Great Advice from Austin Kleon

I love Austin Kleon’s books, Steal like an Artist and Show your Work!, and I enjoy reading his weekly newsletter.  If you haven’t heard of him, go to his website.  Good stuff!

He offered 10 Things he Learned While Writing his Last Book.  Some great thoughts here, plus there are links to other thoughts on the writing life.

I’m struggling with #3:  Stop researching and start writing.  In my case, I’ve not done any real research yet and am thinking I should do little before plotting out book 2 of the Rebellion Series.  Since it’s set during the Civil War, some research is needed just to get the plot organized but how much?

I’m planning to start plotting after lunch and I figure I’ll plot and research at the same time.  That’s roughly how I handled book 1 in the series.

Speaking of, I’m on the third draft of Book 1.

 In an ideal world, I’d divide my day like this:

Mornings:  Writing on current work. The tough stuff that requires freshness, thought, and creativity.

Lunch:  downtime, light reading, walks, etc.

Afternoons:  Plotting new works, research, note-taking, reading, thinking, marketing, etc.  Busy work.

Evenings:  cooking dinner, light reading, amusement.

Instead, my work day looks like this:  School work until done.  Then fit in whatever else I can manage and often that means not fitted in at all.

But I’m working toward the ideal.  How about you?  What does your ideal day look like?