Joshua P. Simon - The Accidental Author

Like many writers, one of my dreams is to leave my day job behind and write stories full-time. I’m nowhere near ready to make that leap, but I’ve been given a small glimpse into how productive I would be as I’ve been recovering from my surgery at home.

In a perfect world, I’d probably work 50-55 hours a week writing, editing, outlining, blogging, marketing, and doing other things relating to the craft. Then I’d spend the remaining time devoted to God, family, friends, and pursuing other interests I no longer prioritize. 50-55 hours might sound like a lot to some people as it relates to work, but between my primary job and the time I devote to my writing now, I probably spend somewhere in the neighborhood of 60+ hours working anyway.

While recovering from intestinal surgery, I’m “working” less than those projected 50-55 hours but have still managed to do the following in my time off (some of this was in the hospital after a few days of doing pretty much nothing).

• Re-outlined the second part of Book 2 in the series I was working on prior to my surgery. I’m calling this series The Saga of Tyrus.


• Put together a rough outline of Book 3 in the The Saga of Tyrus.


• Outlined Book 1 in its entirety for a new sword and sorcery series I’ve been wanting to start. The first few books will be stand-alone stories set in the same world. For now, I’m just calling this The Adventures of Rondel and Andrasta.


• Outlined Book 2 in the same The Adventures of Rondel and Andrasta.


• Wrote several blog posts, including a guest post for The Fictorian Era which should be appearing within the next few days.


• Edited an old short story which will now act as the prologue to Book 1 of the The Adventures of Rondel and Andrasta.


• I started writing new fiction again on Friday, March 29th and have been averaging 3500+ words a day (something I’ve never done for that many days in a row) while starting on Book 1 in The Adventures of Rondel and Andrasta. I even had two days where I cracked 4000 words.
  
  After talking to my wife, I decided to take a short break from The Saga of Tyrus I had been working on before my surgery. The idea and characters for Book 1 in The adventures of Rondel and Andrasta were just eating at me to start. Considering my production thus far, I think it was a wise move. Even though I won't be able to devote as much time to writing this new book since I'll back at work and putting the final touches on Trial and Glory, I still feel pretty confident that I will finish a rough draft before June. After that, I’ll decide on how to budget my time while working on both The adventures of Rondel and Andrasta and The Saga of Tyrus at the same time (Am I crazy?).


• I’ve also read several novels as well as a few shorter works in the last two weeks, averaging close to 100+ pages a day. That is something I never thought I’d be able to do while writing so much.

I know my productivity will take a nosedive when I go back to work. However, this small glimpse into the life I’d like to have has been fun and done wonders for my frame of mind in the short term.

Maybe one day, the dream will become a way of life.