New Voices in Fiction Authors from William Morrow discussion

What is a typical workday like for you? How many hours do you write? What other activities are important parts of your day?

My day starts with emails and social networking in the morning, if my part-time job allows it. In the afternoon, I try to outline and plot and revise, then I usually run errands or socialize with actual people. Night is when I write, because it's quiet, and it's a great time to lose myself in my story.

My typical work day is generally chaotic. I write after dropping the kids to school at 8.30am and try to knuckle down until they are home at 2pm. Afternoons are not great for writing, but I try to catch up on emails and other admin bits. I tend to work better in the morning than the evening so will often set the alarm early and get some writing in before everyone else wakes. I love that peaceful early morning - just me and the cat. I often research on an evening by reading relevant books and jotting down notes and ideas.

My days tend to vary. I usually try to sort out emails in the morning and reserve the afternoon for writing. I also try to make sure I get out of the house every day - at least to take a walk. The hours spent writing depend on where I am with the manuscript. It could be anything from two to ten hours a day. I'm still trying to find a balance that works for me.

What a difficult question to answer. I wear so many hats that my days are a mosaic of responsibilities. Somewhere in a 24 hour period I may treat a child's ear infection, send out a few tweets, run a business or write for a few hours. If I ever do all of those things in one day, I'm pretty sure the moon will fall from the sky. It's all about the juggle!

Due to the demands of my life, I don't have a "typical" work day. I do try to write a couple hours a day, at the very least. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but in the summer when both my teenage children are home from school, it's about as much as I can manage. In the fall, winter, and spring, I aim for 4 or more hours a day, especially when I'm under a deadline. Usually I go to my local donut shop, buy a diet pepsi, and write for as long as I can. But it's also important for me to be home when my teenagers get home from school.

All this tends to support my suspicion that most debut novelists aren't maintaining a full time job, helping run a nonprofit, parenting school-age children, and fitting in the writing, book tour, publicity, etc. in their nonexistent spare time. Something has to go, but I'm having a hard time figuring out what. I suspect that the hospital won't take back the children.

Like Mary, I don't have a typical workday. I think that the idea of having sacred writing time is a myth. Most of us just don't have that time in our life. It's always catch as catch can, and I've come to accept that that's okay. I wrote so much of The From-Aways on trains, on lunch hours in cafes, late nights, early mornings... and honestly? I think that books come out better for this, for letting in all the chaos and unexpected influence!

My children are 2 and 4 years old, so it is not easy to find time to write. I have designated writing time three days a week, when the elder is in school and the younger in care; otherwise, I take notes constantly, and sometimes on the weekends my husband will take the boys so I can have a long chunk of time to focus. I find the interruptions to be, in fact, part of the approach to work; I am always thinking about my pages, and things come together, make themselves apparent, in the time in between writing time. For this reason, when I do sit down to put words on the screen, I find I can do so fairly quickly.