A Day in the Life of a Writer: Elyssa Friedland

While I was asked to write about a typical day in my life as a novelist, it would have been more appropriate to call this piece “A Night in the Life of a Writer” because my brain becomes most active in the hour before I fall asleep. I lie in bed and think about what I’m going to write the next day, crafting specific lines of dialogue or deciding details like what the weather will be when my characters have a big moment on the page.

Because of my propensity to be bat-like, I keep a notebook next to the side of my bed always, even when I’m traveling.
The next morning, while I’d love to dive right into my writing and translate those bedside notes into something coherent, it’s all about the kids for me.

I have three little ones and I need to get them off to school decently dressed and at least partially fed. I drink a HUGE cup of coffee every morning because without it, I have zero chance of stringing together a decent sentence. Once my children are out of the house, I sit down at my computer and read over what I’ve written the day before. It’s amazing how bad something can seem the next day when I was convinced just the day before that it was masterful. So I spend the first part of the day cleaning up yesterday’s mess.

I try to write new content every single day when I’m working on a book. I’m currently in the editing stages of my third novel and starting to think about what my fourth book will be about. I set page goals for myself every day because it really propels me forward. Even if what I write isn’t up to snuff, I still force myself to get to my goal. Without a concrete objective, I’m unable to focus. I even create artificial deadlines for myself and put them into my Google calendar. For whatever reason, I am more productive if I treat my novel writing like any other important errand – making a dentist appointment, returning a sweater. It’s something that needs to get crossed off the list. And when I have a day where I simply can’t write (a sick child at home, an event I can’t miss) then I double the work for the next day.

Does this perfect plan always work out? Not even close. I get sick, my kids get sick, I get writer’s block, I get lazy. I get disappointing news, like my editor not loving what I’ve turned in. I have periods where I’m not in the midst of a novel and I try to tackle other types of writing: personal essays like this one and investigative pieces where I’m less experienced, and those require much more discipline and focus.

My fallback when I’m stuck is to read. I read as much as humanly possible considering I have three children and a pretty bad TV addiction. But I believe strongly that reading makes me a better writer and inspires me to tackle new challenges. My first novel was told from a single narrator’s point of view. I was inspired after reading US by David Nicholls and The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving by Jonathan Evison to try to write a man’s voice, and so my second book, coming out this July, is a marriage tale told half from the husband’s point of view and half from the wife’s.

My third novel, coming out next summer, is a multi-perspective book where the voices range from a 70-year-old grandfather to a sulking, teenage girl. My inspiration for this book came from Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney’s tour de force, The Nest, a novel with an ensemble cast that was knitted together like an expensive sweater. The best part of reading for me is that while it’s pleasurable, it still counts as working since it is such an integral part of my process.

In between all this writing and reading is a great deal of procrastination, eating, texting and checking Instagram. But hey – it’s all future source material, right?

—

Elyssa Friedland attended Yale University, where she served as managing editor of the Yale Daily News. She is a graduate of Columbia Law School and subsequently worked as an associate at a major firm. Recently, she has written for the Washington Post, POPSUGAR, RealSimple.com and Bustle. Prior to law school, Elyssa wrote for several publications, including Modern Bride, New York magazine, Columbia Journalism Review, CBS MarketWatch.com, Yale Alumni Magazine, and Your Prom. Elyssa grew up in New Jersey and currently lives in  New York City with her husband and three young children. Her debut novel, LOVE AND MISS COMMUNICATION, was praised by Cosmopolitan, Glamour and InStyle magazines as well as numerous other publications.

Follow her on Twitter @ElyssaFriedland

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AuthorElyssaFriedland/

Find out more about her on her Website http://www.elyssafriedland.com/

About THE INTERMISSION

Have you ever had a secret so gut-wrenching you couldn’t tell anyone, not even the person who shares your bed? Told from the alternating perspectives of a husband and wife who both have something to hide, this incisive novel pulls back the curtain on a seemingly-happy marriage, posing the question: how much do we really know–and how much should we want to know–about the people we love the most?

After five long years, the unshakable confidence Cass Coyne felt as a bride is gone. Her husband, Jonathan, on the other hand, is still smitten. It’s true that the quirks he once found charming in his wife–her high standards, her refusal to clean the dishes–are beginning to grate. But for him, these are minor challenges in a healthy relationship.

So it comes as a complete shock to Jonathan when Cass suddenly requests a marital “intermission”: a six-month separation during which they’ll decide if the comfortable life they’ve built is still the one they both want.

Aside from a monthly custodial exchange of their beloved dog, contact will be limited. But as the months pass, they begin to see that calculated silences just like these have helped to drive them apart–and that it may finally be time to confront the blistering secrets they’ve been avoiding.

“The Intermission is a thoughtful look at the complexities of marriage, delivering deep truths about how we share a life with another person. It will have you wondering: how well do I really know my spouse?”—PopSugar

“A multifaceted look at the difficulties and rewards of marriage.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Entertaining marriage saga… Friedland insightfully dissects motives, lies, and love in this engrossing deconstruction of a bad marriage.”—Publishers Weekly

 

Tags: featured, fiction, women writers

Category: Contemporary Women Writers, On Writing