Transitioning to a Full-Time Writing Career

July has been an incredibly productive and creative month for me.

Way back in February (pre-Covid shutdown) I gave my notice to leave my high school History and Government teaching job of 7 years and return to full-time research and writing as an author and historian. I won't go into the dilemma and final reasons for making that decision, but it simply comes down to not having enough time in the day to do all the things and have all the careers I want to have. As the financial devastation and stress of the pandemic for so many people became apparent, I did reconsider whether it was a good time to leave a paying job and health insurance... But, in planning to quit my job, I had already begun putting all of my take-home pay (and my book advance - see previous post on suffrage book) in savings as a cushion and in anticipation of our family not relying on my income, at least for a while. And I have the full financial and emotional support of my husband who, luckily, remains employed and has been urging me to take this leap and focus solely on writing for some time. I could not do this if it caused hardship or stress for our family right now.  Those who have known me longer than 7 years, however, will know that, before I was a high school teacher, I was a freelance author and editor, so in many ways this is just a return to that (though hopefully with less freelancing and more creative writing). 

Back to mid-March... I was teaching 4 different high school courses when we shifted to remote learning "temporarily," but as we one-by-one had to cancel all of the end-of-the-year milestone trips & events, and then slowly realized that we would not be returning to campus for the entire semester, I was devastated to end my school year and my teaching career in this way, without even saying goodbye to or seeing my students in my classroom again. By the time we recorded our virtual graduation speeches and then met the students for a brief drive-up diploma ceremony on June 11th, I was both incredibly sad and incredibly relieved that it was over.
I spent the remainder of June finalizing my school commitments, including going to campus with my daughter to clear out personal belongings from the classroom, organizing curriculum materials and digital files for my incoming replacement teacher, and tackling my school email in-box, while also re-organizing my home office.  ("Re-organizing" makes it sound like a nice weekend project, but I spent THREE MONTHS (one advantage of shelter-in-place) clearing out boxes of books, cleaning all remaining books & shelves, throwing out paperwork, cleaning rugs & floors, setting up a new desktop computer, and sorting research and notes for each in-progress writing project into fancy file boxes and folders.)

My beautiful home office with new computer set-up

I was determined that on July 1, 2020, I would start my new job as a full-time writer. 

And I did just that. I committed myself to sitting at my desk each day. And I started a daily journal to track and hold myself accountable to my writing, my research, and my reading.

So what did I actually DO in July??

Well, it has taken me several weeks to just re-enter writer mode and wrap my head around the projects I've left sitting for months and years. I needed to decide which projects to take up again, re-engage in the world of those projects, and think about new projects to start planning. I took some tangible steps, however, this past month, namely:

1. I joined an advanced-level fiction workshop and have submitted work twice to the critique group. We meet every other week (virtually, of course) and it has been amazing to get feedback and perspective and to read the work of other people committed to story and to craft. Our teacher is a long-time amazing writer friend of mine, Lydia Netzer (http://lydianetzer.blogspot.com/p/shine-shine-shine.html), who has published three novels and I so trust her guidance and judgment. Joining this group forced me to immediately re-engage with writing as practice and identity.

Going over pages for my workshop critique group 

2.  I submitted work to TWO fiction writing contests: One, a short story of about 3,000 words that was actually a revised chapter from a novel I started long ago; the other, new flash fiction written specifically for the contest.  It was a lot of fun to write and revise and submit fiction that I'm really proud of.  Wish me luck!

3. I started research on a project that's been rattling around in my head since I first came across the story for my suffrage book. The story is of a 1915 cross-country road trip undertaken by three suffragists who were tapped by Alice Paul to take a signed suffrage petition from San Francisco to Washington, D.C. to present to President Wilson. There's a local connection, as the leader of the trip, Sara Bard Field Wood, later lived near me, in Los Gatos. My research led me to Anne Gass, a Maine suffrage historian who RECREATED the entire road trip in 2015 - I'm so jealous! (https://suffrageroadtrip.blogspot.com/2015/11/)
Anne has also written a book about her great-grandmother, a prominent Maine suffragist (https://www.florencebrookswhitehouse.com/bio). It's been great to be in email communication with Anne and share ideas this past month!

