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When you don’t have the discipline to schedule writing time and stick to it, you have to find an Eli. And no, I can’t be your Eli. AJ keeps me plenty busy. An Eli is someone who will pester you. Relentlessly.

When AJ wrote her first novel, she sent me each chapter as she wrote it. I would eagerly await these e-mails and when a new chapter didn’t arrive in time to satisfy my impatience, AJ would get pestering e-mails.

“Hey, I need a new chapter!”

“Where is my next chapter? I NEED to know what happens.”

“If you don’t write the next chapter, I’m going to make you just tell me how the story ends and I know you don’t want to do that.”

“Put down the remote. I don’t care how hungry you are. Haven’t had any time with your husband in days? Don’t care. I need a chapter. Don’t make me e-mail you every 5 minutes…”

This is how I finally found out how the story ended and AJ completed her first novel. Find a friend who enjoys the genre you’re writing and ask for their help. It’s a fairly small time commitment when reading one chapter at a time. Plus, they get to read it before anyone else. But it only works if they want to hear the story, so choose your Eli wisely.

It’s always good to use a Beatles title. That aside, it’s totally true. Writing is NOT a lucrative job. One writer said this: “after I had my second NYTimes Bestseller, I thought maybe I could make a job out of this.”
The first piece of advice I always heard was: don’t quit your day job.
While it’s true, unless you have a trust fund, you won’t make your living writing from the start, you do need time.
That is what I find to be the essential conundrum of the writer. When can you do it?

-AJ-

Just 2 days ago I finished my big edit of my third book (GOD’S EYE). I call it the ‘big edit’ because I don’t know what else to call it. It’s the one I do, on my own, before I ship it off to the publisher. They may (will?) send some changes back, but at this point, likely not anything big. So this wasn’t the first edit, or the last, but it was the big one! I’m off to crack open the champagne, then figure out to crack open the local Fire Department. I need a ride-along!

-AJ-

I think I’m like a lot of you in that I’m really picky about my keyboard. I have a close friend who wants his keys to click each time, but I like mine really squishy.
Another keyboard issue I have is this: I never learned to touch type. I know, how can I be a real writer if I can’t really type? Well, when I get going, I can touch type, but not consciously.
Then add in that I did a huge project for work a few years back and I typed so much that my left arm went numb. Really.
I decided it was time for a change. And here is the change I made: I switched to a Dvorak Keyboard.
Qwerty history (Qwerty is the standard keyboard configuration) – it was designed to slow people down. Yes, it was. On the old typewriters, if you typed too fast you would jam the swing arms that came up and printed the letters. So there was a maximum speed. Word processors changed all that, but the keyboard stayed because everyone was used to it.
Dvorak designed a different key layout that was made for speed and for reduction of wrist strain.
I’m never going to break any land-speed records on this thing, but I did teach myself to touch type when I started with my Dvorak keyboard. I also tilt the board away to mimic the natural set of the human wrist.
Though none of this is necessary, some kind of consession to comfort has to be made for anyone spending high quantities of time typing.
Dvorak has big advantages, but also drawbacks. Though my arms and wrists no longer hurt, my typos are unique. Because the vowels and common consonants are all clustered together, typos often create real words. ‘Whole’ becomes ‘whale’ or even ‘whore’ – and spell checker doesn’t catch it!!

Here’s my keyboard – crazy letter configuration and squishy keys and all!

 - AJ -

In a previous post, I mentioned how I get my ideas. One way is through transforming actual events. For example, one day I came home with the groceries and as I entered my house I heard really creepy music playing. All I could think was how stupid I would feel when a serial killer hacked me to death. How many times have you wanted to yell at a movie screen, “Get out! Don’t you hear the music?!?” Well, I heard the music! It turned out that someone had left the audio on from a DVD menu . . . from that experience came the short story “Dumb Blonde”. What if a serial killer really had been in my house?

I often take a break from the book I am writing to write something else. What I have learned, though, is that the break can only be for a few days, for something like a short story. Otherwise the novel can wind up getting put off. “Dumb Blonde” was a quick side jaunt during the writing of “God’s Eye”.
(You can get “Dumb Blonde” on Kindle for just 99c)

4/16/08 – The main character of the book is a firefighter, hopefully in Dallas. I’ve found out that the Dallas FD has an USAR (Urban Search and Rescue) division. This sounds like just the thing for my firefighter, though I know only a little about it. (More on the Dallas USAR team – http://firechief.com/tactics/firefighting_upgraded_usar/) I read up and make a series of calls to get the name of the division leader who can get me a ride-along. I have to write a letter. I write. I mail. Now I wait.

- AJ -

3/4/07 – I have no memory of where the idea for Phoenix came from. (Some of  my plots come from ‘wouldn’t it be interesting if’ thoughts [Camelot - book#5] and some from dreams [Fortune - book #6]) But this is the date I wrote and saved the first idea of the book, I have nothing documented before this. But, as this is a 3 page synopsis of the story, it is relatively well fleshed out by this point. Though lots will change before it hits shelves, it is currently saved under the title of “Recognition”

- AJ -