5 Lessons Learned From My Sabbatical as a Full-Time Writer

—Gigi Pandian

For the past three months, I've been a full-time writer. I'm using a sabbatical from my day job to complete my latest mystery novel. I have just over 10 days left of the 100-day sabbatical. Here are some of the surprising things I've learned so far:

1. Time does not equal productivity. 
I don't believe in waiting for creative inspiration to strike before I begin writing, but that doesn't mean I can be creative for 8 hours straight. I would often find that 3 hours of focused writing would amount to a better output than a full 8-hour day.

2. Having freedom is both good and bad.
It's nice to be able to meet a friend to socialize whenever you feel like it, spend a leisurely afternoon reading a great book, or cook a new recipe from the Post Punk Kitchen for lunch—but there are still only 24 hours in the day. Writing "full time" can easily create a false sense of endless time. If I want to get things done, I have to set my alarm to get up each morning and create writing goals for the day.

3. It's lonely out there!
I'm fortunate to have so many full-time writer friends who I can meet up with to both socialize and write. If I didn't have that support network, I'm pretty sure I would have gone crazy by now. In my day job, I share an office with one of my closest friends, and we're always bouncing ideas off each other. Without that structure, it's easy to become a hermit without realizing it's happening.

4. Shifting your writing process is possible.
I thought I had it all figured out. I was completely convinced I was a "cafe writer," someone who had to get out of the house to be disciplined enough to write. It turns out I can write at home—as long as I set goals and turn off the internet.

5. "Living the Dream" in reality isn't the same as the fantasy. 
I've realized I have no desire to write all the time. I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to try out being a full-time writer on a temporary basis. It has taught me some surprising lessons about what I want out of life. I'm still in my post-cancer "seize the day" mode, so I had wondered if I would find myself wishing my sabbatical could continue—but on the contrary, I can't wait to get back to my normal life. I've learned that the life I've set up for myself is the one I want: surrounding myself with amazing friends and family plus keeping a fulfilling day job that gives me a few mornings a week to write mysteries.

Today also marks 20 days until Pirate Vishnu (Jaya Jones Treasure Hunt Mystery #2) is released!

A century-old treasure map of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. Sacred riches from India.
Two murders, one hundred years apart. And a love triangle… Historian Jaya Jones has her work cut out for her.

Here's one of the fun promotions that's going on leading up to the book launch:

Two chances to win one of two signed copies of Pirate Vishnu along with an India wall-hanging that has a pocket to hold letters or magazines:

Chance #1: Sign up for my email newsletter by February 10. All subscribers are automatically entered.

Chance #2: Like my Facebook page by February 10. All new Likes are entered, and all existing fans who comment between January 1 and February 10 are also entered.

And if you're in the San Francisco Bay Area, you can also join me at the book launch party!

Pirate Vishnu Book Launch Party with Gigi Pandian

Sunday, February 9

6 p.m.

A Great Good Place for Books

6120 LaSalle Ave., Oakland CA

(in Oakland's Montclair Village)

Mapping Emotions on the Body

I love THIS ARTICLE that appeared a few weeks ago. I have a hard time placing emotions in the body when I write and I found it fascinating that across cultures, we feel our feelings the same way. I've been referring to this graphic a lot while writing recently. Good thing to have at a writer's fingertips.
 - Rachael

Heart of Stone is out!

The next installment in the Family Stone series, HEART OF STONE, is out!!

Riley Stone is the handsome brother, the charming one. Everyone who meets him compares him to his father, which in his mind is not a compliment. But he's never met a woman he couldn't charm, until he meets Di, an acerbic, smart-mouthed, passionate activist who has no time for him or his charm. On the run, in the midst of danger, the blistering passion they share explodes. Can these two opposites find common ground, or will Di smash Riley's stone heart?

Couple of notes about this book....

