Trying something new (+giveaway)

When I first started writing novels, back in 2005, about a year and a half before my first sale, I typically wrote 4,000+ words a day. Every day. I wrote my first three novels (355,000+ words) in ten months. I was fast. Not super-human-fast (Rachel Caine holds that title in my head), but pretty fast. And I was consistent.

I was also...not as good a writer as I am now. Seriously. I didn't even know that dialogue from two different people should go in two separate paragraphs. I didn't know when to start a new paragraph. I didn't know that you didn't have to show every single moment of the main character's day. Every single day. I was new, and inexperienced, but here's the thing: I was having fun. Writing was my recreation. My me-time. My escape.

There was no burnout. No carpel tunnel or neck aches from sitting in the wrong position. I looked forward to every single moment I spent writing.

Now writing is work. It's my day job. I still love it, and I know I'm one of very few people in the world who get to do what they love for a living. I wouldn't give it up for anything. But the shine has worn off. I've spent too many years doing nothing but writing and the related, non-writing parts of the job. (And by the way, if you're not a writer and you don't live with a writer, you probably can't IMAGINE how much time those parts take up.)

The thing about writing for a living is that there's no way to leave your work at work, because you work at home. You live with the work. Until you've met your deadline (and mine overlap one another all year long), you feel guilty for doing anything other than work. You get emails about work twenty-four hours a day, from all different timezones. Yes, you can let them wait, but then they pile up until your inbox resembles one of those over-the-top cartoon monsters from an episode of Scooby-Doo. And it WILL eat you alive, once it catches you. And it will catch you.

The stress caught up to me a few months ago. Nothing catastrophic. No drama. I just discovered that I didn't always love sitting down to write anymore. And I'd lost all perspective. I couldn't tell whether what I was writing was any good anymore. And finally, I figured out that all I really needed was some free time. Time spent doing nothing in particular, with no expectations put on me, even from myself. (And the most stressful of expectations usually come from yourself.) But my deadlines (which are always a good thing, because they mean you're employed) don't leave time for a vacation.

So now I'm trying something new. I got the idea from Jeri Smith-Ready, on Twitter, though she probably has no idea that she inspired me. Instead of sitting down every day knowing I have to write between 3,000 and 4,000 words before I can go to bed, a prospect which stresses me out lately, I've started tackling my daily writing goal in short spurts. (Those publishable words, btw, are much harder to come by than those just-for-fun words I could slap on the page back in 2005.)

I'm doing several 1 hr/1,000 word sprint sessions per day. Yesterday, I did three and a half of them, and wrote more than 3,700 words. Yup, I did my entire wordcount goal in 3.5 hours. Which left plenty of time for laundry, a mile on the treadmill, and four (count them--FOUR) episodes of Firefly, which I discovered only last week.

So far, this plan has been working out perfectly. I meet my goal. I have free time. I am not stressed. I think it's psychological. I don't have to write 3,000 words. I only have to write 1,000. Then I do it again, after lunch, or a TV show, or some other kind of non-work break. Whatever the reason, so far it's working. And the key to that, by the way, seems to be knowing what needs to be written before you sit down with your timer.

Okay, that's it for the work update today. Now, I really need to get rid of some of the foreign editions taking up space on my shelf. If you want one from the list below, leave me a comment telling me what your passion is. What do you do to relax, and would you want to do it for a living if you could (assuming you're not already)?

I will draw one winner at random on Friday, and that winner may choose from the books below. Recently added to the list are three copies of the UK version of My Soul To Keep.

Australian My Soul To Take
Australian My Soul To Save
Australian My Soul To Keep
Australian My Soul To Steal (x2)
UK My Soul To Take
UK My Soul To Save (x3)
French My Soul To Keep (Sauve Mon Ame!) (x2)
US Kiss Me Deadly (YA antho)
Australian Stray
Australian Rogue
Australian Pride (x2)
Australian Prey (x2)
Finnish Stray (Kissatytto) (x2)
Norwegian Stray (Herrelos) (x2)
Swedish Stray (Herrelos) (x2)
Italian Rogue (il Graffio della notte) (x2)
Italian Pride (Il Graffio sulla pelle)

Edit: I don't resent my job. I LOVE my job, as I said. This post is just about finding a way to STAY in love with my job. To avoid burnout.