Writing's easy...

All you have to do is stare at a blank piece of paper until your forehead bleeds. Or so says Tony Jordan, screenwriter.

I don't know what it is about the last couple of months, but a fair few authors have been struggling to produce the goods of late.

David Bishop has this to say on the subject. Nick Kyme's struggles are catalogued here. Chris Wraight's been feeling the pressure too, as has Si Spurrier. Even the mighty Dan Abnett has had his own creative demons to battle of late.

And I'll add my own name to that list. I thought my tenth novel was hard going but as it turns out, that one was a walk in the park compared to number eleven. Soul-destroying is how I'd describe the situation right now.

Writing's hard! :-(

The old work-life-writing balancing act

As someone who spent years trying to juggle a full-time job, pursuing my dream of being a writer and having something at least approximating 'a life' I can sympathise with David Bishop.

On his blog today he talks about struggling with balancing his new work commitments (he's involved in setting up a Creative Writing MA at Edinburgh Napier University) whilst trying to make it as a screenwriter.

David's is a blog I follow regularly, partly out of a general nosiness, seeing what other writers are up to, and partly because he talks a lot of sense about the whole writing thing in general.

His post concludes thus:

More than ever, I have to be disciplined about carving out space for writing - and space for living. I refuse to let my part-time job become an excuse for not pursuing my goals, objective, ambitions or dreams as a writer.

If that means writing from 6.30 every morning for two hours before going to work, so be it. If that means coming home and writing for another three hours in the evening after work, so be it. If you want to succeed, you have to be willing to make sacrifices. Whining about too much work won't get the job done. Nobody owes you a living as a writer, the world isn't holding its breath for your stories. You have to make time.

You have to write with all the heart and talent and craft and brains that you've got. You have to push yourself to do better, challenge yourself to come up with a better line of dialogue, a better scene, a better story. You've got to make things happen, take responsibility for your successes and failures, validate yourself through the work you do. Don't expect competitions or prizes or acclaim to make you a complete person as a writer.

It's all on you just like it's all on me - so make it happen. Onwards!

Inspired by David's words I pulled my finger out today and finished the first draft of my latest project - which has seen me burning the candle at both ends, as well as the midnight oil! Now all I have to do is go through all 133,000 odd words of it and turn it into nearer 90,000 words of polished prose before submitting it to my editor. But at least the first draft is finished, and it feels good.

Oh, and that whole work-life balance thing? I gave up my full-time job to help achieve, but when I do actually achieve it, I'll let you know. ;-)

The Ladybird Book of the Policeman

I found the following through David Bishop's blog, Vicious Imagery.

If you're of a certain age (like me) you probably remember the classic Ladybird books. They were slim hardbacks, I suppose, with beautifully painted watercolours throughout, designed for first readers. As well as re-telling traditional fairytales, they also had many factual books, including a series called 'People at Work'.

Well, now some wag has updated the Ladybird Book of the Policeman for a modern, adult readership. You have been warned.

Look, Mum - no handlebars!

I found this choice little number on David Bishop's blog. Go check it out.

A little discipline

One of the hardest things about doing what you love and working from home, is making sure that you do actually work and make a success of what you love doing. There's no bones about it, what you need is plenty of self-discipline - which is easier said that acquired.

Over at his blog Vicious Imagery, writer (and one-time editor of 2000AD) David Bishop makes the case very well. As David says, 'A writer writes. Onwards.'

My Three Month Plan

Over at his blog Vicious Imagery, David Bishop has posted his plans, writing-wise, for the rest of 2008 and into 2009, inspired by one Miss Read, and her aspirations for the next three months.

Well, it's got me thinking too. What's my three month plan. This isn't so much what I hope to do as what I already have in terms of committments or projects that could take off at any moment.

So, between now and the end of September I need to:
~ Finish Human Nature, the novel I'm writing at the moment for Abaddon Books.
~ Plot the next two Ulysses Quicksilver adventures.
~ Plot and write another Ulysses Quicksilver short story.
~ Go through What is Myrrh Anyway? with my editor.

And between now and the end of September I may be:
~ Writing another book in its entirety (but I can't say anything more than that at the moment).
~ Pitching for another book (or books) with another publisher.
~ Starting on another project, if the sales of another of my books goes well.

And that's not including the regular round of jotting down ideas, developing other projects and sending out enquiry letters in the hope of further work in the future.

That suddenly sounds like quite a lot to achieve (oh, and I'm going any on holiday in that time too), so I'd better get back to work!

Until next time...