I’m not a hero yet, but Im a hero in training (just as I’m a writer in training), and one day… one day…

Or maybe I’m just getting delusions of grandeur. I am rather tired – I’ve been writing since 5am in my underpants, wearing my bedsheet as a cape.

However, this one dream stuck with me. I think mainly because I felt like I could make it work. I’ve had dreams like this before. In fact, one of my first year writing assignments at university was based upon a dream I had that was so disturbingly coherent that I can still recall the exact details to this day. Getting back to the case at hand, part of me just couldn’t let this dream go, and I started to think about how I could de-dreamify it.

But this is me we’re talking about, and of course I wouldn’t even consider starting a new project without it being some behemoth thing that becomes massively out of control before I’ve even written a word of text. The other thing is, as I’m sure you’re aware, we writers are, at heart, lazy souls, and it just so happened that I had a couple of redundant bits and pieces lying around in the ideas box which could, if suitably manipulated, fit in quite well with this new idea that was forming in my mind.

Getting Ahead of Yourself

Is it time to put up another "under construction" sign? Image from Anita Hart on Flicker.

‘But wait!’ you may well cry, ‘What about all those other unfinished projects you’ve got lying around?  You need to finish what you’ve started!’  That’s what my ex told me anyway. Oh, but before we go too far down that road…

It’s true. I am acutely aware that I have a massive pile of other projects that are lying around unfinished. Some are even dormant, I haven’t looked at them in that long. Thinking about it now, I have *counts them* nine projects in various stages of completion. That is – let’s be honest – shameful. While yes, I have two that just need a quick redrafting run over, I have others that have stalled in the writing phase. There have been a lot of posts on this site over the years about procrastination, and could this possibly be the worst kind?  Starting yet another project in order to avoid writing one of the existing ones?

Any writing is good writing. Right?

Quite simple when you think about it. If I’m writing this, at least I am writing. But really people, how many projects is too much?  Or rather too many?  As much as I loathe to admit it, a lot of the projects I have could be classed as franchises. In fact only two of my current ‘active’ projects (though I use the term ‘active’ in its loosest sense of course) could be classed as stand alone. Everything else is subject to sequelitis. I always used to maintain that sequels for the sake of it were evil, but between developing the characters in each and having lots of random ideas that (lazy soul that I am) could be hammered into shape to fit with characters that already exist for me. The other problem I have is that more of my ideas are becoming ‘long term’.

Return of the Serialisation

Way back in the middle of last year I wrote a series of posts on serialised fiction, charting my adventures with a new type of writing for me. Sure I’ve had ideas that could work in TV, but what with a new publishing dynamic coming into effect (internet, e-books, etc.) there could well be a growing market for more episodic serialised prose. It took me eight weeks last year to write what amounted to a novel’s worth of episodes which was the subject of my posts last year. Which is the fastest I’ve ever written, well, anything. Granted, those episodes could use a polish, and a second series would be easy for me to write (considering the amount of material I had), so why don’t I get on with it?

Well the same reason I haven’t even written anything of this new project yet. Its just too big.

Size Matters

There I go quoting my ex again… But in terms of writing, for me it becomes increasingly daunting. A screenplay I feel is the easiest. You aim for about 90 pages of script, and as long as you can plough through the formatting, it doesn’t take that long. Then we have a novel. 70-90,000 words. That’s a lot more, and considering how much editing that takes, well, obviously more daunting. Serialised fiction on the other hand… I don’t even want to think about it. 10-15 episodes of, lets say 10,000 words each… yikes!  And that’s just one series!  And three of my projects are structured this way.

So, opinions. Is this new project a good idea?  Or should I not be so bloody stupid and try and get some of my existing projects polished to a shine?  Feel free to leave any comments below. Also, any thoughts about serialised fiction in general.

My first prize

The piece in question is what I would call my first piece of writing. I can’t remember how old I was exactly but it must have been during the first half of my primary school years.

It is a very simple story,made three pages long instead of two by the inclusion of some drawings. It was the story of a boy called Matthew (inventing characters not an early strength then) and his visit to the Inventing Factory, which would be a very cool thing if it ever existed. I may put it on this site for a laugh, but basically some giant flies get created and Matthew ends up flying a crop-spraying helicopter loaded with fly spray over them (quite a feat for someone who’s 8 or thereabouts!)

There’s no mention of the prize in this collection but I distinctly remember winning something for this – the winner and prize being announced in assembly. Probably some book tokens or something. A proud moment!

Here it is, all three pages of it, featuring illustrations of a cleaning robot, a giant fly, and a shrinking machine (that didn't work - stupid scientists!) Click to enormify.

My first use of research

The other entries here are from memory, which is not bad going for me (my memory s terrible). Another primary school story centred around the adventures of me and my friends when we were shrunk down to the size of ants. I guess I was heavily influenced by Honey I Shrunk The Kids.

A Few things stand out in my memory about this story. The first is that it took a long time. This was to be a recurring theme as I would write much more than my colleagues and would also spend time illustrating the stories myself. I remember they had moved on to other projects before I’d finished and my teacher, while she thought it was wonderful that I was putting so much effort in, would gently encourage me to get a move on.

The other point is that I used “research”. The speech marks are there because I didn’t go out and get the information in question – I remembered it from a previous class. But it was specific and I imagined it leant my story some authenticity nonetheless.

The sequence in question involved us travelling through a mushroom forest and getting caught up in web-like strands on the ground. The other adventurers exclaimed that they were caught in cobwebs, but my character piped up, “no, it’s mycelium!”

I was a bit of a know it all when I was little (I’ve regained a bit of that I’m afraid), and I soaked up facts like that. What I couldn’t quite understand was that the others in my class didn’t know what mycelium was – they had had the same lesson!

My first easy way out

This one got read out to nursery school kids I think. Or at least to the lowest primary school class. A few of us were selected to read our stories to them. Poor buggers! My tale was long, and it was certainly unreasonable to expect kids as young as that to sit through the whole thing. There was some sense of competition I think – whose story would win over the little ones? Who would be a celebrity among the tinies for a day?

I was disappointed that my take of a journey to find a dragon in order to avert some kind of apocalypse did not ignite their imaginations. But I had an ace up my sleeve; a cheating, ridiculous ace.

For some reason (laziness, boredom, fandom. Take your pick), I had decided to include Teenage Mutant Hero (this was before they were called Ninjas in the UK – “ninja” was seen as too violent) Turtles in the story to spice things up.

The little kids certainly woke up at the mention of Leonardo and chums. “Ha! Now I’ve got you,” I thought, but secretly this only deepened my disappointment that they didn’t like my story proper, and it took this lazy gimmick to pique their interest.

The first time I truly gave up

I think this was the last year of primary school. What a sad and tragic day. I had the beginnings of a story. A young boy (probably called Matthew, nudging by my track record, but hopefully I had grown out of this by now), found himself attacked in the middle of the night by some tiny goblin-like creatures.

I had this (really quite neat) idea that they were made entirely of soft tissue or that their bones disintegrated on death to explain away how no fossils of these ancient creatures had ever been discovered. They were to kidnap our hero and reveal a world hidden from everyday view.

But I simply couldn’t be bothered. I had a beginning, but no idea where it would go. I knew how this went. It would take forever to write; I would be nagged to finish and be behind the rest of the class, and although my teacher would appreciate it, none of my class mates would care in the slightest.

So I got lazy, and finished the story off in one sentence,’something like, “and then Supermonkey flew in through the window and saved him.” Yeah, that’s right, I made up a character called Supermonkey. What the hell?

The only illustration was the aforementioned simian smashing through the bedroom window. I think the story only lasted one A4 page. The shame.

Here's a bigger image of that housekeeping robot. This is a photocopy - think the original image had red eyes. My character of Me is stuck in the dustbin. Click to humungificate.

So that’s my trip down memory lane. It’s a shame I was allowed to get away with such shortcuts, but it’s nice to note how many opportunities I had to write from a young age and how much encouragement we had.

Most of all, it’s interesting to reflect on the early lessons that were learned then, and on the overwhelming feeling that even from that age some part of me had already decided I was a writer.

If everybody looked the same…

Original image from Alex France on Flickr. Click to see more.

Have you had that strange experience where some famous person has your name? It’s fun, right? Ha, I never knew a was a personal trainer to celebrities! Think of all the money I must be making, and I never had to lift a finger! Ha ha.

You haven’t had that? Oh well, you’re probably better off. After all, what happens when someone wants to find you? It can be hard enough making yourself visible as a creative, whether you’re a prose writer or freelance designer, or trumpet player. Now imagine you’ve got to make yourself seen in a crowd of people with the same name!

Ego Google, Ergo name change

Try this. Put your name in Google. I won’t tell you how many results show up under my name search – it’s a largely irrelevant number after all – but it’s a safe bet that I’m not on the first page, or the second. Or the third. Of course, I shouldn’t expect to be there yet. I’m not a famous author or blogger or a BBC MotoGP presenter. But I’d rather be able to use Google as a tool to get me there, rather than after the fact.

