JANE ISAAC
The crime author’s working routine has changed since she began writing full-time, she tells Lynne Hackles
Lynne Hackles
MY WRITING DAY
‘At the moment I am going through a transitional period,’ says Jane Isaac, author of the DI Will Jackman Series and The Truth Will Out. ‘I have written when the mood has taken me, fitted the words around my day job, my trusted computer balanced precariously on my lap, wherever I perched myself. Then, earlier this year I handed in my notice and made the decision to write full time, at least for a while.
‘In my old life I took my daughter to school and drove on to work. Sometimes I’d get up at the crack of dawn to add to my manuscript before my family woke. Sometimes I’d dash home and pen some words while preparing dinner in the evening, or would sit around the pool at the nearby leisure centre, my fingers rippling across the keyboard as I waited for my daughter to finish her swim class. I didn’t have a particular writing routine and almost spray painted the words onto the page, concentrating on getting the story down, something to be edited later. At the end of last year I was struggling.’ Writing and promoting book four while editing book five to a deadline, and working a day job, absorbed every hour of every day. ‘Ever since I started my first novel, almost seven years ago, I’ve juggled personal time and writing. I know some writers manage this brilliantly, yet it’s always been a challenge for me and I found I was sacrificing more and more family time with every book.