Happy at writing - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog

Happy at writing - The Chief Happiness Officer Blog Lois McMaster Bujold, one of my favorite sci-fi authors, tried a new approach for her latest book: Having fun writing it. The first ideas for this book surfaced in June, 2004, when I was out on my back deck trying to soak up some Minnesota sunshine for the long winter ahead. (In other words, I made it up, in a welcome idle moment.) I began writing in August, quite soon after Id turned in the final manuscript for The Hallowed Hunt. This was to be a book written for my own pleasure, at my own pace, without the constraints of a contract or pressure of a deadline. The duology length came as a bit of a surprise to me, but it was precisely what the story, as it developed, needed. Also a surprise was how fast the writing went; I finished the first draft in Aug. 2006, a mere year after Id started, the time it would usually take me to write a single much shorter book. It was fun! If youre into sci-fi at all, try reading her Vorkosigan books, featuring Miles Vorkosigan, the most unlikely sci-fi protagonist ever. Theres about a dozen of them and theyre all great fun, my personal favorites being Memory and A Civil Campaign. I find it interesting that Lois decided to skip deadlines and just have fun only to find that her writing went faster and she enjoyed it more. This is at odds with the more traditional image of the artist suffering for her art. And the same concept probably also applies at work. Focus less on deadlines and more on enjoying work, and you will find that you get more work done and have more fun. By the way: Bujolds publisher is Baen. Check out the proud motto of the Baen online bookshop: If its in stock , We have it! Thanks for visiting my blog. If you're new here, you should check out this list of my 10 most popular articles. And if you want more great tips and ideas you should check out our newsletter about happiness at work. It's great and it's free :-)Share this:LinkedInFacebookTwitterRedditPinterest Related