Finding Time to Write with Ronda Eden Illustrator of The Brothers Foot and author Stephen Cormey

Many writers, especially those first starting out, have to find writing time around full-time jobs and even family life in most cases. But what many don’t realize is finding time to writer will always be a change, even if you do become a full-time writer.

Today, we have Ronda Eden, writer and illustrator, and Steve Cormey song writer and children’s book author here to share a bit about how they find time to write and illustrate around their busy life styles. You’ll find they both don’t use the “Butt in Chair” method when it comes to writing.

Ronda: Finding time to write/illustrate, I feel, is a very personal thing. What schedule works for one will not work for another. This is why it is good to have a lot of ideas to choose from. Try each one out and see what works for you. Then, as things change in your life (as we all know they do) you can modify what you do in accordance to what’s going on at any given time. Be realistic! I have found that I don’t need a lot of time. What I need is quality time where I can be still and quiet, and let the word and images just flow in. Too much time finds me floating about with no direction. That’s sort of nice, but not productive. Approximately 1½ hour time slots locked in my studio work best for me. I also need to move around and be active so this allows me to get my blood flowing, so I don’t nod off to sleep.

 Here is my average day (Is there really any such thing as average?) I take short breaks and sometimes a nap.

5:30am – 6:00 do yoga or stare at the wall with a cup of coffee.

6:00 – 7:30am - fiddle about on the computer answering emails or surfing the web.

7:30 – 9:30 am - horse chores (we have a horse boarding facility with approximately 70 equines.

Break -10 – 11:30 am Studio (uninterrupted)

Break – 12 noon – 1:30pm horse chores (we feed hay and goodies 3 times per day)

Break – 2pm – 4pm studio (uninterrupted) sometimes I do actually fall asleep here but I consider that an investment in future energy.

4-6 pm Exercise or train endurance horses

6 pm evening horse chores

7:30 pm break read and fiddle about on the computer.

During the Summer I travel to endurance rides so much of this goes out the window. I will jot down ideas as they come to me during this time. They enter into a sort of gestation period. Then I get back into a solid routine it in bouts. I need to be very flexible, go with the flow and roll with the punches.

Steve Cormey: Finding the time to write is not too difficult for me. I work nights and usually have a few hours in the afternoon to journey up into the mountains with a notebook (in the summer) and jot down some thoughts. There’s always time to sit at the computer no matter what the weather. 

I don’t put aside a certain time or block of hours to write. If I feel inspired, then I make time. Some days, I’ll wake up with an idea and jot it down, go back to sleep and look at it later to see if I think it’s worth doing more with.
    

I usually save everything I write down and file it away even if I’m not going to do anything with it right away because I might be working on something else later and remember a line or two that I saved and can ‘plug it in’ some other project.

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About our Guests:

Ronda Eden is the illustrator of The Brothers Foot written by Stephen Cormey. Ronda’s been a teacher, storyteller, writer, touring art curator, gallery owner, horse trainer and artist A.O.T. (Among Other Things). Ronda’s hobbies include the joy of  hiking, climbing, wind surfing, belly dancing, jogging, traveling, swimming, daydreaming, listening to music and of course, horse riding. Apart from the later, none of these activities get much of her attention these days. Especially travel! Ronda loves it right where she is, doing exactly what she is doing.

Steve Cormey has entertained the people of Grand County and Colorado for over thirty years. An award winning songwriter, he has written, produced and released six very successful CDs while playing an always full schedule of live performances.

His background in Folk ,bluegrass, rock and traditional music is evident whether live or on CD. Colorado Blue, Somewhere with a Beach, Never Summer..forever home, Walking Stick and the all solo-acoustic Pure & Simple CDs offer a potpourri of musical styles, and his Old Fashioned Christmas is a Yule Tide favorite. Steve’s live performances show off a talented mix of danceable music, humor and fun! 

Stories for Children Publishing will be touring “The Brothers Foot” children’s book, written by Steve Cormey and illustrated by Ronda Eden all month long in May 2011.

You can find out more about “The Brothers Foot” World of Ink Author/Book Tour schedule at http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com/TheBrothersFoot.aspx. There will be giveaways, reviews, interviews, guest posts and more. Make sure to stop by and interact with Steve Cormey, Ronda Eden and the hosts at the different stops by leaving comments and/or questions. Steve and Ronda will be checking in throughout the tour.

In addition, come listen to Blog Talk Radio’s World of Ink Network show: Stories for Children at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork. The hosts VS Grenier, Kris Quinn Chirstopherson and Irene Roth will chat with Ronda Eden and Steve Cormey about “The Brothers Foot”, writing, the publishing industry and experiences with virtual tours. Renee will also be sharing writing tips and trials, and tribulations of the writer’s life.

The show will be live May 16, 2011 at 1pm EST (12pm Central, 11am MST, and 10am PST). You can tune in at the World of Ink Network site at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/worldofinknetwork. You can listen/call in at (714) 242-5259. (Note: if you can’t make the show, you can listen on demand at the same link.)

To learn more visit Stories for Children Publishing at: http://storiesforchildrenpublishing.com