A writing habit
My main problem is that I don’t have a writing habit. I don’t get up at the crack of dawn to squeeze an hour in before work and I don’t type into the small hours when everyone around me sleeps. And actualy, I can’t even claim “everyone around me” as an excuse since I live alone.
In a vain attempt to find my habit, I enrolled on an OU course in creative writing (A215). Did it work? Well, yes and no. To be fair, I didn’t put the work in - I found that I resented having to spend time working on assignments such as short stories and poems when I had a novel in my head that I should have beeen working on. Of course, I would never have been working on the novel because it’s been in my head for two years now and never hit the page. So in that sense, I never really gave the course a chance.
But I did get the assignments done and have a small portfolio of short stories and poems to show for it - and I actually I found that it has loosened up my creative muscles. When I was at school (yes, I can just about remember that far back) I always had dozens of ideas for stories buzzing about in my head. Then I went to college and university and then work and the ideas dried up. Completing the OU course has brought some of those ideas back so it was worth it just for that.
Guildford book festival
The Guildford Book Festival is running for the next couple of weeks so I’ve registered for a couple of talks and a writing workshop. The talks are on crime ficiton, which is kind of my genre so I’m hoping they’ll be inspiring.
My writing week
So, this week I’m on leave from work with the intention of staying home “to write’. Monday has not gone too well. Sometimes I amaze even myself with the lengths that I go to to avoid writing - you’d think I HATED it. Today, as part of keeping my week clear for the muse, I have:
- booked an appointment for the dentist
- booked an appointment at the hairdresser
- booked an appointment at the vet (for the cats, not me)
- asked to go into work on Thursday (though that is sort of writing related - more later)
Doesn’t augre well does it? Maybe I’m just not designed to write during the day. For sure, I’m more of a night person - maybe that’s the answer. Maybe I should use this week to stay up late and write, rather than crucifying myself during the day.
A while ago I had a conversation with an online writing friend, which was pretty much half an hour of me explaining all the reasons [read: excuses] why I can’t write. He asked me a critical question - “Do you actually enjoy writing?”. For a moment I was staggered - how could he possibly think that the answer might be no?! But then I thought about it and actually, of course that’s what he thinks! I spend so long worrying about why I can’t settle into it and feeling guilty for not doing it, I forget the buzz that comes when you actually finish something. I need to remind myself that yes, I DO like writing. Actually, I love to write; I can’t imagine not having it to worry about.