The Science Of Writing

Like most of my writer friends, I live a double life.

My writing life is a living, breathing thing that exists atop a whole other life filled with work and kids and car pool and soccer practice. In truth, some days it seems there is very little room left for my writing life. Some days it’s squashed up alongside the math homework or clamped shut by the deadlines at my day job. Some days it’s rushed by the sports schedules or postponed by exhaustion.   

Parasitism – relationship between two organisms in which one benefits at the expense of the other.

I review science vocab as part of the evening homework, and I daydream about parasites. What part of my life is being sacrificed by the other? Am I giving short shrift to my non-writing responsibilities because of my commitment to my writing? Is my writing stuck somehow because I will never give up my time with my kids and my other responsibilities to focus solely on writing?

I know very few writers (exactly zero at last count!) who do nothing but write all day and bask in the accolades of their readers by night. Most of us hold down day jobs and other numerous responsibilities alongside our writing careers. We make adjustments. We carve out time to write. We shut home office doors after dinner. We order takeout pizza too many days in a row. We don’t fold the laundry before it’s worn again. We delegate at work. We don’t take the overtime.

Adaptation – the process of change by which an organism becomes better suited to its environment.

For most writers, the writing won’t pay all of the bills. It won’t do the dishes or make healthy meal preparation any easier. Writing won’t counsel cranky teenagers or argue with insurance companies. In fact, there are some days that, because of all these things, writing feels like a luxury we can’t afford.

And yet.

We can’t afford not to write.

I’ve just released my fifth book (my fourth novel) into the world in just as many years. I concede there is a certain amount of selfishness involved in getting to that place. There’s a certain amount of hiding from the kids and the dog and the laundry and cooking and cleaning that is required to get to that place. There’s a refusal to apologize for the writing. There’s a joy in finding the pockets of time to write. There’s a gratitude for the ability to honor the story I need to tell. There’s a hilarity to the number of people and moments I experience each day which feed the stories. There’s some guilt that maybe I could spend less time writing and more time doing other things.

I remember the truth.

Symbiosis. A mutually beneficial relationship between different groups.

The truth is the writing feeds my soul which feeds my kids and the rest of it.

The kids feed my soul which feeds my writing and the rest of it.

There’s a chance it’s not a double life after all.

There’s a chance it’s simply one life. One very full life.

Evolution.  

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Amy Impellizzeri is a reformed corporate litigator, former start-up executive, and award-winning author of fiction and non-fiction. Amy’s novels have won accolades including INDIEFAB Book of the Year Awards, National Indie Excellence Awards and she has made the Finalist list for the STAR Award for Published Women’s Fiction. Amy’s first novel, LEMONGRASS HOPE was named the #1 reviewed book in 2014 by blogger, The Literary Connoisseur, and her third novel, THE TRUTH ABOUT THEA was an inaugural book selection for Francis Ford Coppola Winery’s Books & Bottles.

 Amy’s fourth novel, WHY WE LIE (Wyatt-MacKenzie Publishing), released March 5, 2019, and has been featured in Publisher’s Weekly and lauded by early reviewers as “timely” and “thought-provoking.”

Amy is also the author of the non-fiction book, LAWYER INTERRUPTED (ABA Publishing 2015) – featured by ABC27, Above the Law and more – and numerous essays and articles that have appeared in online and print journals including: Writer’s Digest, The Huffington Post, ABA Law Practice Today, The Glass Hammer, Divine Caroline, Skirt! Magazine, and more.  She is a past President of the Women’s Fiction Writer’s Association, a 2018 Writer-In-Residence at Ms.-JD.org, and a frequently invited speaker at legal conferences and writing workshops across the country.