Not Much of a Life

In my Novel Writing class, I generally use one of my last classes of the semester to answer "Frequently Asked Questions" from my students, giving them the chance to get at stuff I might not have covered, or ask questions that might not have been asked in class, or to get at information that needs further clarification. I did the FAQs last week for the class, and one question I got this time (and usually get, honestly) was "Since we have to have give you at least 10,000 words of writing for this class, how many words did you produce over the semester?"

It's a fair question, after all. I do expect a lot from the students in that class; they should expect the same of me. So I sat down and figured out what I'd done with my own writing over the course of the semester. Here's what I gave them as my answer:

-- I wrote a poem or two
-- I wrote a blog post every other day or so (that’s a few thousand words there...)
-- I wrote lesson plans and created presentations
-- I wrote critiques of student work for the Novel class as well as the Intro To Creative Writing class (lots of those, generally five or six a week, at roughly 500 words a shot)
-- I answered e-mails... (lots of that, too...)

"Yeah," someone muttered at that point, "but none of that's fiction..." I grinned, because I wasn't finished yet.

-- I proofed the galleys for DARK WATER’S EMBRACE (a lot of work, but no new words)
-- I revised THE WOODS to my agent’s critique, which went from about 62,500 words to close to 65,000: 2,500+ words
-- A MAGIC OF DAWN, my current work-in-progress, was at a little less than 10,000 words when we started the semester. It’s now at 19,500 words (9,500+ words) [NOTE: as I write this today, it's now at 23,000 words...]
-- I wrote (then re-wrote to editorial critique) a novella for George RR Martin’s latest WILD CARDS book: 27,750+ words

So for fiction alone, I had ‘forward progress’ of a bit more than 40,000 words during this semester. along with a close proofreading and two significant revisions.

I ended with this statement: "I obviously don’t have much of a life..." It got the expected laugh. And I told them that I pointed this out not to brag, but because they asked, and as an illustration that even if you're working full-time or going to school full-time, you can still make time to write and get a substantial amount accomplished, if you want it badly enough. If you're driven to do it.

But I've been thinking about that a little over the intervening week. I really am a bit OC about writing. I spend the vast majority of my time in front of the computer or near it, either working on school stuff or writing. The school work I do because it's part of my job; the writing I do because it's what I want to do. But...

It does mean that there's no 'down' time. Ever. It means that there's very little 'free' time. It means that sometimes Denise gets short thrift, because I'm in my office rather than with her. It means that things sometimes don't get done around the house that should probably be done. It means... well, you get the idea.

I do sometimes wonder if it's healthy. I do wonder if it's the best thing I could be doing. Could I be a better teacher if I did less writing? Could I be a better spouse? A better friend? A better person?

But I can't imagine not writing. To a large degree, I define myself by my writing. What am I?--I'm a 'writer.' So I do it . But I do wonder sometimes about the choice I've made, and think "What if...?"

What if...?

Oh, wait a moment! I wonder if I couldn't I pull another story out of that?