Today I Am a Proper Writer (part 1)

 

A Monday off work – hurray! As dozing dreams swirl into conscious waking thought, I smile as I remember that today I am going to be a Proper Writer.

Husband forgot we both had the day off so has made plans to go out with Offspring No. 1., while Offspring No. 2 is deep in university studies. Boy’s Brigade plans made, promised knitting underway, gardening up to date. I have a whole day to finally make a start on a book project for the first time.

Not a blog post, not a prayer, not a poem, not a Bible story rewritten for a youth group. No, by the end of the day I will be a Proper Writer with an actual WIP I can casually mention in conversation.

But what does that mean? I need to plan this.

How do I structure today? Do I need set start and finish times, a specific lunchbreak? Or should I have woken earlier to get a few hours in before breakfast?

How do I fit in the other tasks that still need doing? The piles of laundry, the need for exercise, the actual blog post for ACW that’s due at the end of the week?

It’s a conundrum I lie in bed considering for some time, with few conclusions.

But I do make a start in what I know is true writerly fashion - with several cups of strong coffee and completely distracted by social media’s reaction to the Harry and Meghan interview.

The morning racing by, I decide I need some guidance. So I turn to Wendy H Jones’s Motivation Matters. I know she has several ideas for using outdoors to help the literary process along so perhaps I can try one of those. Not sure if Offspring No. 2 will appreciate a trip to the local cemetery as our daily walk though.

However, Wendy does recommend changing your clothes to help your brain get into gear. So I search through my wardrobe so I can Look Like a Writer. A long floppy jacket with a Van Gogh print that I bought from an obscure website seems a suitably artistic pick, even if it does result in another 10 minutes trying to find something to go with it. I will be just like Jo March in her ink-stained pinafore, the angle of her hat conveying her progress to her family.

As a confidence boost, I also put on some jewellery to remind me of my family who inspire and always encourage my writing.

Then the question of where to write. All the desk spaces are taken up by family members working from home. The conservatory offers a tempting option, with its uplifting and distracting views of the garden wildlife. But it reminds me too much of my paid job so I need to find somewhere else.

Instead I curl into my prayer chair, a cosy armchair in the back corner of our long lounge, uncaring of my posture for I Am A Writer. And I try to ignore, taking up most of the window, the rear view of a workman up a ladder, scraping moss from my neighbours’ roof with a hoe, like a giant dentist descaling teeth.

To be honest, I might as well have lunch by now and hope he’s gone by the time I come back. Now, what do writers eat, apart from cake and cheesecake?

Liz Manning fits writing around being an Occupational Therapist, BB captain, wife, and mum to two adult children. Or perhaps it's the other way round. She blogs regularly at https://thestufflifeismadeofblog.wordpress.com/