A Peek at Elizabeth Maddrey's Writing World ~ ~ The Borrowed Book ~

Thursday, March 13, 2014

A Peek at Elizabeth Maddrey's Writing World

Since I was little and realized that there were real people who wrote the books I considered my very best friends, I had a mental image of what the writer’s life was like. It involved a lot of reading, reclining, and of course writing—all while dressed in flowing white dresses. I’m not sure where that image came from, maybe I read too much Anne of Green Gables as a child (though really, can you have too much Anne?) Regardless, my writing life is nothing like that. So, what is my writing life?

I’m a stay-at-home, homeschooling mom. So really, that’s much more my life for the bulk of the day. I’m usually up by 6:30 or 7 when the younger of my sons starts calling out “All done!” from his crib. Mornings are our play time, chore time, errand time, and various group time (swimming lessons, Bible study, co-op, etc.) I try to get a quick post up on my Facebook author page and maybe schedule a few tweets in the midst of all that, but that’s really it for “writing” until after lunch.

Once lunch is handled and the baby’s in bed, it’s school time for my older son. Right now he’s in the first grade, so school doesn’t take all that long, leaving us with some quiet time while the baby finishes his nap. Usually my older boy will read or play and I’ll hop on my computer and write. Because I know the time is limited, I don’t always work on my work-in-progress in the afternoon (unless I’m nearing a deadline). Sometimes I’ll use that time for blog posts or scheduling interviews, doing email, that sort of thing. But if I’m in a groove with my WIP, then I’ll fire it up. It all depends.

When naptime is over, then it’s back to family mode. More playing and chores and what-have-you until after the kids are in bed. Then, usually, I’ll write while my husband plays Xbox or we watch TV (I can do some things while the TV’s going, not always.) We do have at-home date nights two or three nights a week after the kids are in bed and those nights I don’t write and he doesn’t Xbox (that’d be a pretty lame date, wouldn’t it?)

If I just killed your vision of a writer’s life, I apologize. It was a startling revelation to me, too. And as I’ve met more authors, it turns out the folks who get to write for 8 hours a day are few and far between. The majority of us (or at least the majority of the ones I’ve run into) are all pretty much just looking for thirty minutes here and there throughout the day to take the stories in our head and get them down on paper. I know for myself, I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Elizabeth Maddrey began writing stories as soon as she could form the letters properly and has never looked back. Though her practical nature and love of math and organization steered her into computer science for college and graduate school, she has always had one or more stories in progress to occupy her free time. When she isn’t writing, Elizabeth is a voracious consumer of books and has mastered the art of reading while undertaking just about any other activity. She loves to write about Christians who struggle through their lives, dealing with sin and receiving God’s grace.

Elizabeth lives in the suburbs of Washington D.C. with her husband and their two incredibly active little boys. She invites you to interact with her at her website www.ElizabethMaddrey.com or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/ElizabethMaddrey

Social Media: