Blogs, books and busyness

I know I have neglected this blog a bit recently but also know that it happens and hey the world hasn't ended!  And if you're reading this dear reader, you are still with me and I thank you for that!

I've been cracking on with my book on Machu Picchu - now getting to the exciting stage where I can talk about it and show people and ask for feedback (while only slightly feeling panicked/ hiding under blanket/ screaming eeeek). More about that in good time...

I have also been busy setting up something I have been thinking about for a while - a blog focused on being mostly vegan. I decided to try being vegan last year and have stuck to it although not always 100%!
I've been wanting to write about it more and was spurred on by taking part in a recipe swap in March thanks to Twitter (see I don't waste my time on there - it is valuable research and contact building!) I'll be trying out recipes, reviewing restaurants and other things, charting the ups and downs and musings on being, wel,l as the name suggests, virtually vegan!

Like most other people who write, I don't just write. I have a full time job, which is temporary so I need to try to keep my hand in with freelance work too as that's what I'll be likely returning to doing when the contract ends.  I have my little family of teenage son, cat and dog to look after, sort out and have fun with. Oh and the fish - I can't forget the fish. I am single so solely responsible for things like doing the hoovering, shopping, putting the bins out and, this weekend's surprise task, sorting out a workman to fix the garage roof. I have friends I would like to see more of and do more with. I haven't seen my brother since Christmas and he only lives in Yorkshire. Then there's social media...

I have never had and always thought I should have a routine, a definite time, schedule or window in the diary for writing. I still think I should have. But do I need to? I'm not sure.
Does it help to have a fixed routine or is it just more stressful if you can't stick to it or find you don't always feel at your writing best in your scheduled time slot?
I am still working out what's best for me.  I know I am a night own and could happily start about 8pm and write all through the night. But realistically I can't do this and carry on with the rest of my life. I thought I should try getting up an hour earlier to at least write something - but I also find that about 30-45 minutes into writing I am flowing and don't want to stop. Plus it means setting the alarm for 5am...

Have you found anything that works well for you?

My first flash!

I struggle at times to call myself a writer as I'm still in awe of 'proper' writers - mystical creatures who craft creative gems, gripping stories and fabulous fantasies - all from scratch. (I did love the comment I saw going round twitter this week that if you write you are not an 'aspiring' writer - if you write then you are a writer. Full stop.)
My comfort zone is non-fiction - which of course is still writing and still a creative task albeit you don't (or shouldn't) really make it all up! I have done a creative writing course, which I enjoyed, have various short stories drafted, have a notebook full of ideas, plots and characters, and of course have the ubiquitous half finished novel tucked away (who doesn't!).

But I don't 'do' fiction regularly, don't feel part of that world, and I've never shared what I have written with anyone - beyond tutors and other students on the course I did. I write articles and reviews which I am more than happy of course to be made public but even my current WIP is a non-fiction travel memoir type. However, yesterday, inspired by National Flash Fiction Day and a prompt on Anonymous Legacy, and encouraged by Sarah I took the plunge - the first time I have tried 'flashing' (see what that's all about here) and the first time of putting a piece of fiction up in public on someone else's blog for anyone to see. And, like most things, it wasn't as scary as I thought, or difficult, in fact it was great fun - and got lots of other ideas flowing too!

So thank you Sarah, Angela and the other lovely people who read and commented - you may just have started something now...

And - in another first - here is my 100 word Flash, dear reader, just for you to see!


Her feet slapped the bridge, water spittling out from under each heavy step. She hunched her shoulders under the umbrella as the rain drummed down. Her face flinched as his words spat through her mind. A gust of wind caught the umbrella, she watched it slip from her grip and dance away in the river – free, flowing. Tearing off her coat, the rain's fingers felt fresh on her skin. She climbed the fence, balanced a moment, then dropped. A figure nearby, hearing the splash, came running. She gargled out a laugh. She didn't need saving. She was waving not drowning.

It’s alright to write

I have written things for other people for years – starting off in journalism, then moving into PR. When someone pays you to write for them, whether copy for press releases, marketing materials, web content, newsletters or whatever, they are valuing and validating your professional skills and expertise.

I still write and enjoy writing for other people. It’s what I ‘do’, it’s what I get paid for it, it’s my job.

But when it comes to writing for myself, telling people I’m writing just for me or calling myself a writer – it’s a different matter.   Yesterday I went to my first ever writing workshop with a mix of excitement and trepidation. 

Organised by New Writing North it was run by Stephanie Butland – who is a Writer. Stephanie has a very popular blog www.bahtocancer.co.uk and a book of the same name published.  Stephanie is also a de Bono trainer, a very lovely lady and she bakes brilliant cakes.  The group was a friendly mix of interesting people and the workshop was, for me, really useful, inspiring, and in no way intimidating!  It got me thinking about and articulating all sorts of issues to do with writing (and some to do with not writing).

Thinking more about my misconceptions about why I can’t/don’t/ shouldn’t call myself a writer, it's because, for me, Writers:

• write like they breathe– all the time, the words just flow, they can’t help it, it’s natural and easy for them to do 
• are published – they have books with their name on sitting on shelves, agents and publishers impatient to get the next one out and avid readers hanging on every word 
• who blog are read by hundreds of people, receive scores of positive comments and are just about to get that book deal based on their blog, or are blogging about their soon to be published novel 
• all live in Sheds (luxury ones with carpets and log burners), speak in Shakespearian sonnets and wear velveteen waistcoats with ruffle sleeved shirts.

Okay – maybe not quite that last one - but I do tend to imagine that Writers are a particular clique that I don’t belong to, enjoying a party I haven’t been invited to.

With Stephanie and my fellow workshopees we explored issues like this and a whole load more such as sharing your work with others, finding time and giving yourself permission to write. Points that gave me real food for thought included:

• the observation that someone who likes cycling will comfortably call themselves a ‘cyclist’ without needing to win the Tour de France and quite happily spend a lot of time (and money) doing their thing just because they love to do.
• If you’re uncomfortable saying you’re a writer (which can get a usual response of ‘so what book have you have published’) and you blog, call yourself a blogger. Blogging is now well established and widely recognised as a writing form, (hey, you can even win awards!)
• Don't just sit waiting for it to happen, set yourself a goal, targets, a plan, know how many words you want to do in a day/ week/ month, put time in your diary to make it happen.
• Choose to get on with it – don’t just talk about it, give yourself limiting beliefs or excuses why you can’t/ shouldn’t/ wouldn’t – because of course the one thing you must do if you’re a writer, of any sort, is write!  And it is, actually, alright to write.

So, here I am… writing. Not sure if that makes me a Writer – but it feels right!

And, thanks also to Stephanie for pointing out this advice from Kingsley Amis,

'The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of one’s pants to the seat of one’s chair’.