I’ve never been one for “year-end” lists.
If I had to guess, I’d say it’s because I’ve always been too busy rushing forward to look back. All that rushing and hustling has gotten me here, though, to the year I’ve been chasing since I first started writing.
My debut novel came out last March. I marked so many items off my author bucket list in 2022. I also got to meet nearly all of my literary heroes, thanks to this column.
I started “Shop Talk” because this was the content I looked for in author interviews. I wanted to know how authors put the black on the white. How they structured their lives to do this thing we do. Thanks to CrimeReads, I was able to interview my favorite writers, authors who’ve become dear friends over the last year.
And now, I’d like to share a breakdown, a recap (just don’t call it “a year-end list) as a way of saying, “Thanks.”
My hope is that these selected highlights from interviews with authors like Laura Lippman, Megan Abbott, and S.A. Cosby will provide inspiration. Maybe you’ll take solace in the fact that the majority of the authors I interviewed aim for 1,000 words a day. Or maybe you’ll name your laptop “Balthazar” like Bill Boyle. Or, maybe, if you’re really wise, you’ll take David Joy’s “best advice” listed below.
If I’ve learned anything from doing these interviews, it’s that there’s no one way to write a book, but you do still have to write the sucker.
Wishing you happy writing and reading in 2023.
Best,
E
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Morning (5am – 7am)
Wordcount goal: 1,000 words
Outline: Kinda (20 page summary)
Writes with: Toshiba laptop named “Balthazar”
Beta readers: No (straight to agent)
Writerly vanities: Uptown Coffee (Oxford, MS)
Office: Dining room
Best quote/advice: “I have a list of things I write down in a to-do list at the start of most days. Willy Vlautin, in an interview, said, “Always be a fan first.” I try to make sure I’m not just thinking about my own stuff. I try to stay focused on other people’s work, especially movies. I’ll get stuck on one director and watch a whole bunch of his movies over the course of a book. Finding my voice as a writer through things I love has been my way in. Megan Abbott gave a talk a few years ago on the value of weird choices. So that’s another thing I keep on my daily list. “Make weird choices.” I highly value the weird in general. The third one that goes in there is this Barry Gifford line: “Don’t get bitter.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Whenever inspiration hits
Wordcount goal: 800 – 1,000 words
Outline: Yes, but tends to lose them
Writes with: Dell laptop
Beta readers: No (too old for that sort of thing)
Writerly vanities: Godzilla figurine
Office: Family room/overstuffed leather chair
Best quote/advice: “I want to stay playful, even with the dark moments in a manuscript, just being playful and encouraging my own sense of play. That, for me, is how the job gets done.”
Writes every day: Mostly
Morning or night: Morning (after a run)
Wordcount goal: No
Outline: No
Writes with: PC mostly, laptop when traveling, longhand on the fly
Beta readers: No
Writerly vanities: Diet Coke
Office: Yes, rotates talismans on desk for each book
Best quote/advice: “I think there’s this notion with writing that some of us might get from writing classes that everything should be universal, but it’s the exact opposite. The specific is the only universal.”
Writes every day: Yes
Morning or night: Morning and into the day, like a full-time job
Wordcount goal: No (scene goal)
Outline: Changes with every book
Writes with: PC with an IBM Model M keyboard
Beta readers: Wife sees each new manuscript in 25-page chunks
Writerly vanities: Drew Estate Cigars
Office: Yes (separate from house on the Oxford Square)
Best quote/advice: “Every book is so different. It’s whatever works for you at the moment. What worked for me on book twenty is not necessarily what worked for me on book twenty five.”
