multitasking

In the comments section of the last post, metrogirl asked

how do you work on three stories and stuff at one time? i’m looking at your blog sidebar and it’s got all these stories you’re writing on. just wondering how you do it.

First of all, thank you for changing the subject! (Hey, look over here, folks. Shiny object!) Secondly, I’m not really working on a bunch of projects at once. I wrote the Judy Blume project in late January. It’s done, it’s over, there’s nothing more to do there (until Jennifer hits me with my revision letter). I wasn’t working on anything else at that time. I had finished with the final page proofs for Secret Society Girl, and hadn’t yet worked on the outline.

The next thing up on my schedule after the Judy Blume Project was writing the outline for Secret Society Girl 2, which I finished in February and turned in to my editor. Now i”m working on actually writing the book, which is due this summer.

The third meter on my sidebar is for something I’m doing for fun. I started it during NaNoWriMo and haven’t worked on it since, since I was first busy with the holidays, and then with copyedits, proofs, galleys, the Judy Blume project, and my second contracted book. It’s “on hiatus” like one of those shows on TV. 😉

So I’m really only “working” on one book, and that’s Secret Society Girl 2, or, as readers of Gena’s Blog call it, Secret Society Girl Marries Jake Gyllenhaal, or, as I joked to my editor and my friend Rocki St. Claire, Secret Society Girl Gets Laid (WorkingTitle). (The likelihood that it will be published with any of these titles is similar to the likelihood of Justine’s next book actually coming out as Magic! Magic! Magic! Oi! Oi! Oi!)

However, the life of the writer is all about multitasking. For instance, you could be working on the outline for one book while reviewing the galleys for another, and doing revisions for a third. So, ideally, if you’ve got a regularly scheduled list of releases, you’re always working on a bunch of projects at once. In addition, there are all sorts of other things. I try to blog every weekday, I’m writing content for my website, drawing up my promotional plan, working on articles or volunteering for my writing groups (I just finished judging a billion contest entries, and in February I spoke at a conference), critiquing my partners’ and other writing friends’ projects, and spending entirely too much time on Yahoo writing loops. And then, the day job. And laundry. (Actually, little wonder I did five loads on laundry on Saturday — I’d been putting if off for weeks until I literally had no clean clothes left. Zero pairs of undies, even the ragged, holey, don’t-get-caught-in-an-accident-at-the-hospital pairs. You can always tell a writer who is blocked. Her house is spotless. Fortunately, I’m past that and look forward to my place looking like it’s been hit by a tornado soon enough.)

Of course, a few of these occupations are definitely things I pretend are work but know aren’t (cough cough, writing loops). And some of them, fortunately, work in symbiosis with the actual writing. For instance, I was researching some campus maps last week and realized that my notes would make a really good ‘extra’ for my website.

Blogging has gone from being something I did on the side to distract me from writing industry stuff (there’s a reason I called it Diana’s Diversions), to being a very industry-focused blog through which I’ve met so many fabulous writers and people. I love this blog, and I love doing it, but it’s definitely something I spend more time on now than back when I was doing quizzes five days out of seven, ignoring it for months at a time, and posting pictures of my car. I’m fascinated by this technology, and a little frightened by it as well. I’m also vaguely worried now about saying something stupid, offensive, or off-putting (more on that at another time), and I wasn’t back when it was all “what kind of cocktail are you?” and “here’s a picture of my front porch” around here and I was getting ten visitors a month.

I admire writers like Gena and Julie, who are constantly working on a great number and variety of projects. If I work on promo for SSG and writing for SSG2, I’m still in the same world. Two different tasks, to be sure, but at least it’s not futuristic alien societies in the morning and high school goth culture in the afternoon (with a side of Atlantis for lunch).

So yeah, there’s a lot on my plate right now and to be honest, I don’t know if I’m doing a good job of balancing it. Sailor Boy will look at the mess on my side of the bedroom and tell me that no, I’m not. 😉 I want to get to the point where I’m able to work on a bunch of projects — writing projects — at once.

Baby steps, though. Baby steps.