Tag Archives: creative-writing

I am writing

I am writing-fourteen

Today has been a productive and enjoyable day. Two more chapters have been written and I can see the story moving towards it’s ending. Ending for this book that is. In my mind, Dragon realm, it’s sequel, may have a few more instalments yet to conclude as a universe. Not a bad thing, as that’s future avenues for inspiration.

Dragon Realm was originally written as contribution to an anthology inspired by Birmingham. I think I chose the theme a city of thousand trades. As such, I wrote about lots of different people in Birmingham from a variety of jobs. It is short, compact, but could be the start of something,

This spring, I was really struggling with a WIP that I was thirty thousand words deep into. I was also feeling tired, burned out and perhaps needed to see , do something differently creatively. Dragon Realm was on my mind, and i decided to take a look at the book, the characters and see where The Muse took me.

Was a good move. My creative mojo came back, as did pleasure in writing and using my imagine. I’ve tried to be consistent and committed; to write regularly and write that which makes me happy. It’s very personal to me. To enjoy my writing, be immersed in it and above all, believe in it. I think I had displaced the joy with tiredness, burnout and not letting myself be free with my imagination.

I am enjoying it, I have inky fingers. Alas, I can see the story ending. It will complete as planned. That brings me some sadness. However, after yesterdays marathon planning session, there are two more projects to get into straight after the first draft. The mojo is there, one needs to keep a momentum. I’ve developed a detailed plan and have a strategy in how to break it all down into chunks to write. This will help set targets to maintain focus and motivation. Will have to make sure that i do prioritise time and actually bracket it off to write.

I am writing

I am writing-Eleven

Bit of a blip. Yesterday was a packed day, and I ran out of time to write a blog post. Feels a bit sad today having missed it. Indicative, I guess of how things can get in the way and prevent something creative happening. Also how making time to write, if only for a brief moment, can be challenging.

There are many stories of authors and their writing regimen. Of how many hours they might write, if they are governed by word counts. As well as whether they are are full time writer or have other jobs and responsibilities. These all factor in to what time, how much and how oftern.

I am trying to dedicate time around work, around family too that is writing time. There is a difficult balance to maintain. I have a good idea of how many words that I might produce if I am feeling exceptionally creative. Five thousand words a day can be done if the mood is there, if there is a spark. I am still grateful if I can get one thousand or less. Whether writing is a marathon or a sprint is an interesting thought. It is still a process with emotional, physical and cognitive demands. There is every danger that if there is intensity, there is a risk of author burnout The idea of a writer churning out project after project is also interesting. Where does one draw the line to recharge and is there a point where stopping is necessary and required.

I have stories to write, and from time to time I do wonder if the creativity will one day stop. If there are a finite amount of ideas. If I ever get to the bottom of my stack of notebooks, would that mean I’m done. I think I would miss my characters. To date, I’ve never actually called time on them properly, I mean, spoiler alert, Gorbind has died twice and I can’t seem to get out of Devan’s way.

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I am writing-Five

What to write and when? That was today’s thought and reflection. I have a stack of notebooks, have done for a while. However, at times it can be difficult to make time, carve it out and then use it it write. Life and work often get busy, and this does then rather dull the creative spark.

The creative spark then has to be nurtured. Sometimes there has to be soul-colouring to flint the spark back as it has blow out or burned out. That does take effort, the desire to think and flesh out the spark of an idea. I do feel this is different to writer’s block. Stories can arrive from anywhere at any point. Some catch more easily than others, some are laboured and take a lot of focus and cultivating.

There are many proponents of writing everyday, a matter of a hundred words. Yet, I know of days when even one hundred words feel impossible. Writing all of eight the becomes a lead weight and altogether demotivating. Writing is indeed a process, it has its own twists and turns on almost a daily basis. For many writers there are immense difficulties in having minutes and moments to write. There is no easy way or fixed routine. I remember one very famous Psychology Textbook author being said to write his first book on the bus. This sounds perfectly plausible to me.

In writing these blogs, I have been thinking that this is ALSO writing. And I’ve not done this in a while, This has its own rhythm and reason which I guess changes on a daily basis.

I’m thinking about my current WIP, what the plan might look like. Do I have the capacity to squeeze in another Christmas Story? Yes, Christmas in July. If it works for the teleshopping channels…has been on my mind this week.

We shall see.