Things I've recently learned about writing

 

THINGS I HAVE LEARNED RECENTLY ABOUT WRITING…

 

1. I feel more like a writer when I am actually writing. Like a footballer who plays. Instead of watching it on the TV and talking about it later down the pub.

 

2. Having a list of deadlines, however insignificant, is a great confidence boost. Other people want my writing!

 

3. Having a list of deadlines, however insignificant, is a massive pressure. Other people want my writing when I’d rather be sitting around eating crisps. (Note to self, refer to point 1. And 2.)

 

4. Showing my fledgling novel to other people for their opinions is both scary and exhilarating. Will they like it? Will they fall on it like a pack of ravenous literary wolves and shred it to pieces? Will they forget I asked them to read it in the first place?

 

5. Breaking a harder task down into bite-sized chunks is sensible, realistic and quantifiable.

 

6. Breaking a harder task down into bite-sized chunks serves to show how many said chunks there are. (Note to self: stop eating crisps and get an appetite for chunks.)

 

7. Learning to use a standing desk next to an open window releases creative ideas better than when sitting. Winston Churchill was right!

 

8.  Learning to use a standing desk next to an open window means that my coffee goes cold while I’m staring at a neighbour having a cigarette in his garden. (The view from Chartwell was probably different.)

 

9. My best ideas come when I am nowhere near anything to record them with. This is not fresh revelation. I’m just realising it will ever be thus.

 

10. Mindlessly scrolling through Facebook can result in finding an absolute gem of an idea that carries my writing forwards.

 

11. Mindlessly scrolling through Facebook means I have lost at least 3 days already this week.

 

12. When choosing a title for a book, don’t misremember what you decided then have hours of agony about which version is better.

 

13. When researching into the characteristics of psychopaths, don’t get side-tracked by thinking of everyone you’ve ever met that shows the merest hint of such tendencies. It leads to thinking the whole world is mad. When it’s probably just me…

 

14. Chocolate helps. Always. No question.

 

What have you learned lately?

Jane Walters is vice-chair of ACW and runs two ACW affiliated writing groups in Norfolk. She is currently re-writing her latest novel ready for the next steps towards publication. She is represented by Intersaga literary agency.