Our Masterpieces...Err, Our Novels

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

A Writer's Guide to A Day Off

Writing Song of the Day: "The Lazy Song" by Bruno Mars

Yesterday was MLK day and not only is it a day to celebrate the legacy of a wonderful man, but it was also time that we got to stay home from the day jobs. Which made us think: How SHOULD a writer spend an entire day off from their day job?

Notice the word "SHOULD". We actually spent our day at the dentist, working on stuff for part time jobs, and driving around Virginia Beach/Norfolk, VA. If we had our way though, these are the top five things (in no particular order) that we would've done with our day off:

1.) Sleep: You can never get enough of this. And sometimes, writers get a lot of ideas from their dreams. *coughs* Wants *coughs*

2.) Play on Scrivener/Outline New WIP Ideas: Scrivener is full of amazing. And we're getting a lot of outlining done on new WIPs with this program. All we need is the time to actually use it more.

3.) Revise previous manuscripts: The work doesn't cease after getting an agent. We both have revisions to work on with In Limbo & Project J.


4.) Read: We're pretty sure this doesn't need an explanation.


5.) Watch TV/Listen to Music for Inspiration: Believe it or not, we get a lot of ideas from watching TV shows and movies. Also music helps us get into our characters' heads and allows their voices to come out on the page. It may seem like we're wasting time--but no matter what we're doing, we're always thinking like writers.



What do you think? Is there something else a writer should do when they have time off from the day job??


Psst...hey, you...yes, you. Make sure you stop by our blog Thursday January 19th. Susan Dennard is guest posting and you can enter for another chance to read her ARC of Something Strange and Deadly. Check out Holly's post from yesterday for more details!

4 comments:

Christa Desir said...

You all are so fun. So yesterday (on the day off), I did freelance work (fail) but I also contacted the library about volunteering for book club in the juvenile detention center (win).

Nicole Zoltack said...

Yesterday I wrote a little over 4K. I'll have plenty of days off once baby #3 comes in mid-February.

Stephsco said...

I did what I needed to do, which was write :)

I also spent some of my Christmas money, so that was fun.

KatOwens: Insect Collector said...

I wish I'd done all of these things. I read a little, wrote a little, and worked a little. I couldn't ask for more. :)