Today I Am A Proper Writer part 2 (in which our heroine begins her planned Work In Progress)

 Last month, I began the tale of a Whole Day as a Proper Writer.  If you haven’t read it or have forgotten it (quite understandable, it’s been a month), you might like to revisit it before reading on.

https://morethanwriters.blogspot.com/2021/03/today-i-am-proper-writer-part-1.html

I dig out the notes I wrote for a week’s worth of talks at a Boys’ Brigade camp, Jesus The Ultimate Superhero, which I think has the bones to turn into an actual book. Of the three ideas for books that I have in my mind, this is the one that seems most easily accomplished because I already have the notes. So surely it just needs some elaboration? 

At first readthrough, I’m both pleased and disappointed to find there’s a lot more material than I remembered – so how much can I usefully elaborate for this? Is there enough for a whole book?

At the second, I notice how outdated many of the references are and a major question arises: Who is this book I want to write aimed at? Is it for men? Women? Both? Young adults? Youth leaders? What kind of book is it? What is its structure?

How do I answer these questions? Is it just up to me to make a decision or do I need to consult someone wiser, more experienced? How do other writers decide this? And how much can I helpfully do on the material until I have resolved this dilemma?

I didn’t anticipate spending so much of my precious Day as a Proper Writer not actually writing anything so I decide to at least work through the material I have with notes, comments, proposing a potential structure for the chapters, tying in other pieces I’ve written that might flesh it out as I’d hoped.

I’ve recently read Rachel Held Evans’s Inspired, where she utilises a structure of Bible based storytelling, theological discussion, and modern application. I’m tempted to try something similar.

Disconcertingly, I can’t find an electronic version of these notes, only paper. Do I want to spend hours inputting these? Is that being a Proper Writer or just a secretary? When can I get down to something actually creative?

By the end of the afternoon, I have a stack of typed sheets covered in red ink. I feel like a teacher who’s just finished marking a very long essay more than a Proper Writer. Or maybe something approaching an editor, which would at least be something literary.

I had thought doing this would bring some structure and clarity about who I was writing for and what I needed to do next. Instead, as I flick through my ‘work’ I realise I’ve gone down a lot of rabbit holes, shoehorning in anything that seemed linked to the theme. I’m no clearer to figuring out my audience but I can see this ‘throwing everything potentially relevant at it’ approach isn’t going to work.

Maybe I need some headspace. 

Now where’s that route to the cemetery? 

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/