I didn’t try to publish anything until I was 30, when I basically had a midlife crisis. I was in a city I didn’t like, had not reached various milestones I wanted to reach, and was in student loan debt up to my eyeballs. I actually liked my job [as a career counselor for at-risk populations]. But I’d always written as a hobby, [and] I decided to see if I could make money doing it. I would make sure I wrote one page, or even just 250 words, every day. Counseling is one of those emotionally draining fields where sometimes something terrible would happen at work. I would allow myself not to produce that day. Instead, I would write something completely irrelevant, like fan fiction or essays.
When I quit my day job [in 2017], my schedule changed. Now, I tend to write in the middle of the day, sort of 11-ish to 4-ish. My artistic inclination is to write late at night, but I can’t be sleeping during the day because I have interviews or grocery shopping to do.
Once I have a first draft, I bring it to my agent or to my writing group and get feedback. Then I take it apart and put it back together. The writing group is diverse across ethnicities and backgrounds, so we’re able to offer critiques on lots of different aspects.
Time she gets up
6 a.m.
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