Thursday, July 2, 2009

Addendum to "Ideal" vs. "Real" Life

I meant to mention yesterday that my "ideal" day varies based on my current priorities. At the moment, my "ideal" schedule focuses on a young-adult novel. When I'm not working on a novel or teaching, I may be focused on revising a picture book, writing a freelance article, preparing for a school visit, updating my website, etc.

I also devote regular time to honing my craft. I do this by reading and studying books on writing, and by attending writer's conferences and workshops. The craft book I'm currently reading is Plot & Structure by James Scott Bell. (Perhaps "honing our craft" would make a good topic for future blog posts?)

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I'm looking forward to reading what the other Teaching Authors have to say on this topic.

4 comments:

malissa32 said...

would love suggestions on books to read about the craft.

Carmela Martino said...

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I can come up with for a future post.

Unknown said...

Aside from family and the daily have-to-do-list, I have several interests outside of writing and sometimes it makes it difficult for me to just focus on working on my ms. Do you ever have that problem? Pam M.

Carmela Martino said...

Hi Pam,
Yes, I have had that problem. Some people are able to juggle multiple interests, with those interests actually feeding each other. However, I'm not very good at that. I tend to get so scattered I feel like a "Jack of all trades and master of none." So I'm now trying to focus my efforts. But maybe you can be one of those successful multi-interest managers! :-)