Writes every day: Yes (works as a TV writer)
Morning or night: Morning
Wordcount goal: No
Outline: Yes
Writes with: Longhand/MacBook
Beta readers: Yes
Writerly vanities: Cold brew
Office: Hotels (pulls the blinds down, cranks the heat, and wears shorts)
Best quote/advice: “The best writing advice anyone can give you is, Kill those cops (who live inside your head). Now, that’s not to say write whatever you want, however you please, and nobody’s allowed to get offended. That’s not the argument. The argument is about not monitoring what you do, particularly during the drafting process.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: After the Yelp reviews are finished
Wordcount goal: 1,000 words (4 hours)
Outline: Sometimes
Writes with: Various “MacBookie” things
Beta readers: Yes
Writerly vanities: Dogs nearby, comfy blanket, Diet Coke
Office: Yes
Best quote/advice: “Turns out, if you pay someone lots of money to watch your kid then having a kid doesn’t have to ruin your professional life.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Whenever inspiration hits
Wordcount goal: No
Outline: No
Writes with: MacBook
Beta readers: Yes (sends off 1,000 chunks)
Writerly vanities: None
Office: Yes
Best quote/advice: “I am the opposite of precious about craft and writing and writing spaces. I’m just not that dude. There are plenty of hot takes nowadays. Are you a writer if you’ve got a job and have to write? Do you write five-hundred words a day? That shit drives me crazy.”
Writes every day: Yes (when drafting a manuscript)
Morning or night: Night
Wordcount goal: No (two chapters per day)
Outline: Has to have a good title before he gets started. Also writes a synopsis.
Writes with: Laptop
Beta readers: Yes (writer group)
Writerly vanities: Hat. Music. Whiskey (Elijah Craig). Recliner (with heated seat). Cat (named Flipper).
Office: Recliner
Best quote/advice: “Whether I’m a bestseller, I’m self-published, or I’m just handing out pamphlets at the bus station—I’m always going to be a writer.”
Writes every day: Yes (when drafting a manuscript)
Morning or night: Whole day routine
Wordcount goal: If he writes 1,500 words, he gets to ring “the bell”
Outline: No
Writes with: PC
Beta readers: Yes
Writerly vanities: Micron pens, prints out completed pages each night
Office: Two (Maine/Indiana)
Best quote/advice: “The more you put in, the more you’ll get out. The art of it comes by putting time in.”
Writes every day: Yes
Morning or night: 4:40 AM
Wordcount goal: A chapter and a half (likes to stop in the middle of a scene)
Outline: Yes, complete with index cards and sticky notes
Writes with: Pilot gel pens and college-ruled paper
Beta readers: Reads aloud to husband
Writerly vanities: Coffee
Office: Yes
Best quote/advice: “We get to clarify life for people, and help folks escape. That’s my talent. That’s why I do it.”
Writes every day: Whenever he can
Morning or night: Whenever he can
Wordcount goal: No strict rules, but likes to hit 1,000
Outline: Yes (the outline is like the “saddle”)
Writes with: Computer
Beta readers: Yes, then reads aloud for final revision
Writerly vanities: Complete silence
Office: NA
Best quote/advice: “I have my document open at all times. I never close the document. If I open my laptop, it’s there. It’s always at the spot I left it. That’s the only ceremony I have. I need to be able to jump in immediately. This is a product of having two small kids.”
Writes every day: Yes
Morning or night: Mid-morning
Wordcount goal: 1,000 words on the nose
Outline: No
Writes with: Computer
Beta readers: Wife
Writerly vanities: Long walks
Office: Yes, with a door that shuts
Best quote/advice: “I love that element of writing a novel, being immersed in it for a long time. Eventually you have to write the ending, but the middle is great too.”
Writes every day: Monday – Friday
Morning or night: Morning
Wordcount goal: 1,000 words
Outline: Yes (word-blind outlines)
Writes with: Computer
Beta readers: NA
Writerly vanities: Morning walks
Office: Yes, but was being remodeled during interview
Best quote/advice: “I’ve come to accept the idea that there’s a benefit from stillness. A field needs time to lie fallow. The same is true for an author.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Morning
Wordcount goal: No
Outline: Yes (and many months of research)
Writes with: Laptop with cooling pad
Beta readers: Partner/reads aloud to himself
Writerly vanities: Death Wish Coffee
Office: Yes
Best quote/advice: “If I can both entertain and start a dialogue about these things that are so close to my heart, then I’m happy at the end of the day.”
