Love and support

Being taken seriously is a problem for any aspiring writer and not just by publishers. One of the greatest difficulties would-be novelists have to face is getting their family and friends on side.

Obviously, most people’s partner, mother and possibly even one or two close friends will be among the first to congratulate the writer as he or she victoriously clutches that publishing contract. However, their help is needed long before this stage.

As a writer I work from home. Being at home it seems means that, unlike a ‘proper’ job which involves going out to work and renders you unavailable between the hours of 9-5 or thereabouts - you are always on call. 

In my own case, my sister is the worst offender and she will think nothing of calling me at 9.30am in the morning and expect me to be available for a chat. When I see her number come up on the caller display, I tend to not answer the phone, prompting her to call my mobile. I call her back in the evening and after some serious apologising on my part, I am forgiven but that doesn’t stop her from doing it again.

Being available, also applies to medical and dental appointments and with three children there are many. My husband would never dream of taking time off work to ferry take one of our children to the doctor even if, as is now sometimes the case, I have an important deadline to meet.

Writing my book has to be literally squeezed into the gaps in the rest of life. I have tried writing at weekends, getting up early and sneaking into the study only to find that my son has beaten me to it. I have taken my laptop to bed, to discover my husband has decided on an early night. Lately, my daughter has been at home studying for GCSEs and it seems that she can only revise if there is music playing at full blast. You get the picture.

Finding the time and space to write is difficult. I have even tried sitting in cafes and tapping away on my keyboard but there is only so much coffee any normal person can consume in one day.

If asked, my family would all say that they are supportive of what I do and I know that in their hearts this is true but love does not always equal support. 

If a writer is to have any hope of succeeding, what they need most is to be left alone to get on with it.

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.

Bitesize

As my eldest daughter is currently revising for her GCSEs, the term ‘bitesize’ has featured quite a lot in our house recently.

With the number of days gradually dwindling before the exams start, dividing revision into manageable bitesize chunks has become increasingly important. This started me thinking about my own pattern of working and ways in which I might be able to extend my own writing capabilities.  

The prospect of penning a novel is daunting and given the amount of time and commitment required to complete the task, it is not surprising that so many of us fall by the wayside.

I have found it easier to view each chapter as a whole, striving to make each one as complete in itself and approaching it in the same way as I would do a blog post or an article, both of which I manage to write fairly easily on a regular basis.

That said, my novel is still not progressing as fast as I would like it to and there are all too many distractions on my time and reasons why I don’t just ‘get down to it’ (much like my daughter!).

I was advised by a writer friend of mine recently to take the manageable approach one step further and divide each chapter into bitesize chunks.

“Just 20 minutes writing a day, will see your novel grow,” she said. This sounds like good advice and more importantly, it seems achievable.

It may take longer to reach the finish line but at least I stand some chance of getting there.

So, putting this advice into practice, I will start with this blog post and instead of rambling on for another half an hour and put off posting this entry until tomorrow, I shall end it here.

Are you fit to write?

Writing is a solitary business; it is also a sedentary one.

This is why a little under a year ago, I realised that action needed to be taken. As a full time freelancer, my waistline was expanding as fast as the social events in my diary were shrinking.

Deciding to tackle both problems in one go, I joined an exercise class. Now, I admit that I am not best known for physical endeavours. It was difficult to start with and even more tough to keep going but it achieved at least one of my aims – I got out of the house and met some new people.

My waistline steadfastly remained the same, probably due to the numerous cups of tea and biscuits necessary to keep the creative process flowing throughout the day. Unfortunately, good ideas, in a literary sense, do not burn many calories!

I have always enjoyed swimming, so I started going to the local pool every weekend and two things happened that I really didn’t expect.

Firstly, I became hooked and couldn’t wait for my weekly workouts, challenging myself to swim further and at a faster time, to such an extent that I added one or two early morning midweek sessions to my exercise routine.

Secondly, my writing improved. As I became more physically fit, I also became more mentally alert.

And my time at the pool wasn’t wasted, as I would be thinking about what I was going to write and coming up with new ideas while I was swimming.

I must confess, that I gave up the exercise class and replaced it with less vigorous social arrangements like meeting friends for lunch (and the occasional glass of wine) with the odd writing workshop for good measure.

But I have continued swimming and I have also dusted off my bike and taken to the great outdoors.  And this does at least seem to have prevented any further excess baggage collecting around my middle.

And for those times when my brain needs a recharge, as well as my body, I have discovered yoga.

Fit body, fit mind. Fit to write.

Starting over

Someone else has written my novel.

This is not the blog post I had planned to write but the discovery at the weekend that someone had beaten me into print with my fantastic idea, was such a shock that I am compelled to share this experience with you.

I am always interested in what is being published, both as a reader and writer. A couple of days ago, I accidentally hit on a recent new title and read the blurb with something akin to horror. The novel is virtually identical to the one I have been penning these last weeks and months.

I feel as if I already know the main protagonist in this new book as she is the twin of the main character in my own unfinished tome. Not only that; the themes, subsidiary characters and storyline appear to be almost identical.

How can this have happened? Did I accidentally leave the synopsis on the train, divulge the details of the plot at a writing group or maybe the author hacked into my computer?

The truth is that simply that the author got there before me. There is no copyright on ideas and someone else has had the same thought processes as myself. The fact that this other writer also believed that this book was worth writing, makes me feel that the premise was a good one. It has to be said that if I had got on and penned the book when I first had the idea, I might well have been the first one into print.

I should also mention that the aforementioned book has been self published and without reading it, I have no idea if it is any good. It was suggested by a friend that I should carry on with my original project and look for a mainstream publisher but, for me, the damage has been done. The book is no longer my own and I have to start over.

Frustrating and disappointing as this setback is, there are some positives. Over the past few months I have developed the habit of writing every day (well nearly every day) and my fledgling novel has grown. If I can do it once, I can do it again. The prospect is not quite as daunting as it once would have been.

So, my existing 35,000 words are being set aside for the time being and I am developing a new idea. I may retain one or two of the original elements but in essence, it will be a completely different book.

So what have I learnt from this experience?  

Simply to get on and do it – before someone else does!