The Art of Writerly Multi-Tasking
Without a shadow of a doubt, I need to learn to multi-task. I’m pretty good at this in my everyday life but when it comes to writing not so much. I’ve always been a one-story-at-a-time type of girl. I always assumed that was the way to be…
Yes, I’m one of those annoying people who likes to focus on one story at a time. I like to give each story I’m working on my undivided attention. Yes, when other ideas pop into my head I’ll jot them down but I won’t chase them up until I’m done with what I’m working on at the time. I realise this is a bad habit that needs to be broken immediately. I sincerely wish I could be like my writer friends who have multiple stories on the go at once. I want to be a writing machine. I want to be working on a million stories at once. OK, I’m exaggerating. Merely a couple of stories at once would suffice.
With the start of my PhD just around the corner, this is something I really need to remedy if I’m going to churn out a perfectly polished 70,000 collection of short stories in three years. My short stories will all be on a similar theme and so that might make it somewhat easier to juggle the writing of multiple stories at once. Perhaps it will no longer be a problem when I start studying again because I will, quite simply, just have to get on with it – there will be no time for any ‘and ifs or buts’. I like to think that because I will be so immersed in my project I won’t have any time to think about it. I’ll just do it. All will be well. Once I’ve embraced the art of writerly multi-tasking, I will never box myself in to writing a single story at a time again.
But for now, I think I need to practice juggling. That shall be my aim for the summer: learn how to juggle (multiple writing projects at once). Here’s hoping I don’t end up with many indelible ink blots splattered at my feet!
Do you juggle multiple writing projects at once or are you a one-story-at-a-time type?
Emma,
Your post reminded me of my own experience in graduate school – and of the multi-tasking I do now.
I wrote continuously in high school and throughout my undergraduate years. I really did not have any intention of publishing then. I wrote fiction for pleasure and to practice the craft. Since I am a historian, I was naturally drawn to the genre of historical fiction.
During the first few years of graduate school, I was too busy to write well, but once I started my PhD studies, I suddenly found that I had time on my hands, sitting around waiting for grant applications to turn into research funding. I turned that waiting into writing. Rediscovering creativity after a hiatus of four or five years was wonderfully liberating, I recall. I also discovered that my narrative voice was changing.
Going on the job market, later, left me little time for creative writing. I had to suppress the stories in my head, but eventually I found myself in a situation that gave me time to write, and I picked up the thread again. I began to lay down the framework for the series of novels I am writing now.
As an academic and a novelist, one has to find a balance between the fairly heavy non-fiction writing requirements of one’s job and the need to write creatively. Fortunately, academic jobs have a peculiar pattern of work flow that allows a person time to write. Academic work is a lot like old-fashioned trench warfare: moments of chaotic, overwhelming work followed by long lulls. One learns to use those lulls for creative projects.
I find that writing – whether it’s fiction or non-fiction, has cumulative benefits. Even if you are switching from a fictional voice to an academic one, you still are flexing your writing muscles. Moreover, I find that both kinds of writing also helps my public speaking – an important benefit since professors have to speak, publicly, for several hours each week. Constant writing sharpens your ability to speak in grammatical, complete sentences, and to think logically.
I eventually resolved my multi-tasking problem by aligning my non-fiction and fiction interests, which allows me to apply the research I do for my job to my novels. On occasion, the inspiration flows the other way. I recently published an article that I never would have pursued if I had not discovered it while researching for my novels. Since research for realistic historical fiction can be as time-consuming as the actual writing, this alignment of projects made me feel much better about juggling what had seemed like too many endeavors.
Apart from finding efficient ways to structure one’s activities, the academic novelist also has to be disciplined. That means setting up policies for yourself. I work on both kinds of writing that I do throughout the year, but I prioritize one or the other depending on what my needs are, and what I can afford to do. Because I have set up a creative writing project that supports and is supported by my professional research, I don’t see the see-saw of priorities as an either-or situation. Whatever I am doing, in the way of writing, both my professional and creative needs will be served.
What’s the walk-away wisdom here? We all have creative needs. Expressing them is good, and can even have a multiplier effect on other projects. Suppressing creativity is never good. If you feel the desire to multi-task, as a writer, don’t be overwhelmed. Find some way to make it work. For me, it turned out to be as simple as aligning my research plan with my fiction-writing plan.