4. I embarked on a crash course in screenwriting, a genre I've never tried before! I ordered and have already read several screenwriting guidebooks, have been watching Aaron Sorkin's MasterClass videos, and started following several blogs and writers on twitter.  I am contemplating writing a screenplay based on the suffrage road trip, and started outlining that project. Already, I can see that thinking about what makes a successful screenplay is going to provide insight for any kind of storytelling, and the need to show character through action, and make every action count.
This already has me thinking about what has not been working in my longer novel project... 

5. The big novel project: At month's end, I have set myself the task of revising my historical fiction manuscript based on the life of 19th-century photographer, Clover Adams. (https://www.masshist.org/features/clover-adams) I wrote most of this novel in 2010-2012 and got a bunch of passes from agents, and have not known what to do with it since. Two years ago (yikes, time flies!) I received some very helpful insights when I sent the first 30 pages or so of the manuscript to novelist & book doctor Barbara Kyle for evaluation. (https://www.barbarakyle.com/manuscript-evaluations/) After that, I put it aside once again due to my teaching and other commitments.
This past week, I reprinted the entire manuscript and, along with notes from Barbara, and notes from this video series by plot doctor, Martha Alderson (a Santa Cruz local, I believe), I began re-visioning the plot and structure. (https://marthaalderson.com/pwplotwrimoreviseyournovelinamonth/)

So, that's it. A month of rethinking, revising, reaching out to other writers & resources, and reconnecting with the writing life. I also read EVERY DAY.  The best writing course is to be immersed in the work of other writers. I owe it to myself to do this and I can't think of anything else I'd rather be doing. For years I've been saying, "If I only had the time..."  Now this is my time.

My 1956 Smith-Corona Silent Super with original case and paperwork

6. Oh, and I bought this mid-20th c. manual typewriter as a launch gift for myself! I'm not sure if I will type my next great work on it, but it inspires me to think about my favorite mid-20th c. authors clicking away, such as O'Connor, Jackson, Steinbeck....

Some writing inspiration from Octavia Butler 

The Dignity of Voting Rights; or, How Not to Disappoint Your Mother

This week I received a surprise package of 5 copies of my new book, Women's Suffrage: The Complete Guide to the 19th Amendment, from my publisher.

My daughter Lillian helped me set up this photo with my purple-white-yellow suffrage flag (gifted to me by students!) draped in the background. The 36 stars on the flag represent the 36 states needed (at that time) to ratify the amendment. Here's a picture of Alice Paul unfurling the flag outside the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the National Woman's Party after Tennessee became the final state to ratify on August 18, 1920.

The story of the nail-biter final suffrage vote in Tennessee is a legendary tale of a young, 24-year-old junior state assemblyman who listened to his mother. The legend has it that in Henry's coat pocket when he cast his women's suffrage vote that day was a recent letter from his mother, Phoebe "Febb" Burn. Buried in-between news from back home about the rain and the farm, and a local wedding and a neighbor's broken arm, she brings up suffrage a couple of times, finally instructing him to "be a good boy" and do the right thing: 

“Dear Son, … Hurrah and vote for Suffrage and don’t keep them in doubt. I noticed Chandlers’ speech, it was very bitter. I’ve been waiting to see how you stood but have not seen anything yet…. Don’t forget to be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt with her “Rats.” Is she the one that put rat in ratification, Ha! No more from mama this time. With lots of love, Mama.” 

(You can see a scan of the original full-length letter here: http://teachtnhistory.org/File/Harry_T._Burn.pdf)

I love the anecdote, not only because that is the end of that part of the story: The 19th Amendment was certified to the U.S. Constitution just a few days later. But I love it because we want to believe that Henry listened to his mother. Suffragists had long pointed out the indignity of having to "ask" men, as the only eligible voters, to secure their rights as women. So maybe it adds a little dignity back to the story to think that it was a disenfranchised 46-year-old woman, Phoebe "Febb" Burn, who actually decided the final vote. It's interesting that she notes in her letter that she did not know how he stood on the issue - so they had not discussed it. And the record shows that Henry originally sided with the anti-suffragists and intended to vote "Nay." He twice voted to "table" the issue and avoid making a decision.

I have a son of about the same age and I certainly like to think that, in the end, Henry was swayed by the idea of having to report back to his mother on how he voted on the women's suffrage question. (She's wouldn't be mad, she'd just be very disappointed.) 

Phoebe King Ensminger Burn (1873-1945)