So if people decided they wanted to find out about me, and googled “Matthew Roberts”, or even “Matthew Roberts author”, it would be really great if there wasn’t so much noise. As it is, it’s very clear just how unimaginative my parents were (although, with a name like Roberts, it’s a bit hard to find something that isn’t taken. My new boy will have the same problem I fear. Maybe I’m unimaginative too!)

But there’s something I can do about that. I can write under any name I want, and it’s something I increasingly feel will be necessary. After all, why would I not want to make myself more visible?

A nomme de plume to pick

I have occasionally wondered what kind of cool name I could give myself. Something unique and memorable; maybe a combination of names from people I admire, to inspire me.

But it wasn’t until someone mistakenly called me Matt Gibbon online, that a (perhaps) more obvious choice emerged. Matty_gibbon is my Twitter handle you see, so it was an easy mistake to make. It’s been an online identity for me since secondary school when I had to pick a unique email address (with a name like mine, you get used to inventing unique names for such purposes).

As people already know me as matty_gibbon, would a pseudonym like Matt T. Gibbon not be a good idea? No, don’t snigger – I’m serious! I know it’s not a name one would ordinarily choose for oneself, but it does have the following advantages:

• People already kind of know me by that name.
• It’s unusual. Or at least more unusual than my real name.
• It’s memorable.

In short, it’s everything you want from a pseudonym, apart from the following:

• It sure ain’t cool.
• It gives no indication about what I might be writing about.

The last one might be a bit tricky anyway. Short of giving myself the name of Futureboy, it’s hard to pick a Sci-Fi sounding name. I guess this is largely irrelevant anyway. No matter what your name “sounds” like, people will associate it with whatever work you do once they know.

Maybe I’m getting ahead of myself anyway, but I reckon it’s best to be prepared, and thinking about these things now can be quite motivational as well.

So what do you reckon? Would you buy a book by someone named after a monkey? Is my reasoning sound? Have you ever used a pseudonym?

Comment away!

Now it should be said that I have hardly mastered regular writing in my life as it stands now. This makes the prospect of saving time for it during dadhood all the more daunting.

And I’m not daft (all the time), I do realise that plenty of writers have been parents, and without being established authors before this transition. So there must be a way! Is there also a will? By jingo, yes! And you know how that goes.

So working on this theory that I’m not the first unheard of writer to ever become a parent (and make it big – I’m looking ahead here), I thought I’d look around for tips. And ask for them. That helps too.

"No writing for you, Daddy!" Image courtesy of Nina Matthews on Flickr

What’s out there

A quick Google reveals surprisingly little. But maybe this is a subject for which a quick Google is not sufficient. There are probably dedicated forums for this sort of thing if one were to look hard enough, but the handful of blog entries gave an impression of what I would be facing.

The gist is this: it is hard, but it can be done.

Vicki had this to say on The Six-Footer:

People warned me, “You won’t even have time to shower!” [...] But babies sleep. And when he’s asleep, I write first, shower second.

I don’t believe in not having time to write.

Vicki Wilson, The Six-Footer

Right then.

On The Writer’s Coin, Carlos says he’s writing as much now as he did before the baby, and puts it down to “No more ****ing around” [sic] My word!

Carlos says the short windows of time force you to really knuckle down and get something done, rather than procrastinating as writers are wont to do (really, the nerve! Who’d ever suggest such a thing!). Read his post for ideas on how babyless people (I count myself among you for only three more weeks), can replicate this.

More tips come from Kathy, at Time Management (it’s really much easier if people have a domain that’s similar to what they’ve named their blog, then I don’t have to choose!). One that might be useful for some is to hire home help to make sure you have a guaranteed window of time. I haven’t included it in my list below because it’s not practical for everyone. And it’s cheating.

Asking for it

As seems to be the trend with babies, a lot can be gained by asking about it. Maybe people love talking about their baby experiences; maybe they remember how worried they were. Either way, asking seems to be a better way than simply searching the interwebs.

Here’s something my mate Dave had to say (you remember Dave):

Juggling twenty four hours between work, baby, time with mum, own time and sleep. It’s not easy. However, you may find that the only way to squeeze some writing in is to learn to write at odd times.

David Simpson

Indeed! And that is what I’m worried about really. Life is demanding enough! Let’s hope for that focus people are talking about then.

Dave’s example of an “odd time” was in-between baby feeds at night, should you not be able to go back to sleep again.

