The plan was all there. I spent a month brainstorming, outlining and cogitating. I felt excited about the story, and confident that I could make it good. I booked a writing retreat in the middle of nowhere for the first weekend in December, ready to crack on with the first draft of the new novel. […]
Category: Blog
Weeknotes – S01E14
Summary: Another week where sticking to scheduled writing time has produced excellent results. As ever, it’s not about being in the right frame of mind, it’s about sitting down and just getting the words out onto the page. But why is that so hard, when it’s what I really want to do? Monday: […]
Weeknotes – S01E13
Summary: Lots of time spent on writing projects this week, but not much in the way of actual writing. Planning, brainstorming, editing, and typing up notes are all really important things that need to be done, but it never feels like I’m making much progress when I spend time doing them. Monday: […]
Weeknotes – S01E12
Summary: Not much in the way of writing progress this week – too many fun, social things got in the way! Monday: I helped Bear post his account of our marvellous weekend away at a reading retreat, and then posted my own account as well. Wednesday: I met Hannah for […]
The Luxury of Space and Time to Read
At this year’s NAWG-Fest in September, I met Cressida Downing, who was one of the tutors. She also runs reading retreats with her friend, Sara Noel, and I went on one this weekend just gone. I’ve been to lots of retreats over the last few years – generally for writing – but this was the […]
Weeknotes – S01E11
Summary: Reading has been the order of the day this week, though I’ve also done quite a bit of planning for the new novel, which I’ve found really useful. Tuesday: I missed my usual writing date because I had to work on Monday, so I pledged to work on the new novel every evening […]
Weeknotes – S01E10
Summary: So, it turns out that if I have more time, I do get more stuff done on writing projects, as evidenced by the fact that I had this week off work, and have done project stuff on six out of seven days. Monday: Today required some personal dedication on my part. I had […]
Weeknotes – S01E09
Summary: Bits and pieces, here and there throughout the week. It didn’t feel like I was doing a lot, but what I did was useful and progressed several projects. And at least I kept my brain ticking over and working on stuff. Monday: I took myself off to Good & Proper quite […]
Weeknotes – S01E08
Summary: Two official writing days instead of one resulted in masses of stuff accomplished. Go figure. Monday: I met Ann for our usual writing date. I started with this month’s discussion post for GYWO, which had the title: “Feast or Famine: the pressure of fan expectations when your work seems to be doing too […]
It’s Not the Time You Have…
I’m at an Urban Writers Retreat day today, which is usually an excellent way to get tons of stuff done. And I have a long list of things I could be doing. But I’ve already finished the three main ones I wanted to complete (all of which turned out to be quite simple and quick) […]