I hate prioritizing. Or, rather, I hate having to prioritize. I frequently fantasize about a stress-free life with wide open spaces of time to gradually tackle everything on my life to-do list. The key word in that sentence: fantasize. The reality is that I have a very busy day job, meaning the only “free time” I have — Read More
Tag: haruki murakami
How I became a writer
A couple weeks ago, The Telegraph published an interesting essay by Haruki Murakami about how he became a novelist. Murakami says that he had something of an epiphany in 1978, while watching a baseball game–Yakult Swallows vs Hiroshima Carp. In his words: “In the bottom of the first inning, Hilton slammed Sotokoba’s first pitch into — Read More
Publishing Journey: The Author Website
Back in the day, before the Internet, all a writer had to worry about was–brace yourself–WRITING. These days, it’s not that way. Writing should always be priority but, if you get a book deal, you will see that a big chunk of your time can (and probably should) be spent on marketing and–ugh–self-promotion. I don’t think writers — Read More
Daily routines of famous writers, part 2
I’m weirdly fascinated when I read about the daily routines of writers. I guess I’m curious to see if my routines are similar or different. I’m looking for the key to writing a good novel. I always come to the same conclusion: there is no magical ritual, there is no one way to write. Still, — Read More
Daily routines of famous writers
I haven’t written a word of fiction in a few weeks now. It’s a much-needed break. I’m getting married this weekend and then going on my honeymoon. I’ll revisit my book after the honeymoon, then get ready to send it out into the world. The other day, though, an idea popped into my head for — Read More
Authors in the awkward years
I started writing when I was in elementary school. I remember those pages with the wide margins very vividly. But it was when I was a teenager that my writing became less about fun and more about necessity. Those adolescent years are hard for anyone, and especially hard for a quiet, skinny girl who did — Read More
Short stories vs novels, relationships vs flings
In the introduction to his short story collection, Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, Haruki Murakami says this about writing short stories versus novels: “To put in the simplest possible terms, I find writing novels a challenge, writing short stories a joy. If writing novels is like planting a forest, then writing short stories is more like — Read More