I am not a full time writer. I don’t imagine many people are when they embark on writing their first book. I hope one day I might make a little money from my books, but for now, it’s really just a hobby. And as such, I have no regular timetable for writing. I don’t have a real job, due to disability, but this does not mean I am a lady of leisure, oh no!
I home-educate my tween kiddo full time, and my body has always willfully refused to adhere to any kind of regular schedule with regards to sleep, food, or anything really. I also have an adult life, with lots of adulty responsibilities to keep me busily adulting. Plus I read a lot, and I really mean a lot, I’m on my 257th book this year, I shit you not!
As such, finding time to write can be tricky. So I don’t force it. I write when I both have the time and the mood takes me. Today, the kid went to my in-laws (who live one street away thanks to strategic house buying!) and the planets aligned to put me in the right frame of mind for writing. As such, I got a chapter down, and I’m chuffed with that. When I get in the zone, I write pretty much nonstop, allowing the story just to flow. I used to get bogged down with checking historical accuracy, or finding exactly the right phrasing, and it would destroy my train of thought, and cause me to stop writing. So now I use placeholders, or write notes to myself to fact check, or fix something.
I also started writing this book by jotting down any part of the story that came to me. This worked at first, as it allowed me to be creative without the boundaries of the story interfering. However, as I wrote more, and the characters and plot evolved, I found I had to do a lot of editing to make it all fit together. For example, when I started writing, I wrote third-person point of view, in the historical present tense. I soon changed my mind, and the book is now in the past tense, first person. That was a pain in the arse to fix! Another example is that when I started writing, I decided that Eric would be a posh himbo, that is kind, hot, and not that bright. But I didn’t like that for him, and now he’s just as smart as Tommy. I like the idea of them both being equally smart despite one of them gaining the knowledge through public school, and the other through the public library. However, going back and editing out all the himbo moments was a right ball-ache.
So to avoid issues like this, I now force myself to write chronologically, chapter by chapter. This is definitely helping me focus on the plot and character development as opposed to clever buts of prose and dialogue that didn’t necessarily fit together. So as a result of this rule, I currently have fourteen chapters of a chronologically and thematically sound book, or the first draft of it at any rate.
So there you go. I know, you didn’t ask. But this is my blog and I can write whatever I want. So there!
Also, if you're a romance reader, do check out my reviews, and keep coming for more of them as I plan to keep writing reviews.
Commentaires