Writing For Money, Writing For Fun

As a teacher, I usually take my summers off and do other stuff. They send me paychecks anyway. They take money out of my check when I'm working and send it to me in the summer so I don't starve or get evicted or have my lights shut off or anything. The other stuff is usually stuff that I would really rather be doing than teaching history to teenagers. Sometimes it's training for a marathon. Sometimes it's a music project. Sometimes it's just laying around reading and doing crossword puzzles and annoying my wife who has to work year round and resents layabouts.

Last summer I decided to write a mystery novel. Not having to work all day, I slept late, wrote a bit on the novel every day, and in the late afternoons I would switch gears and write this blog. Not having to work all day, I also managed to find time for running and biking along the lakefront, and the usual tedium like housework, laundry, and grocery shopping. It was a good life. I got about 40,000 words into said mystery novel and Views From the 14th Floor was blossoming.

Then came September and school teacher that I am, I had to go back to work, shaping little minds and lives. What happened then was that, well, I had to work most of the day. I got home and there was pressure to work out at the gym or run along the lake, or the alternative-"Get fat!" Then I had to work on the novel and blog as well. Weekends brought house cleaning, grocery shopping, and errands galore. It got busy.

What actually happened was that I went to work, came home, worked out, and generally found that I only had time for one writing project. As it turns out I'm quite attached to my blog. I usually blog. The novel has been suffering. It advances slowly in fits and starts, on rare weekday afternoons, and occasional weekends. I'm still not past 50,000 words and it is now November. Something has to give.

I honestly considered giving up "Views From the 14th Floor" altogether, or at least until the novel is finished. I may yet have to do that. In the meantime I have come to the decision that I must cut back on blogging and give specific days to the novel. I am changing my modus operandi to a 3 day a week blog. Beginning next week Views will be written on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. I will be working on the novel on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. Sundays are a day of rest.

It wounds me greatly to have to cut back on this forum, but let's face it, I do not get paid a penny for doing it. I do it because I like it. The novel is fun too, but in a different way and it takes a great deal more thought and work. It has the possibility of a monetary payoff, and another reward in the form of "Wow I didn't know you could do that," from friends, family, and self. The novel must have its day. If it works out, I have an idea for a second already to begin.

After I reached age 50 I learned to play guitar, write the musical accompaniment to songs, and run a marathon. Now I'm involved in another marathon. Writing a full length book is a marathon. It is not something to be undertaken lightly. You have to pace yourself and keep plugging away, just as you do when you run 26.2 miles. Short stories are a piece of cake. They come in a burst. Novels come a little bit at a time over a long period of time. My research tells me that publishers want 100,ooo words for a mystery novel. I'm almost halfway there, and the tale keeps unwinding. Twists and turns develop. They have to be resolved. The mystery has to be solved. The characters' lives keep developing. I have to spend some time with it, thinking it through, letting it all happen.

The bottom line is that this novel needs to be finished in first draft form by the time next summer arrives. One year should be sufficient. That necessitates that I take my life in control, and that means more novel, less blog. I appreciate the regular readers and I will continue to be here. I just won't be here every day, as I have for quite some time. Heidy ho boys and girls. Life moves on.

RDR