Balance

Most writers will tell you to write everyday. I've heard it often recently and it's good advice. It promotes consistency in a manuscript and allows you to maintain a certain flow and ease of writing, at least until you hit a troubled spot.

In my former career as a journalist, at least post-baby, I did not write every day. It was not a question of time. It was a question of energy. I expended every word I had in me on that newspaper. I averaged 2-3 stories a day.

Was I writing? Technically, yes. Do school board stories and business features count? I doubt it.

The first semester I returned to school (this is my third), I had an intense history class that required a ridiculous amount of reading (I loved every minute) and an even more consuming paper (which I loved even more) and a 100-level politics class which required minimal effort.

No brain cells left for writing, yet I spent my spring break cleaning up my novel for pitch at GLVWG's The Write Stuff conference. I get requests for pages every year from agents.

I try to write during the summer, and last summer I revised almost eight chapters. Unfortunately, they didn't work.

Last semester, I had an economics course and a French class. I loved the French class, and it helped me fine-tune my characters. The economics class destroyed me. I ended up with a B+ in both classes but it was not easy. And I did not write.

This holiday break, I wrote a lot. I revised 7+ chapters. I like them. My critique group seems to like them. Those are the same chapters I revised during the summer. Now, I think they work.

My classes this semester, as mentioned last time, are Modern French Identities and Body Politics. Both require reading and writing, but I have already devoured two of the textbooks, one for each class. Both classes have inspired book lust in me, and have subject matter that relates to my novel.

And my academic endeavors have already planned the seed to alter the infamous "book four." That's the book that actually deals with the children of my characters in my current stories... So will I write? Probably.