Avoiding Writing by Learning How to Write

I went to the two-day conference, 'How to Get Published' at Kingston University at the weekend. I'd seen it advertised in a couple of mags and, instead of doing my usual - "that sounds goods, maybe I'll do it next time", I actually booked a place, bundled the kids to my parents and went back to school.

It was a really beneficial two days that was pretty intense but packed full of handy info. It was great to hear from people from all sides of the industry, from agents and publishers to authors. Everyone was honest to the point of being off-putting but, as any budding writer knows, nothing's going to put you off once you get the bug! The authors were genuinely inspiring and although it took them years to make it, they never stopped trying. I have learnt that editing really is the key - Michael Ridpath spent years re-writing his first manuscript until he felt it was in the best possible condition to send to agents. The strategy clearly worked but it means I've got years of work ahead of me before I think about sending anything to anyone - slightly depressing!

Well, I'd better get back to it - 10,000 words to go...and that's just the first draft.

Seeing your Name in Print

Last week I received two magazines in the post that I had articles published in. Now, this doesn't happen very often, I hasten to add! I generally write web copy and, although it's great to see your work up there on a website, nothing quite beats the buzz of flicking through a magazine and seeing real life pages with your name and words on them.

I had a travel piece about Singapore in 'Owners Perspective' magazine and then a parenting article in 'Step Ahead', which is also on their website. There'll probably be a drought of magazine articles for months to come now!

Lost (for) Words

I took my laptop on holiday and thought that I'd tap away in the evenings as we sat in the campervan and listened to the weather in North Devon.

Well, it all went according to plan and words were indeed written but then they cruelly taken away again. On the last day of the holiday my son knocked the laptop off a table, the screen went blank and the computer died. I know, I know - back-up, back-up, back-up and normally I'm religious about it if I do ANY work at all on my laptop. But, having forgotten the memory stick and having absolutely no access to Internet (I normally email work back to myself for double security), I didn't back anything up during the week.

It wasn't a huge amount - about 3,000 words - but those words were written at a particular time, in a particular place and with a particular frame of mind that will never all be replicated exactly. In other words, they're gone.

I've tried to be pragmatic and I haven't screamed and shouted - it's worse than being angry; I'm sad. Now, I just can't face replacing those words with others that just won't seem authentic somehow and I haven't written any more of the novel for about four days.

I know I need to just dust myself off and stop being so bloody stupid. They're not miraculously going to reappear and no one else is going to finish writing the book so I need to snap out of it...tomorrow...

Setting a Deadline

There's nothing like a self-imposed deadline to get the fingers tapping away and I've just set mine. I've booked a place on the Writer's Conference at Kingston University at the beginning of September and I'm determined to finish the first draft of my novel by then.

There's no particular reason why this should be the deadline but it fitted in roughly with when I wanted to finish the first draft and it just seemed fitting that it would tie in with a conference about trying to get published. The idea is that I finish the draft, go to the conference, have a bit of thinking time and then get on with some serious editing.

Getting Inspiration

Well, it was a bit of a mixed bag last week. It started off so well with lots of words written on Monday and Tuesday and then it all went horribly wrong. I could blame the kids....hell yeah, let's blame the kids! After putting in 14-hour days breaking up fights, preparing food and mopping up poo, the last thing I felt like doing was switching on the computer and getting stuck into the novel.

I know, I know, these are exactly the type of excuses that everyone uses when they say "I'd love to write a book, but I haven't got the time". There's always time, you just sometimes need to give yourself a bit of a kick up the backside. Anyway, that kick finally came after reading the 'race to the finish line' Tweets of novelists Helen and Cally yesterday. It was really inspiring to read about their progress as they completed the last few scenes of their respective books and both sat down with a well-earned drink afterwards.

I think it reiterates the fact that writing can be such a solitary experience and the Internet is a fantastic resource, not just in terms of information about the craft itself, but also for getting in touch with other people suffering the same highs and lows.

They both found the time to write and today I got myself back on track. As the kids created mayhem and destroyed the house, I sat down with my laptop amongst the debris and wrote a few hundred words. Now I'm raring to go again - although I'll probably have to delete everything I wrote today as I'm sure it won't make any sense.