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The writer's routine

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I negotiated with my employer at the start of 2010 to have Monday’s off, so I really make the most of this day – it’s my dedicated day of writing.

That’s a day’s less pay so I’ve got to show something for it each week, and I don’t piss around. Don’t phone me mid-morning for a chat, you won’t get one.

I start writing anywhere from 6am, depends on the season. In summer, it’s early. Winter mornings, well…it’s a bit harder. I amp up the heater, make a big mug of coffee and get stuck in. I’ll break for an hour’s lunch and do rewrites in the afternoon, or research, or some related writing activity. If a deadline’s looming, I’ll come home from work and spend the evenings getting the job done. Weekend mornings can also be good for writing.

I have my writer’s studio – a peaceful room at the back of the house with a big skylight, the walls are plastered with art, photos, posters from shows I’ve done; framed family photos, old maps, drawings and favourite quotes, all to inspire and remind me of my journey thus far and what I’ve achieved. To balance out this visual cacophony, there are 11 acres of tranquil bush right out my window – a writer’s paradise.

I’m disciplined in my craft and believe in setting goals. I usually have a larger project on the go along with several short story ideas or articles for magazines; these shorter works give me an immediate writer’s fix. The more in-depth projects often involve ongoing research over some quite lengthy periods.

Here’s an example. I’ve been researching for about 12 years now on my late uncle, Frank Erceg, a deer culler in the South Island of New Zealand around the 1950 and 1960s. He died in 1965. A lot of his mates are now gone also, and the ones still around are getting on in years. I’m tracking down as many as I can and recording their stories.

I interview most of these subjects by phone using the Audacity software program. I transcribe either by voice recognition software or pay a professional typist, who sends the transcript back as a word document.

That has been my biggest project as a writer so far. Besides the writing side of it, there are all sorts of archival issues for keeping original documents and photos stored and scanned, as well as keeping a digital record.

When I’m writing drafts I do revision on the past week’s work by tidying up the basics: spelling, syntax, consistency of point of view – stuff like that – so when I do start editing, the manuscript’s not too messy and overwhelming. For me, the story takes on its own voice, a tone of its own, and it becomes its own little beastie, so I don’t meddle with it too much early on.

The only time I find all this method goes to shit and writing is like walking through mud with gumboots on is when I’ve start something prematurely – when I haven’t germinated the idea enough by either mapping out a plot line, my research is lacking, character development is unfinished, that first succulent sentence that sets me going just isn’t happening; something’s missing; maybe I’m too eager to get moving…and I can feel it’s not damn right.

It’s hard to put into words, but when I am ready it all clicks into place. There’s a stillness that surrounds me; the seed has taken hold and the writing flows.

Louise Maich is a writer living in west Auckland, New Zealand

Comments

On Tuesday, June Jun 2011 Napoleon said...

“My girlfriend told me once that Jonathan Franzen writes in one of those shipping containers, which he's painted pristine white and which has absolutely no clutter, save his laptop, desk and chair. That's a little too monastic for me; all I need is a good outlook like Louise mentions. Then I'm away. I think there's a book in that - great writers and their idiosyncratic routines. The weirder the better.”

On Wednesday, June Jun 2011 Tina said...

“For three years I tried to become a writer. Discipline didn't work. Writing on a shiny new Apple didn't work. Taking time off from work didn't work. In fact, nothing worked. I've been too scared to try again.”

On Wednesday, June Jun 2011 Sim said...

“That is too sad.”

On Wednesday, June Jun 2011 Louise said...

“Type Your comments here...Napoleon, what a fabulous idea for a book, writers and their routines and environments - just imagine the accompanying photographs featuring: empty wine bottles on window sills, chairs piled with lovingly homemade crocheted and patch-worked cushions. Beer-crate bookshelves, cats on computers, cats on bookshelves, cats on laps...there's always a cat somewhere when it comes to writers! Even tough as nails old Bukowsky loved his cats and wrote smoochy-woochy poems about them. Put him on the cover I say! And yes the weirder the better.”

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