So once you have settled her down, you have a window of two to four hours that is your time. You can either try and go back to sleep, catch up on the latest soap or whatever you have on the Sky+ box, or use this as an opportunity to write.

David Simpson

It’s not a bad idea. I’ve always thought of sleep as a waste of time anyway. Let’s see if I still feel the same when utterly deprived of it!

Reddit, I find, is also a good source of information. Even if you can’t find anything on there, you can always just ask the question. I’ve found Reddit to be a friendly community that is always willing to offer help. So I asked, and these are some of the responses I got.

Stephen King had a few kids before Carrie (his first book) got picked up. He was living in a trailer with his wife and at least two kids (maybe three) trying to get a job as a high school teacher.

ilovesandwiches on Reddit

The first couple of months when you bring the baby home, it will awake all the time in the night, so your sleeping will be thrown off, possibly making writing more difficult, but possibly doable if you need something to occupy your mind at night.

crazydave333 on Reddit

write on the baby. dry erase is best.

ryancows on Reddit

Well, there’s always one. More quotes down below, plus you can check out the full thread here (but watch out – not everyone is careful with their language).

The List

Lists are becoming something of a habit here at Getmewriting. Do you like lists? I sure hope so, because here comes another one!

So, this is a list of ways of coping and ways of preparing that will help keep you/me writing. It is the best kind of list! One that carries much information, in an easy-to-digest fashion! This is what I have gleaned from my internet scouring and questioning. I hope you find it useful.

• Manage expectations
  

  My wife knows about my terrible addiction to literature, and she’ll think nothing of letting me write or type for hours on end, uninterrupted.

  ilovesandwiches on Reddit

  One to do before the baby arrives. Your partner may be under the impression that everything else will stop once the baby comes. They may be right! But you don’t want to make things worse by springing two or three hours of writing on them in the middle of baby feeding/puking/wailing/nappy changing. Make sure he/she knows that you want to continue writing as much as possible. Discuss how you might acheive this together.

• Write when you can
  

  These days I write in 10-15 minute increments or whenever the Princess of Poop allows me to take leave, which isn’t often.

  Carlos (he has no last name. He is mysterious!), The Writer’s Coin

  I wrote when he napped, forcing myself to write as much as possible during those interludes. As he got older, I taught him that when I was writing, he could play quietly so I could focus on my work. I’d write in 15-minute bursts and then play with him or tend to his needs (milk, food, bath, diaper, etc.) By the time he was 2, if I didn’t write, he’d remind me to.

  GCSchmidt on Reddit

  It may be less structured than you’re used to, but when time is scarce, you just have to write when you can. This may be for only ten minutes at a time, and it may be in the middle of the night. Just try not to wake your partner with loud keyboard tapping!

• Make sure you know what’s next
  

  I planned at the weekly and daily level what I needed to do. By having a plan and breaking large tasks into smaller tasks I was able to tick things off…even when the baby napped for 15 minutes.

  Kathy (also last-nameless. An enigma!), Time Management

  And as you may only have 15 minutes at a time, you had better know what you’re going to be writing about next. Make sure that you are always prepared for those scant minutes writing. You could easily waste that time thinking about where you got up to or what’s next.

  There are several ways to do this:

  • Be mindful at all times about your writing. Make it part of your daily thought process, if it is not already. Make sure that idle brain-time is thinking about what comes next in your story, and remembering where you got up to.
  • Plan. Write out a plan of the project you’re working on. Make sure it is always on you so that you can make adjustments as you think of them.
  • Have a “whats next” note. This can go on your plan, or simply at the end of your last pice of writing. Just one sentence as a prompt about what is coming next in the story (or whatever), so you can leap straight in.

  These are not mutually exclusive, so you should probably do them all to give yourself a fighting chance!

• Be flexible
  This is implied by some of the other points in the list, but it is worth emphasizing. A set routine is out of the window. You might plan some things, but don’t expect to be able to stick to them. Even if some quiet time for your writing has been organised between yourself and your partner, they might suddenly need help in the middle of that. 

  The baby, it goes without saying, comes first, and you need to fit your writing around your new addition, not the other way around. So, be prepared, but also play it by ear. You may have loved your writing longer, but you’ll love your newborn more!

So there you have it. I wish you luck! Go forth, and multiply, and write a bit! And congratulations!

Useful links

• Having a baby – worried about writing
• mommit on Reddit
• daddit on Reddit
• Time management tips for writing a book when looking after a baby, by Kathy
• Writing with a Baby in the House, by Vicki Wilson
• Writing With a Baby: It Can Be Done, by Carlos