So this story is near and dear to my heart because Riley suffers from dyslexia. I have loved to read since I was a wee one. Dyslexia runs in my family. My sister has it and my oldest son has it. I can't imagine having to slog through switched and backwards letters (a simplification really) to get to a story. And plenty of dyslexic people never get to appreciate the power of story because it's just too difficult. In my family, everyone reads so we just kept looking for books that would appeal to my son until he found a story so compelling that he wouldn't give up just because it was hard. (For him, it was Harry Potter). If you know someone who has dyslexia, keep giving them books to try. Unfortunately for Riley, by the time someone who cared came into his life, it was too late. But that doesn't mean he can't make a difference. 

Second, I wrote this story months before Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines. I debated adding in the disaster to the story but ultimately I chose to take literary liberty by pretending it didn't happen. However it did happen and millions of people were affected.

So here is my pledge: Originally I planned to price this story at $1.99 instead I am pricing it at $2.99 and I will donate $1.00 for every copy sold through March 31, 2014 to Save the Children.

http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.8856103/

Hope you enjoy Heart of Stone!!

<3 lisa="" p="">

The First Five Minutes

--Adrienne Bell

I’ve come to realize that the first five minutes of doing anything sucks. Doesn’t matter what it is. If it’s something that I like, if it’s something that I dread, doesn’t matter. The first five minutes are always the worst.

There’s a simple reason for it. Breaking inertia is hard. Super hard. A body at rest wants to stay at rest. It’s true for rocks and train wheels and bodies lounging on couches. Where you are is generally where you want to stay. It takes a little force to get you moving.

And the first five minutes of that force is a real pain in the ass.  I love running, but I hate the first five minutes of it. I have to huff and puff and talk myself into it. For five minutes, I battle all my doubts and laziness. I fight to replace all my noes and don’ts  with yeses. And nine times out of ten, I win.

And that last one time? Well, I am human, after all. And even then, I’m five minutes from home and there’s only one way to get back.

But the beautiful thing about inertia is that is goes both ways. Things that rest want to rest. Things that go want to go. After those first five minutes are done, you’re doing it. Movement is on your side. It’s harder to stop than it is to continue. Some people call it flow. Some call it Alpha Waves. I guess I just watched too much Newton’s Apple as a kid, because I think of it as inertia.

But the meaning’s the same. Runners run. Writers write. Things like to go. And, as long as you can get past the first five minutes, so can you.

2014 is the Year of....

by Lisa Hughey

Everyone has their own method for ringing in the new year. Some people make goals (that used to be me, but I evolved). Some make resolutions (and then break them almost instantly). Some people eschew the very idea of goaling or resolving. My latest trend is to find a word or motto that will define the year.

One of my First Attempts at Collaging

My writer friends and I usually spend a day collaging and cut out pictures and words that represent what we want to accomplish for the year. It's a pretty fascinating process. Sometimes the motto or idea is front and center when looking for pictures that represent what I want to achieve, or what I want to strive for during the year.

Other times, I just cut out any picture or object that appeals to me, whether it be colors, symbols, or particular activities. And then once I start pasting on my paper, a large 14" x 14" square of colored paper, sometimes two squares, the theme for the year emerges. Unbeknownst to my conscious mind, the message of what I want out of the year becomes clear by the time I am finished.

Collage 2010

It isn't always made up of just pictures. Usually there are other objects that end up on the collage as well, ribbon, keys, buttons, plants, yarn. Along with the pictures, the objects, spell out exactly what I want for the year.

The specifics of my wishes for the year can range from large to small. They can be milestones like finish a book, finish a series, travel to an exotic place that I've always wanted to visit, make conscious decisions about money. Have more patience, more sex, more joy. It can be about less: eat less, stress less, worry less. Or more: exercise more, meditate more, hike, smile, laugh, love, create more. Appreciate: my husband, my kids, my health, nature.

Last Year's Collage

At the end of the session, I have a physical, artistic visual of what I want for the year. Then I hang it up in my office, usually over the printer, so that it is in my field of vision on a regular basis to remind me what I want.

We haven't had our collage morning yet, and I've been struggling with my word or motto for 2014. But I'm sure that even if I don't have it nailed down before I start, that I will by the end.

If you aren't a resolution/intention/goal person, try collaging. It works. :) 

2014 is the year of.... whatever you want.

