Get Serious About Writing Time

It has been a long while since I blogged here, or anywhere else for that matter, but I have been writing, both freelance work for regular clients, some academic writing, and my own writing. Although there is rarely a day when I don't write something, I've decided that I need to make time for blogging again:

a) because it can mean connections with other writers,
b) because I've realised how much I miss blogging, and more importantly
c) because I hope to help and inspire those just getting started with their writing.

I hope to be able to write posts here that will entertain, help, and hopefully inspire other writers, especially those of you just starting out on your writing career.I'm currently waiting for my cover designer to produce the cover for the second Lambeth Croak Novel after almost three years. Apart from client work I'm half-way through the third book in the Lambeth Croak series and hope to have that completed by the end of the year. I have finally got some work done, about 25% of a draft of a Victorian crime novel, so there is plenty to be getting on with.

In addition to the above, a few weeks ago I signed up for Terri Main's Course Write Your Novel Your Way, and that story is set in 1920's London and the main character is a supporter of women's suffrage who wants to find out who killed her guardian and employer - her efforts are hampered by a handsome but insufferable police inspector. So that is where things are at now. With so much going on, I've realised that I need to be ruthless when it comes to television watching, too much reading and too much chatter, so I intend to make time for all my projects. If you haven't read it, then grab a copy of Terri Main's Time Management for Writers, it is a realistic and manageable way of keeping up with a variety of writing projects.

Writing Time

Recently, I have had to revise my relationship with writing and am now trying to give equal weight to the various projects and to my renewed venture in blogging, as I do to my freelance and academic work. A friend of mine is currently writing a novel, set in the present but intertwined with the past, and including American Indians - she also writes poetry, as I do, and we are members of the same writing group her in Derby, so there is plenty to talk about. Just recently, we've both come to the conclusion that we need to be more disciplined overall when it comes to our writing - the plan is to write for a set amount of time on our various projects each day - so I'll keep you posted on this

What I Love About Writing

If you love writing, whether you've always written or are just getting started then your reasons may be different from mine or anyone else's for that matter. What I love is the freedom it gives to go anywhere and be in the midst of anything, without ever moving from either your notebook or your computer. I have always written, whether it was the rhymes and silly plays I wrote as a child, the set pieces I did as part of my first degree, my later academic writing, client work, or the stories and poems that I write now. What do you love about writing? You could leave a comment and I'll get back to you.