Thoughts From Reverb10

Over on my personal online journal, I'm taking part in a challenge called Reverb10. Essentially, it is a 31-day challenge, involving a prompt each day designed to reflect on the past year and think ahead to the next. It's been interesting and fun so far - it's certainly making me think.

Anyway, I found December 2nd's prompt particularly interesting, and it seems relevant to this blog, so I thought I'd share some of my thoughts here. (Copied from my personal journal and edited.)

"December 2: Writing
What do you do each day that doesn't contribute to your writing - and can you eliminate it?"

I've been thinking a lot recently about how to be more productive with my writing, and the reasons behind it when I go through phases of not feeling as focussed or creative as I would like to be.

So what is it that gets in the way? I've thought about it extensively and I think it mostly comes down to just a few things.

I guess the first and most obvious thing is simply that life often gets in the way. Other responsibilities, other commitments often have to come first. Time is always a factor.

I absolutely loved NaNoWriMo for exactly this reason. It forced me to focus and meant that I really had to schedule writing time into every day in order to meet the challenge. Knowing that thousands of other writers out there were doing the same things, and being able to communicate with some of them about it, was very helpful as well.

Right now, I'm trying to continue with the momentum I built up during NaNo by immediately jumping into editing the novel I wrote in November as well as starting new projects.

And then, of course, there's the dreaded writer's block. That feeling of staring at a blank screen, willing the words to come to you, but your mind just staying stubbornly empty. Not much is more frustrating than this! I've learned to just step away from the computer, do something else for fifteen minutes, and then try again. Often, this works. Sometimes it doesn't. Some days, I guess, are just not meant to be greatly productive ones.

And then, of course, there's good old self-doubt. I have low self-confidence and self-belief anyway, and I do sometimes find the voice I like to call Brain Demon telling me that I am useless at writing. And then I start thinking, well, what's the point? I've found that one possible way to fight this is to read back something I've written that I am proud of, to remind myself that, yes, I can do it!

They say the first step to success is to imagine it. So close your eyes for a moment, and visualise your name in print, writing the final line of that novel, whatever it is you're trying to achieve. It will make you want to continue, believe me.

And, finally, one of the things that keeps me motivated is talking about writing with people who are likely to be supportive. Of course, talking to other writers is always fantastic and something I can't recommend enough! But any support from those around you is more valuable than I can easily say. One of the things that really kept me motivated during NaNo was the people who celebrated every significant word count milestone with me, and kept saying that they couldn't wait to read the finished product.

So, my fellow writers, I'd be interested to know your thoughts. What prevents you from writing as much as you'd like, and what motivates you to keep going?

How It All Began

People often ask me when or how I knew I wanted to be a writer. They also often ask why I decided to become one.

The more I think about it, the more I realise the inaccuracies in questions like these. You see, I didn't just decide one day that I wanted to be a writer.
Rather, I am a writer. It's as innate part of who I am.

I have always been a writer. I was one of those kids who always used to get told off for gazing out of the window and daydreaming at school. I made stories up to entertain myself since before I can even really remember.

I guess I was about seven or eight when I started actually writing them down, though I kept them hidden and never let anybody read them. Looking back, I don't know why I was embarrassed. I suppose I made the stories up for myself, first.

I never really stopped completely, though I went through phases of writing more than at other times. I think I was twelve when it became something I did regularly, and I haven't really stopped since.

I got through some of the most vicious days of bullying by comforting myself with stories – stories where I cast myself in the heroine's role and always had the last laugh in the end. Aged fourteen, I wrote a painfully truthful story about bullying, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. I remember my English teacher (who was fantastic) reading it, looking me in the eyes, and saying something like, 'this is real, isn't it?'

In class, I would always be scribbling bits of stories or lines of poetry or song lyrics on pages torn from my books when nobody was looking. My pencil case was filled with slips of paper with half-formed ideas on them. I quickly learned to write things down as soon as they came into my head. Inspiration, I learned, does not wait conveniently until 'after class is over.'

People used to laugh at me for it, of course. Even my friends would groan and roll their eyes if I mentioned that I was writing something new. So I simply stopped talking about it. But I kept doing it, because I needed to. Because I am a writer, and the words wouldn't stop forming themselves in my head and needing to be written down. I still have some of the things I wrote in those days - plays, mostly, and lots of song lyrics - though I imagine they will never leave the safety of a tucked-away folder on my computer.

So that's how it began. I caught the writing bug so early that I cannot even remember it happening, and it never left me.

Nowadays, I try to look on all life experience as material to draw on when I need it. When I start writing, I lose myself in it. I can forget to eat, forget to sleep, lose hours, forget everything. I need to do this. Because this is who I am.

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my blog, The Writer's Hideaway. Thank you so much for reading. Please subscribe, then you will be sure to see any new entries I post. Feel free to comment on anything I write here. I will do my best to reply to all comments.

Who am I?
I am Jess, a 20-year-old student in my second year at the University of Winchester, and an aspiring writer.  I'm a social creature who loves meeting new people and learning about them and chatting about all sorts of topics. None-writing interests include music, reading, theatre, events organising and travel.

Writing
I write in a wide range of forms. I'm currently especially into writing creative non-fiction and poetry. I do write fiction, but it tends to be either very short flash-fiction, or of novel length. I struggle with the standard 1500-4000 word short story, though I'm working on developing my skills in this area.

I have two novels. The first is a long-standing project that has developed slowly over five years, a contemporary gothic fantasy, In the Shadows. The main storyline follows a forbidden love-affair between vampyre Errol Richmond, and young human girl Raven Lockleare, while moving around in time with flashbacks from Errol's life - a life spanning some 150 years.

The second (working title Trust Me, subject to likely to change) was written during NaNoWriMo 2010 and is currently in the editing stages. I think it's about as different from In the Shadows as two books from the same author can be. At the moment the genre is labelled 'mainstream fiction.' It's a three-part narrative centering around two women, Lilly and Kate, fighting for justice against the same man, who has hurt each of them very badly. Full synopsis and excerpt can be found here.

I feel now like I want to launch into an essay about why I write and how it started, but that will be a post all of its own soon.

This Blog
The idea for this blog came to me while reading an article in Writing Magazine about blogging and how it can be a good way to network and for an unknown writer to get noticed. So, I thought I would give it a go.

My basic idea is to use this to talk about writing, what I am working on, how it is going, the triumphs and the difficult days, etc. I will share bits of my work occasionally. It might also include book reviews and talk about what I am currently reading.

Finally...
If you have a blog or website to do with books or writing, I am very happy to link to you if you link to me in return.

Please ask my permission before sharing any of the content I write here.

I own the copyright of everything written here unless otherwise stated.

Twitter: @amaranth_dreams
NaNoWriMo: miss_amaranth