Sorry that there was no new post last week. I had every intention of keeping up my new found enthusiasm for writing and blogging but it took a bit of a hit on Friday when I felt ill again. (Or thought I did.) I ground to a halt, with the intention of not returning to writing until I felt completely well again as this "stop-start" situation was driving me nuts.
It took a visit from my writing friend Jane on Monday to get me going again, interestingly because I felt she actually gave me "permission" to give up writing altogether or at least take a decent break from it and concentrate on the other areas of my "portfolio". However, after she'd gone and I faced up to that possibility, I realised I didn't want to give up writing after all!
I did decide though that I needed to make some changes to the way I work. (If you are struggling with your writing, I can definitely recommend an in-depth discussion with a fellow writer on the practicalities of the job. It really helps.) One of the things I felt I needed to do was to change the time of day, or night in my case, that I write.
As you will know if you are a regular reader of my musings, I prefer to have a "day" first and then write at night. This is OK up to a point but recently, partly because of my health problems and other factors, I've been finding it increasingly difficult to get down to writing after doing "home" stuff and have ended up starting to write about ten minutes before I should be getting ready for bed!
Also, night-working is very isolating and I think that this, coupled with a current lack of "progress" with my writing, despite having been quite successful with it in the past, has made it really difficult for me to sustain the enthusiasm and energy that you need in order to be a professional writer.
So...as from yesterday, I am now getting up between 4 and 5am (gulp!) and trying to write first thing in the morning instead of last thing at night. I have tried this before and it didn't really work once it started to get light in the mornings (I think I was a vampire in a previous life!) so it will be interesting to see if it does this time round. I certainly feel pretty "jet-lagged" at the moment and think I will be going back to bed for an hour or two in a while but it is obviously early days yet. (Literally.)
I'd be interested to know what time of day other people like to write. Are you a "morning" writer or a night-owl like me? Do you feel the need, as I do, to have a period of quiet time in which to work or can you write with kids, pets, spouses, trades people all vying for your attention? I look forward to hearing your views, if I can manage to stay awake, that is.
It took a visit from my writing friend Jane on Monday to get me going again, interestingly because I felt she actually gave me "permission" to give up writing altogether or at least take a decent break from it and concentrate on the other areas of my "portfolio". However, after she'd gone and I faced up to that possibility, I realised I didn't want to give up writing after all!
I did decide though that I needed to make some changes to the way I work. (If you are struggling with your writing, I can definitely recommend an in-depth discussion with a fellow writer on the practicalities of the job. It really helps.) One of the things I felt I needed to do was to change the time of day, or night in my case, that I write.
As you will know if you are a regular reader of my musings, I prefer to have a "day" first and then write at night. This is OK up to a point but recently, partly because of my health problems and other factors, I've been finding it increasingly difficult to get down to writing after doing "home" stuff and have ended up starting to write about ten minutes before I should be getting ready for bed!
Also, night-working is very isolating and I think that this, coupled with a current lack of "progress" with my writing, despite having been quite successful with it in the past, has made it really difficult for me to sustain the enthusiasm and energy that you need in order to be a professional writer.
So...as from yesterday, I am now getting up between 4 and 5am (gulp!) and trying to write first thing in the morning instead of last thing at night. I have tried this before and it didn't really work once it started to get light in the mornings (I think I was a vampire in a previous life!) so it will be interesting to see if it does this time round. I certainly feel pretty "jet-lagged" at the moment and think I will be going back to bed for an hour or two in a while but it is obviously early days yet. (Literally.)
I'd be interested to know what time of day other people like to write. Are you a "morning" writer or a night-owl like me? Do you feel the need, as I do, to have a period of quiet time in which to work or can you write with kids, pets, spouses, trades people all vying for your attention? I look forward to hearing your views, if I can manage to stay awake, that is.
I always thought I was a morning writer but, actually, I've come to realise that I feel most motivated in the late afternoon and evening. This can be a problem since my husband goes to bed about 10.30 and I hate waking him up. But I can't work after about 11. Also, if I don't get anything done in the morning I start to panic and assume I've wasted the whole day. No easy answers.
ReplyDeleteBTW, congrats on your recent Flash success but no doubt you want to blog about it so I won't steal your thunder!
I am definitely NOT a morning writer as by the end of three days of trying to do it, I felt truly horrendous. So it's back to "nights" but in the day if that makes any sense. Hope you can find a way of working that doesn't cause too much marital strife.
ReplyDeleteThanks very much for your congrats. Yes, I will be blogging about it so watch this space!