Get on with it

The novel had been festering away in the bowels of my computer for well over two years. I’d made pretty good progress when I first started it: getting home from work and writing for an hour or so, then doing a bit more at the weekend. However, that was before the pitter-patter of tiny feet and the legion of excuses that comes with the arrival of kids.

They have indeed provided me with plenty of reasons to avoid dusting off those first 20,000 words and getting on with the process of writing. Sleepless nights; decline in useable brain cells; no time to grab a cup of tea, let alone sit down to write; no space; no privacy; no life. But, there came a point when I couldn’t go on blaming the little critters for my lack of creative enthusiasm. They’re sleeping through, I have my life back (to some extent) and there’s finally a little bit of space in my frazzled brain to hold new ideas.

If indeed, I want to stop saying:
‘I’d love to write a book’, and instead be able to say:
‘I’ve written a book’, then I need to get a bloody move on and actually
start tapping some keys.

So, a few weeks ago, I finally opened the Word document and reacquainted myself with the novel in progress. Since then, I’ve written another 10,000 words and have started mapping out the remaining chapters in more detail. It’s proving to be strangely cathartic and hasn’t impinged upon my precious down-time as much as I’d presumed it would. So far, I’m really enjoying the process of getting to know the characters again and getting into the story. I’m just hoping this will last and it’s not just a rush of initial enthusiasm. Watch this space!