7of My Bad Habits — And Why I’m Amazed I Wrote a Book At All

When I close my eyes and imagine a writer — more specifically, a writer of books — I always envision a composed person sitting down at a neat, antique wooden desk in a cozy, well-furnished room with a huge picture window, perhaps overlooking a wild, wooded landscape. Sometimes, it’s raining. Sometimes, an artful ray of sunshine breathes through the sky’s blue and the trees’ green. The writer looks up from her absorbing work, inhales deeply, invigorated by the scent of fresh air mingling with the aroma of timeworn volumes and her purpose is clear.

Now, I compare that to my writing life — and I laugh. While the writing process itself is often productive and fulfilling, the image of me actually in that process more resembles some kind of cartoon animal’s red-faced and sweaty flailing, served with a side of teeth-gnashing, head-banging, caffeine-imbibing panic.

But a weird thing happens when you set out to write a book: You find out that if you work on it daily, it gets done. And becomes a real book and … whoa.

That happened to me, as I wrote the first book in my middle-grade series, Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook (with the cover illustration by the amazing Marta Kissi being revealed here for the first time!). I started the project while pregnant with my second son and — even though parenthood and schedules and general life craziness made it hard — it eventually became a full-blown book.

And — not to pat myself on the back too much, but — my main character, Gabby Garcia, a sports-obsessed, all-star pitcher who wins at life, is a force of positivity. A force of positivity I somehow channeled, even when I was being anything but positive. So, I say to anyone thinking about launching a creative project, whether that’s book-writing or painting or papier-mâché dune buggy-building in your garage, even the worst of your bad habits don’t have to stop you. Here are a few of my worst not-conducive-to-productivity habits, plus Gabby’s take on how my negatives might actually be positives:

1. My desk is a mess. Every day of every week, I loudly announce an intention to overhaul my work space, somehow changing the cluttered office into a minimalist Zen retreat that Marie Kondo would award her highest Magic of Tidying-Up prize. And every week, I instead pile magazines, school forms, bills, my son’s half-done craft projects (the only kind there is, I think) atop the chaos and try my best to ignore it.

Gabby’s take: The more stuff you have around, the more inspiration you can gather, right? Hmm, I’m totally using that the next time my room looks like it exploded.

2. My sleep habits are not ideal. A good night’s sleep supposedly can be really great for creative endeavors. A good night’s sleep is also nonexistent when your toddler considers bedtime and crib railings mere suggestions that don’t jibe with his wild ways.

Gabby’s take: Imagine that you will sleep somewhat normally again someday … and then who knows what you’ll be capable of? Superhuman record-breaking feats, probably.

3. I fall down internet holes in the name of research. Gabby Garcia is a huge sports fan. She has heroes and idols who’ve done things that, well, I need to research in order to get right. But sometimes I overdo it. A need to find three or four funny things Yogi Berra said turns into an 857-tabs-open-at-once curiosity-satiation fest, and it can be quite dangerous.

Gabby’s take: Hmm, it sounds like a way to cross-train your brain. Can it really be such a bad thing? Your brain might be like a three-sport athlete by now.

4. Time management is hard for me. A routine would be ideal, but any hope for developing one isn’t going to happen — at least not until both my kids are in school, but more likely not until they’re both driving or, really, in charge of choosing their retirement plans. Some days, when there’s a doctor’s appointment, a sports practice, a last-minute school project to complete, overdue library books to return, nothing to eat in the fridge, and a possum in the garage (this happened recently, don’t ask), the best I can do on a book is getting pieces of it written in fits and starts. But fits and starts are better than nothing. And they’re also an excellent way to take your mind of the possum in your garage.

Gabby’s take: If I weren’t so amazing at baseball, my life goal would be to invent a way for people to be two places at once. Until then, little by little sounds okay. You can’t hit a home run every at-bat. (Especially off one of my pitches. Ha!)

5. I can’t sit still. I can never fault my children for their climbing, crazed limbs, and their penchant for running everywhere. Writing, as Dorothy Parker said in different words, is a lot of “butt in chair” time — and I can do that, to a degree, but after a while, I start to feel dangerously close to spontaneous combustion. So I need to step away sometimes. For my work on Gabby Garcia, that meant a few method-writing trips to the batting cages. I like to think that it helped.

Gabby’s take: You maneuvered batting cages into your workday? Usually, I want nothing to do with being an adult, but you might be onto something.

6. I can be overly chatty. Before writing full-time, I worked in offices where conversation was as simple as a spin in my chair to launch banter with one of my coworkers. While I love the solitude of writing, there are times when my mind is cluttered with things to say and I end up commenting on a Facebook thread or sharing something my kid did as I look for a laugh (I admit it, I like getting a laugh). I just have to be careful not to overdo it.

Gabby’s take: Who doesn’t like a good joke?

7. I’m not perfect. What, neither are you? And it’s okay? I agree, in full. Perfectionism, and the overthinking it can cause, is downright nasty and unhelpful. There’s a passage in Tina Fey’s book Bossypants that I remember when I start to fall into the trap; as a writer on “Saturday Night Live,” Fey said at some point she knew she had to BE DONE, otherwise she’d have no show to air when it was supposed to be on. And we all have a show to get done, so to speak. In her words: “You can’t be that kid standing at the top of the water slide, overthinking it. You have to go down the chute.” You’re welcome to come with me. The water’s not perfect, but it’s surprisingly okay.

Gabby’s take: Hey! I think I told her this way before this Tina person did. I used a high-dive, though. But, whatever! Jump in!

I can’t wait for you all to meet Gabby in the new book. The cover for Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook amazes me, too, because Marta — again, the amazing Marta — created it based on my words. (What an honor!)

Gabby Garcia’s Ultimate Playbook goes on sale on May 9, 2017 from Katherine Tegen Books/HarperCollins Children’s.