Ok, so I’m six months in, and I probably should be taking stock, picking out the targets I’ve missed, the plans I haven’t kept, and exploring the reasons for those. Instead, I’m going to think about the best parts of the last six months, writing-wise, and how I can use these bursts of inspiration/clarity/industry/whatever to keep me going for the next six months.
The reason I am doing this is because writing should be fun. Yes, there will be days when you want to rip up your work, and start again, or days when you find it boring, tedious or just plain annoying. Yes there will be days when you think you have about as much talent as a carrot stick. But those are not the days that keep you writing. They are not the days that make your face light up when telling people what you are doing. They are not the days that you want to dwell on!
So…
What has been inspirational over the last six months?
-This blog. Not only does it allow me to focus my thoughts and be a bit reflective, but the responses I have had have been really important too. Inspiring others has made this whole six months seem more valuable.
-The weather. After last week’s post you probably realise this! 2011 and this first part of 2012 has provided me with downpours and snow showers, sunshine to bask in, fogs and mists that come and go like ribbons through the trees, greyness that tempers joy, and those perfect spring mornings when the world seems to be saying that everything will be well. Thank you, weather!
-People. From discussions with and feedback from other writers, to my family and friends sharing their experiences so generously when I have asked, and of course my partner who has been enormously supportive.
-Research. From internet searches and questionnaires to lectures, books, newspaper articles and magazine editorials, whenever I am frustrated these spur me on – and keep me writing.
There are so many more things that I cannot expand on without this entry being the size of a novella!
And what has gone well over these six months?
-Submissions. OK, so not as many as I should have done, but I’ve done some. I’ve researched markets, I’ve sent off for information, I’ve entered a competition. All these things are practical and show me I can deal with rejection/lack of response. It’s not too bad, actually – once things are sent off you can forget about them and move on. That’s something I wish I knew this time last year!
-NaNoWriMo. This was a useful experience, and showed me that I can just write, without worrying about the minutiae every moment. Getting something on a page enables you to edit. This was a very practical experience, and I think more valuable in retrospect than I felt at the time. As to the part of a story I created, it is still sitting on my computer (and various backups!) ready to be revived in the future. Maybe I’ll carry it on during next NaNoWriMo.
-My novel. Having gone from an idea in my head to a full blown storyline, with characters changing as I progress and the story developing naturally, I am proud of the work I’ve done on this so far. It is not finished, nor polished enough to send off, but it will get there. I have just one section left to complete and I’ll have met my first draft completion target. The first draft is the skeleton story, and I am really happy that I have got that story mapped out.
So what comes next?
-Reviews – of notes/notebooks, old work, assignments etc etc. It’s time, I think, to really focus on developing my portfolio more thoroughly, working out what’s missing, what I have to practise more and what I am most proud of.
-Editing – of any work I send out into the world, of course – but primarily of my novel.
-Submitting – of course. More and more and more!
-Non-writing related work. The project I referred to last week was a photographic project, looking at old images and restoring them digitally. This has given me hours of fun but also a number of ideas, and I find that taking on things that are not directly writing-related does build up my enthusiasm as well as giving me a lot of inspiration, so I think there will be more of these going forward.
Of course, there are hundreds of little things I can – and should – be doing but maybe the best part of writing is that the story doesn’t always have to be mapped out…
Happy writing,
EJ
🙂
Becoming a writer 
Leave a Reply