Lessons in Life

Anyone who follows my blog regularly will notice the absence of posts recently. 

I would like to say that this is because I have been busy penning my novel like a dedicated author with a writing blog should be. In truth it is because I have been dealing with family crises courtesy of my kids!

That’s the thing about having children, they always come first, so no matter if you have a deadline looming, or the house hasn’t been cleaned for a month, whatever is happening in their life always tops what’s going on in yours. And during the past few weeks, two of my three children have been dealing with problems that have sapped the life and energy out of their parents. Enough said!

Now that ‘normal’ life has resumed, at least to some extent, I am finally able to concentrate on something else and I started thinking how these everyday dramas can inform and colour our writing. 

As writers, we spend many hours shut away from the world, struggling to find the right words to express what we want to convey, when real life going out all around us all the time. 

And there can be no substitute for getting out there and experiencing what is happening in the world. I have always found it easier to write a scene as I see it and to this end have visited locations from cafes to graveyards to soak up the atmosphere that will lend that extra something to a feature or story. These past few weeks I have been able to step inside the shoes of a teenager and observe modern life as it now – and all from the comfort of my own home.

We are all the sum total of our experiences and any lesson in life is never wasted.

I am now fired up and refuelled and ready to put pen to paper. 

Happy writing.