A Day in the life of a writer - Kathryn Fitzmaurice

Today we are going to be hearing from Kathryn Fitzmaurice again. She is busy working on her second book, and promoting her first book. The Year the Swallows came early. Here is what she has to say:

Every so often a small bit of magic sneaks in and settles over you when you’re writing. It can happen at any time. It never announces itself beforehand. It tiptoes quietly from behind and takes over, and suddenly, you know what you’re working on is going to be better than it was yesterday. You can’t say why really, but you know. You smile for the rest of the day, even though you don’t say why. And you hope it will happen again tomorrow.

I have had moments like this myself. In fact, I had one not long ago as I was writing the text for a picture book. I was wondering what was going to happen next, when it came to me and the words settled onto the page. It was funny, it was perfect, and I laughed out loud. Those few minutes made my day.

A Day in the Life of Kathryn Fitzmaurice - Day Two

Good morning everyone. Today author Kathryn Fitzmaurice is talking to us again about her work. This is the second entry in our ongoing series of blog articles. You can read my reciprocal blog on her website.

"I have taken to stalking my latest main character. He is quite elusive, though. He won’t tell me much about what he wants. He tries to hide behind the pages of my manuscript. He smiles when I’m forced to delete paragraphs that don’t match who he is. I see him in the back corner of my depiction of who he is, smiling. Arms crossed tight at his chest. He’s not ready to talk yet.

“That’s okay,” I tell him. “I can wait.”

He nods like he knows I have no choice.

I wave a bundle of papers at him. “You see this?” I say. “It’s a character study. I’m going to fill it out today, and then, then, I’ll know better who you are.”

He raises his eyebrows and walks away. This is typical behavior for him.
I grab my pencil and get to work. I know he’ll talk sooner or later."

Thank you Kathryn. Now I know that the troublesome behavior exhibited by my characters is not unique. They truly have a life of their own.

A few weeks ago I interviewed Kathryn Fitzmaurice about her book The year the Swallows Came Early for a blog book tour. We have since spoken several times via email, and we are getting to know one another. I suggested that we do a series of postings about her life as a writer. In turn she suggested that we exchange posts. We would call them A Day in the Life of a Writer and we would post them on the same day on the 15th of every month. Here is Kathryn's first post.


A Day in the Life of a Writer - Post One:

I have come to the conclusion that writing the second book is harder than writing the first book. At least for me. It doesn’t flow as easily, the words don’t come as fast. It’s difficult to try to find the true voice of a new main character. I think this is a stage/phase many writers go through. I think it’s okay to be in this stage/phase for a while. Someone ought to make one of those charts that identifies the stages of writing, like the ones they have for those who lose a loved-one. Stage one: denial, etc. For writers, it might be, stage one: fear, and so on.

I’ve just submitted a first draft of my WIP to my agent. I’m in the I-can’t-believe-I-wrote-that-how-will-I-ever-fix-it stage. The manuscript is sitting on my desk. I walk around it and pick up a page or two every so often. I read it over, set it down. I’m not ready to tackle it just yet. I know it needs a lot of work, and it’s easier to just take the dog for a walk instead.


You can see the post I wrote on Kathryn's blog.