September 28, 2005
This has been an incredibly busy week for me with my work. I have fallen behind in nearly everything that needs to be worked on. I have nearly 300 emails that are unanswered. I have messages in my inbox I haven’t even picked up. I have voice mail messages waiting for me that pulse my phone each time I pick it up and I have numerous projects that I just can’t seem to get to.
On the other hand, I have been getting up around 5 a.m., so I can finish reading two research books that I am working on concerning the subject of slavery. I also finished the film treatment that I have been working on for weeks. I emailed that in late last night and received an OK from Echo Films who will be sending it out to a producer. This is a great project that I hope will successfully come to fruition.
I also finished a re-write on the end of my new book that is “suppose” to be published in November. This book is about the Orphan Train that ran in 1854. My publisher had several readers review the book and they loved the piece but were uncomfortable with the unhappy ending, so I had to work around the factual ending and come up with something that would appeal more to my audience. This was a big job because the book is under deadline with a release month named and was essential to get finished up as a priority. This little re-write of two pages took me nearly five days working 5-6 hours a day just on this. You can’t take out just one piece of a puzzle and have it all fit… All pieces have to fit together perfectly, have an accurate pacing and flow, with no errors.
I also have a historical interpretive manual that is on hold, as I just don’t have the time to work on it now and several other “smaller” projects to work on.
This week in my work I have felt like I was and still am, running behind.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Friday, September 23, 2005
Welcome!
Sept 22, 2005
Good Morning! And welcome to Janie’s Journal or should I say "Blog". Several students and teachers in the last two years have requested I start a blog that will give an overview of what my day is like as a writer…So here we go.
I will just start out with an average day. I am generally up around 4:30 or 5:00 am and because I feel health is an important issue for writers (because we sit for so long), I generally start with about 30-45 minutes of exercise. After that I will do research reading. Since I do not read fiction I have to spend many long hours reading books that teach me about the history I am going to write about. I generally read for about two hours.
After this, I get cleaned up and dressed for the day and get into my office around 9 am… Sometimes it is earlier/sometimes it is a bit later.
In the office I first read all my email and try to answer as many as I can. I generally receive about 150 pieces of email, which includes teachers and students asking questions, business letters from my publishers, questions from students I mentor, and questions from Ask the Expert program from Yahoo. This generally takes a couple hours. There are days that I can only get a few letters answered and I have a backlog for the next week to catch-up on.
If I have calls to return, I generally do that after the email.
If I am working on a book project… this schedule is completely turned around, as I don’t do anything but write and everything has to be put on hold.
If I am not working on a book project, I generally have 3-4 other projects in writing that I am working on… Right now I am tweaking a film treatment and working on an interpretive manual for a historical organization… Generally I will write for 3-4 hours before I take a break.
If I don’t forget lunch, I just grab something small and get back to work.
I will “generally” be in my office until 5:00-6:00… If I am on a roll and working on a project… I am sometimes working until after 11:00. Writing can be work if you work at it.
One of my favorite quotes: “Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!” - Author unknown.
Your Pal in Writing,
Janie Lynn Panagopoulos
Good Morning! And welcome to Janie’s Journal or should I say "Blog". Several students and teachers in the last two years have requested I start a blog that will give an overview of what my day is like as a writer…So here we go.
I will just start out with an average day. I am generally up around 4:30 or 5:00 am and because I feel health is an important issue for writers (because we sit for so long), I generally start with about 30-45 minutes of exercise. After that I will do research reading. Since I do not read fiction I have to spend many long hours reading books that teach me about the history I am going to write about. I generally read for about two hours.
After this, I get cleaned up and dressed for the day and get into my office around 9 am… Sometimes it is earlier/sometimes it is a bit later.
In the office I first read all my email and try to answer as many as I can. I generally receive about 150 pieces of email, which includes teachers and students asking questions, business letters from my publishers, questions from students I mentor, and questions from Ask the Expert program from Yahoo. This generally takes a couple hours. There are days that I can only get a few letters answered and I have a backlog for the next week to catch-up on.
If I have calls to return, I generally do that after the email.
If I am working on a book project… this schedule is completely turned around, as I don’t do anything but write and everything has to be put on hold.
If I am not working on a book project, I generally have 3-4 other projects in writing that I am working on… Right now I am tweaking a film treatment and working on an interpretive manual for a historical organization… Generally I will write for 3-4 hours before I take a break.
If I don’t forget lunch, I just grab something small and get back to work.
I will “generally” be in my office until 5:00-6:00… If I am on a roll and working on a project… I am sometimes working until after 11:00. Writing can be work if you work at it.
One of my favorite quotes: “Some people dream of worthy accomplishments while others stay awake and do them!” - Author unknown.
Your Pal in Writing,
Janie Lynn Panagopoulos
Friday, September 16, 2005
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