New Year, New Book, New Everything

by Ruby

What a blessed time of year this is!

Before moving to northern California, my new year's observance was heavy on tradition. In Arkansas my extended family were big on cooking and eating together, so there was a big meal to usher in the new year, featuring one delicious rich treat after another. Afterward, we would just lie around contentedly patting our stomachs, so the early hours of the brand new year were spent in "quiet contemplation" or out-and-out napping.


Northern California has a much different vibe, as you can imagine! Where I live, cyclists and joggers and walkers don't skip a single day of the year. (Seeing some of them running past wearing santa hats was a treat!) Healthful food is available year 'round - and I'm learning some new ways to incorporate it into my life. I received a VitaMix for Christmas and our own Gigi gave me a lesson on how to make some basic dishes. I'll be looking forward to expanding my repertoire. And hiking is a much bigger part of my life than it ever was before. Yesterday - a beautiful, sunny winter afternoon - I walked a redwood forest where only patches of sunlight came through the tall trees until my friend and I crested the top of the peak and had all of the valley below us. On new year's day, I plan to hike up far enough to have a view of San Francisco across the bay. And crab! I've become besotted with the local delicacy, which you can get all winter long from any grocery store at a very inexpensive price.

Needless to say, I'm enjoying all that the bay area has to offer. I've been busy writing, too - the second half of last year saw the launch of my new Boomtown Boys series with BLACK GOLD, but also participation in two wonderful holiday anthologies. Writing stories for A CUPID ISLAND CHRISTMAS and LOVE ON MAIN STREET was such a treat, but the best part was getting to know my fellow authors better. To all of you, my dearest friends - you all are my inspiration!

And to mark the passing of 2013 and the arrival of 2014, I'm delighted to announce the publication of the second book in my Boomtown Boys series: BLACK HEAT, which is currently available on Amazon and will soon be available on iBooks, Kobo, and Barnes&Noble.

Wishing all of you a fantastic and safe new year!


images courtesy of SF Fun and Coffee 'n' Coconuts

Lisa has a new series!

The Family Stone Romantic Suspense novellas are here! Okay, well, two of the four are here. Others will be arriving soon....

Stone Cold Heart is available for $ 0.99 and Carved in Stone is $1.99. Only from Amazon, but coming soon to Kobo, BN and All Romance eBooks. Hope you all enjoy!!

Stone Cold Heart:

Jess Stone, former FBI sniper, always felt like the kid who looks in the candy store window but could never afford to go in. But on a humanitarian mission to aid an earthquake ravaged country, finally she finds a place where she fits, in Colin Davies' arms, and working for Global Humanitarian Relief, her big brother's company. But can the former SAS thaw Jess's stone cold heart?

Available on Amazon!

Carved in Stone:

Connor Stone has always been odd man out in his family. Not the oldest, not the most charming, he'd had a lock on the youngest until another half-sibling came to live with them, so he raised hell in his youth. Con knows now the only way to redeem himself is with deeds, not words and sets out to prove once and for all he is worthy of the Stone family. When his older brother asks him to take care of business, Con finally will have redemption he craves. Except when Ava Sanchez, his brother's assistant, is threatened, he must choose between saving the girl or protecting his family. Will his choice bring him love or break his heart?

Available on Amazon!

Post-holiday, post-finishing blues

Christmas was lovely, truly lovely. My husband and I kept it super simple--he got the new Zatoichi collection, I got the Community DVDs. Why Community? Because the story arcs, character arcs, and rat-a-tat dialog are things of beauty, things that will make me a better writer.

Then we took the M Line in San Francisco, which runs right in front of our redwood-box of a house, down to the Embarcadero. We walked the length of it in the sunshine, smiling at all the tourists and enjoying the mellow feel of early Christmas day.

We had to stop at the Musee Mechanique, of course, and visit the seals at Pier 39, and debate whether to get curbside crab or not (not, this year).

Mysti playing Rosie at the USS Pampanito, a submarine of WWII vintage

The finale of our simple day was a ride on the cable car back to Powell Street, where we picked up the M Line to head back home. No matter how many times I ride it, I always see a new vision of the City from the cable car. And we always meet interesting people from all over the world as we wait in line. This year the sun beat down as if we were in Los Angeles. I miss the fog, but it made for a lovely day.