Writes every day: Mostly
Morning or night: Morning, 5am
Wordcount goal: 1,000 words
Outline: Depends on the book
Writes with: Blue Pilot V7 pens and unlined yellow legal pads
Beta readers: Yes (reads aloud to his mom every night)
Writerly vanities: Yes, too many, actually
Office: Basement overlooking Lake Dardanelle
Best quote/advice: “A thousand words and three miles a day keeps the writerly blues away.”
Writes every day: No (but does work on her book every day)
Morning or night: Both
Wordcount goal: Focused on completing scenes
Outline: Yes (“super plotter”)
Writes with: Laptop and keeps journal in notebook while drafting
Beta readers: Yes, but doesn’t call them “beta readers”
Writerly vanities: Notebooks
Office: NA
Best quote/advice: “I have this advocacy thing that I do, but at the same time I’m a damn good writer, and I’m going to own that.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Both
Wordcount goal: No, just happy as long as “the story is moving forward”
Outline: Never (starts with “a single image”)
Writes with: Laptop
Beta readers: Strong relationship with editor
Writerly vanities: NA
Office: Nope, works mostly on the couch
Best quote/advice: “What may work today might be gone tomorrow. That shit is fluid. The only requirement is the compulsion to create. Outside of that, there is no other answer
Writes every day: Most days
Morning or night: Morning
Wordcount goal: No, aiming for “a feeling” when she knows she’s done
Outline: No
Writes with: Longhand and computer depending on scene
Beta readers: Yes, especially her mother, who reads everything
Writerly vanities: Home-brewed coffee and time free of social media
Office: Yes (and it’s beautiful)
Best quote/advice: “Social media is just the chorus of everybody else. As a writer, you don’t need that. You need to be in your zone. This is why it’s so important to batch that time. Don’t toggle back and forth.”
Writes every day: Yes (when he’s drafting a manuscript)
Morning or night: Lunch
Wordcount goal: No, aiming for “a feeling” when he knows he’s done
Outline: No, but does map out the first five chapters
Writes with: A MacBook Air with Microsoft Word (used solely for writing books)
Beta readers: Yes (lawyer buddies)
Writerly vanities: Martini
Office: Yes (but also works a lot in Honolulu bars)
Best quote/advice: “I built a clock once, from a kit. Writing a novel is like building a clock but you don’t have a kit. You don’t even know what it’s supposed to look like when you’re done. You spend months where you’re putting a cog here and a gear there, and you don’t even know why. But then there’s this moment—this magical moment—when you realize that thing you put over there, if you turn it, it connects up and makes everything else move too. When you feel the book coming together like that, when you understand that somehow, subconsciously, you’re building this machine that works in such a way—I love that feeling. I’m always chasing it.”
Writes every day: Yes (when he’s drafting a manuscript)
Morning or night: Morning (alarm before 5 AM)
Wordcount goal: 500 words, thanks to Graham Greene
Outline: No
Writes with: Laptop (but maps out scenes in Rhodia spiral notebooks)
Beta readers: No
Writerly vanities: Coffee (free refills a must), workout regimen
Office: Coffee shops
Best quote/advice: “My job, I feel like, is to make sure every sentence has a certain energy. It’s like you’re sitting in a bar and someone’s telling a story. It’s not so much what happens, but how they’re telling it that keeps your attention. The turns of thought that lead from one to another, the unexpected conjunction of ideas. That’s what gets my attention.”
Writes every day: No
Morning or night: Morning to early afternoon
Wordcount goal: Yes (uses Scrivner to set daily counts)
Outline: No (also writes non-linearly)
Writes with: Mix of laptop and longhand
Beta readers: No
Writerly vanities: Music specifically curated for the book/scene
Office: NA
Best quote/advice: “Treat your writing like you would your job. Don’t be late. Don’t bullshit. Take your fifteen-minute breaks and lunch. Tackle your day with an established game plan and stick to it. But most of all, protect your space and time. Now if only I could follow that advice for myself…”
