Phil Rossi, friend of Writer Unboxed, professional musician, and author of Crescent, a sci-fi/horror novel, contacted me recently to ask if we might be interested in an article about his style of busy-dad-on-the-go writing. Of course I said ‘yes!’—especially with NaNoWriMo looming. (Find me at Therese_Walsh and Kath at Kathleen_Bolton.)

Thanks for being here, Phil!

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Guerilla Writing by Phil Rossi

I was up at 5:00 a.m. today, courtesy of a pink, cherubic wake up call. When that sweet little voice says “Daddy,” the day is officially a go. Five a.m. isn’t unheard of in this house, but considering the previous night—when I didn’t get up close and personal with my pillow until almost 2:00 a.m. after my concert/book signing ran late—things were a little dodgy at first. Regardless, the morning barreled on—I got my two-year old daughter ready for daycare while tending to the needs of my eight-and-a-half-month-pregnant wife. The multiple pets that share our house weren’t making themselves scarce either (steam cleaners, god bless’m!). In the precious few minutes before it was time to run out the door, I managed to make myself not look like a hippie mountain man. I took my daughter to daycare. After that, I began my hour-and-fifteen-minute commute to work by waiting on the ferry that would take me across the Potomac River. Work offered up its typical high-speed, little-time-to-breathe environment of teleconferences, spreadsheets, and drug safety. When the whistle blew, I was back in my car and home an hour and thirty minutes later, making dinner, entertaining my daughter, bathing her, getting her to bed, and then spending quality time with my increasingly immobile wife. Finally, around 10:00 pm, it was time to work on some projects—I released a podcast, recorded a song for the associated soundtrack, and yes, I even put the pen to paper.

I wrote over two thousand words on my new novel today, my seventh novel in four years. With my busy schedule, you’re probably wondering how I even managed to write fifty words. I’ll let you in on a little secret that I’m fond of calling Guerilla Writing. [Read more…]