Snatch-Boom - A New Style of Writing (An Encouragement for Crazily Busy Writers) by Nikki Salt

I’m sitting at my daughter’s dressing table, laptop balanced between the mirror and the edge, desperate to find a tiny slot of peace and quiet while I write a post that is gripping or at the very least interesting. Right now, I’m hoping my readers get passed the first sentence.

Over the past few months, I have developed this snatch-boom style of writing (my word – you saw it here first) where I snatch at words as quickly as I can, plonking them onto the page before I lose my (so very fragile) train of thought before…

… I am interrupted (sorry, that was my 12-year-old butting in asking me what is for dinner, he’s hungry – Doesn’t he know it’s only five fifteen and bananas make a good snack?) Now, where was I?

Yes, snatch-boom. I believe I have invented a new style of writing. Basically, imagine you have only a very short amount of time, (only you don’t know exactly how short) and you have to write something entertaining, somewhat grammatically correct and that makes at least some sense. You’re aiming for a 300-word count and…

…when interruptions do come, you have to pick up right where you left off without the reader seeing the gaps in your erratic, distracted thinking. (12-year-old has got banana stuck in his Nintendo Switch controls.)

  Seriously, lockdown is not going to be the making of my novel! A few weeks in, once I’d calmed down after all the frustration, I turned to God and asked him what, on earth, He expected from me. He’s given me this love of writing, a compendium of stories floating in my mind desperate to be committed to paper, yet every effort feels like a trek through treacle. Thick, black, oily treacle that sticks to everything and stops the flow of my pen. Do you know what he said? He said, “Trust me.”

That got me thinking about seasons and God’s plan for our lives. Thinking back over the last three years I feel my feet haven’t touched the ground. We’ve moved house twice (once across the country), I’ve managed children and husband into new schools, church, clubs, friendship groups, I’ve grappled with the whole SEND^* world and coping with my challenging but loveable (at times) daughter and held down a part-time teaching job. I’m exhausted with just writing that! I could stamp my foot and complain about a hectic life stealing writing time or I could look at all of this as writing fodder. Great, big, fat portions of life experiences that build me and

(eventually) my writing.

So, I thought I’d take this opportunity to encourage every writer who’s a mum, dad, Key Worker, or any crazily busy person with this thought. Take heart, trust God, and keep going. He has put the love of writing into your soul for a reason. Don’t panic. If you can snatch-boom write, that’s something. If you don’t even have time for snatch-boom, then write lists (I do this), and if you’re too exhausted to write a list, try snatch-boom reading (I fall asleep doing this every night).

Finally, my inordinately kind readers, I am grateful and thank you from the bottom of my heart for reading to the end of this exceedingly snatch-boom written blog post.