N.K. Jemisin’s Tips On Writing

GayNrd Editors October 17, 2021

N.K. Jemison didn’t publish anything until she was 30 and that was after having a mid-life crisis. She was working as a career counselor for at-risk populations that she actually found rewarding but the low pay and the sadness from the awful stories she heard on the daily pushed her.

Jemison says she had aways written as a hobby according to an interview in Fast Company, “decided to see if I could make money doing it. I would make sure I wrote one page, or even just 250 words, every day.”

When she had a draining day at work, “I would allow myself not to produce that day. Instead, I would write something completely irrelevant, like fan fiction or essays.”

On writing: “I tend to write in the middle of the day, sort of 11-ish to 4-ish. My artistic inclination is to write late at night, but I can’t be sleeping during the day because I have interviews or grocery shopping to do.”

What time she wakes up: 6:AM

On Social Media: “I use Twitter a lot—about an hour every day. When I was working as a counselor, social media was a support system. Now it’s kind of grim.”

Good Habit: “Having spent 20 years in the workplace, it’s difficult not to apply capitalist logic to everything, not to think about productivity in terms of the number of tasks you accomplish during the day. Creative work is not like that. It comes from your deepest self, so you’ve got to make sure that you and your self are right. By right I mean you do self-care, watch your stress levels. I try to make sure I’m doing a workout every other day or walking or taking a bike ride.”