We keep it low key and drama free, plus, we can't bear to leave the city during the holidays--she empties out and cheers up and is generally a fabulous place to be, whether you live here or are only visiting. I've been in love with San Francisco since I was sixteen. Some crushes you just never get over.

Christmas is well and truly done.  With a twinge of regret, I have dived back into the business and art of writing today. My first batch of dream agents passed on my first crime novel By The Numbers, so it's back to identifying other brilliant agents who might be interested in a fraud investigator with a troubled past and a very dark future.  I know such people exist, I just have to find them. 

If I can't find them, then it's likely that something about my story is putting them off. I'll have to decide whether to keep writing #2, fix #1 (again!), or choose any of the many other options available to people who want to share their writing in this lovely age of instant gratification. 

Some friends had an easy time finding their first agent, but no writing friend has ever had a trouble-free journey to publication. So it's back to work, mateys. I can do it. And some days, I even like it!

I have a new book out TODAY!  4th in the Haunted Home Renovation series...I hope you'll check it out, leave a review, tell your friends...and enjoy! 

--Juliet Blackwell

No good deed goes unpunished.

San Francisco contractor Mel Turner is leading a volunteer home renovation project, and while she expects lots of questions from her inexperienced crew, she can’t help asking a few of her own—especially about the haunted house next door…the place local kids call the Murder House.

But when volunteers discover a body while cleaning out a shed, questions pile up faster than discarded lumber. Mel notices signs of ghostly activity next door and she wonders: Are the Murder House ghosts reaching out to her for help, or has the house claimed another victim?

Now, surprised to find herself as the SFPD’s unofficial “ghost consultant,” Mel must investigate murders both past and present before a spooky killer finishes another job.

Buy at Amazon or Barnes and Noble or at an Indie near you!

Good enough, done, and the magic of fiction

At work in the software factory, I never worry about whether my technical documentation is "good enough" or "done." It's done when the deadline arrives, and everything I can possibly do to make life better for our customers is poured into that bucket of a fixed size.

A group of programmers hard at work

Our help site serves hundreds of thousands of pages a month, and we know which content is good from ratings, comments, and other statistics. We fix what might not be working for our customers. Of course we try to get it right the first time, but we all know that perfection by deadline is impossible. So we do quality control, and we update, and there's really no such thing as writer's block or missing deadlines at work.

As Gigi mentioned, with fiction, the buckets of time given to any one work in progress are not fixed. I don't know any fiction writer* who sits down at the blank word processing file and says, "Okay, I've got 40 hours to outline, 160 hours to get the rough draft, 20 hours to up the stakes, 10 hours to fill in emotional color, 24 hours for sensory detail, and 1,000 hours to make it brilliant."

Because fiction doesn't work that way. It comes from both sides of a writer's brain. You can spend four, six, or eight hours a day writing, but one 45 minute session might net you three pages of your most brilliant work, while eight hours on a bad day might net you negative 600 words! And you can't just wait for the good days, you have to writer through the bad ones.

Hm, writers don't look so different from programmers on the outside!

Fiction is annoyingly non-modular. The basic building blocks of character, action, setting, theme, and premise are all wickedly intertwined and reinforcing. Character is action, or action is character, setting can become a character, and conflict can be revealed through dialog. White space, what you don't say, can illuminate what you are saying.

In software documentation, white space exists only to give our customers' eyes a rest, or a way to find the headlines. There's very little subtext in documentation.

As I struggle to really stop writing crime novel #1, and start #2 with full focus and concentration, I realize that some of my hesitation is simply that it doesn't ever feel done until a deadline is imposed. Or until you realize, as a wise friend once said, that you are simply rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

I'm ready for a new ship. Goodbye, crime novel #1, it's been fun! But the horizon is calling me, and I'm really tired of those damn deck chairs.

_________________________________
* I do know one writer who may do this, but it's a hangover from her technical writing days, if she does.