Life Altering Reads: Author Interview – J.L. Lawson @J_L

When you are not writing, how do you like to relax?
Travel, Fly-fish, Sail. Mostly camping allows us to do all that at the same time… almost.
Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well? Do you have a writing schedule?
I thought I’d tackle these two at the same time; they are similar. Every day, from around seven-thirtyuntil around four. I sit down at my laptop, cover the previous evening’s email, find where I left off the day before and relax. The characters then take over for the next eight hours or so and I chuckle, shed a tear, hold my breath and sigh at everything they attempt to do—and sometimes accomplish. Then I get up go down to the smoking porch, open a beer have a smoke, and start “pre-writing” for the next day. Have dinner, check the weather forecast, go to sleep, get and do it all over again.
The only interruptions to my routine over weeks and months at a time are, holidays, grandchildren’s birthdays, urgent household matters and annual vacation travel. (Wonder when that last is going to resume?)
Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it – What keeps you going?
I don’t understand the question. Are you suggesting that writing for a living isn’t the best gig in town? I feel like the luckiest man in the world when I sit at my laptop and tell stories. Seriously? What’s not to love?
How often do you write? And when do you write? Do you have an organized process or tips for writing well? Do you have a writing schedule?
I thought I’d tackle these two at the same time; they are similar. Every day, from around seven-thirty until around four. I sit down at my laptop, cover the previous evening’s email, find where I left off the day before and relax. The characters then take over for the next eight hours or so and I chuckle, shed a tear, hold my breath and sigh at everything they attempt to do—and sometimes accomplish. Then I get up go down to the smoking porch, open a beer have a smoke, and start “pre-writing” for the next day. Have dinner, check the weather forecast, go to sleep, get and do it all over again.
The only interruptions to my routine over weeks and months at a time are, holidays, grandchildren’s birthdays, urgent household matters and annual vacation travel. (Wonder when that last is going to resume?)
Sometimes it’s so hard to keep at it – What keeps you going?
I don’t understand the question. Are you suggesting that writing for a living isn’t the best gig in town? I feel like the luckiest man in the world when I sit at my laptop and tell stories. Seriously? What’s not to love?