Writing is Work

This week is my first proper week as a writer. It should've been last week but that was a bank holiday and people wanted to do things, which was lovely, it really was, but at the moment all I want to do is write. When I don’t write I become jittery. 

Betsy Ball

Previously, I thought the best time would be between nine and twelve am because that is when our new puppy sleeps and sometimes it’s impossible to get anything done when she’s awake. But I’ve discovered that when people know you’re at home, they think that gives them free reign to disturb you (I’m not mentioning any names because that would be mean and they aren’t trying to annoy me. In fact most of the time they want to do something really nice). As I’m not technically working for someone,(yet) sometimes it seems like I’m a lady of leisure.

Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m  lucky. I’ve been given the opportunity of pursuing my dream career by my very understanding husband who has agreed to me taking a year out to write. But it’s hard to get others to understand that writing is as much work as when I went out every day to an office.

So it turns out nine until twelve doesn’t work. Not only do you have people wanting you to go for lunch all the time (I really would like to). You also have the postman, the window cleaner, the meter reader and the door to door salesman. As soon as that door goes, distraction hits. I’ve lost count of the times I’ve got really into a scene and the bell rings, Betsy goes mad, my phone beeps, all at the same time. Another admission is that I’m not a morning person. I’m a night owl. I really struggle to get up if I don’t have anywhere in particular to go (like work).  

After much deliberation I’ve decided to write between ten pm and one am. Whilst the world is sleeping I’m writing. No one is awake to disturb me. Our very cute puppy is asleep and tomorrow I will be nice and polite to the various people who turn up at my door. Better still I have written 2500 words of a short story and this blog entry.  I definitely have more focus at night. 

So my advice this week is to consider when is best to write for you. Just because the norm is for people to work during the day and sleep at night doesn’t mean that’s right or write (sorry couldn’t resist) for you.

What am I working on?

At the moment I’m writing a short story crime series called The Maple Cottage Mysteries, which is about two friends who fall into careers as private detectives. I wrote the beginning for an assignment in my first year at uni and couldn’t stop thinking about it.  I’ve been desperate to go back and finish it. Here’s a little taster:

‘Eastwood Park women’s prison near Bristol has a history of suicide and self harm amongst its inmates’. Charlie Scott found this worrying information on Wikipedia whilst preparing himself for what he expected to be a trying day.  

Charlie hadn’t realised there was so much about prison life online. He’d even discovered that when you first go to prison you can’t shit for weeks. He was hoping that it wouldn’t come up in conversation as Melissa entered the prison ‘Visit’s Room’.

Melissa Turner, Charlie’s lifelong friend, had been incarcerated after her request for bail was denied. The charge was murder.  

Melissa looked normal; he’d half expected her to change into a heroin addict over night.  She did look tired, but only as though she’d pulled an all-nighter to finish an assignment. It was different for Melissa, she’d worked in prisons so knew exactly what to expect. He wondered if she even knew some of the other inmates.

“You came,” Melissa smiled as she sat down opposite him.

Charlie sat a little straighter and tried to get a better look at her arms. The self harm anecdote had left him feeling paranoid. Melissa caught his gaze and smirked.

“Charlie Scott, you’re such a hypochondriac. I bet you’ve been on the internet again,” she scolded.

He blushed.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, well, I didn’t know what to expect. I used to watch Bad Girls,” he admitted.

Book Review Billy & Me By Giovanna Fletcher

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I first heard about Giovanna Fletcher after watching her husband Tom’s wonderful and now famous wedding speech. In fact that speech introduced me (via twitter) to the extremely successful and talented extended Fletcher family. It’s both refreshing and inspirational to come across such a warm and genuinely nice bunch of people.  In these negative times we’ve all been experiencing lately, they really do make things seem much brighter.

On to the book: Billy and Me is about following your dreams and letting go of those events from the past that can hold you back. Sophie is living half a life. It’s a happy one but she’s too scared to leave the security of her village. When she meets Billy, he boosts her spirits and encourages her (as all good partners should do) to start living a more fulfilling life. It’s not all smooth sailing though and Sophie has many obstacles to overcome before she can become the person she’s truly meant to be, making this an extremely entertaining read.

This is a beautiful love story, the sort of love that many readers will hope to experience for themselves one day (if they haven’t already).  I can’t wait for Giovanna’s next book (hopefully a sequel?).

Get the most from your creative writing degree.

Three years have whizzed by and I’m now a graduate of the University of Winchester. I’m pleased with my results but think that if I’d known a few things before I started the degree I could’ve benefited further. So I thought I’d share a few tips to help new creative writing students get the most from all that money you’re spending. 

     Refresh your grammar. This is something I’m still working on myself. I find the more I read and write the better it gets. Winchester has a great refresher module in the first year and I can also recommend Grammar for Grownups by Katherine Fry which is a fast and informative read. Creative writing courses are strict on grammar when marking so it’s best to double double check before you hand in. 

      Set up an editing group. No matter how many times you check work, you will always miss something. This is because you’ve seen it too often and have become immune to it. Always get someone to check it before you submit. I set up an editing group with three friends and we pass our pieces amongst each other. This isn’t a guarantee that you won’t all miss something but it gives you more of a chance to get the best grade possible.

   Order core texts from your local library. The uni library will have limited copies which will probably be on loan when you need them most. Don’t buy them; my reasoning behind this is that my peers and I became frustrated at having to buy texts that were barely mentioned in class. Having said that, go to seminars prepared because it can lead to an uncomfortable atmosphere if the tutor has planned a class that no one is ready for.

  Vary your reading. People often write because they’ve been inspired by a particular writer/genre. Personally I like women’s fiction but a lot of my peers liked sci-fi and fantasy. I realised that I needed to read other genres so that I could broaden my writing knowledge. It’s important to see what works well and what doesn’t. Last year I undertook a challenge to read 100 books which I was pleased to complete. Why not write a list of the books you’ve always thought you should read and work through it? Holly from Imaginings of a Creative Writer says ‘keep reading for fun even if you’re bogged down with uni reading.’ 

     Don’t be scared of tutors. Have as many tutorials as possible (without making them think you’re stalking them). But seriously, you’re paying for the course and you’re entitled to these meetings. Tell your tutor the grade you’re aiming for as they may not know what you’re capable of. In my first year one tutor wrote, ‘keep up the good work’, and gave me, along with the rest of the class, 54, when I’d been getting 70’s. They will be able to guide you towards the research/improvements you can make to achieve the grade you’d like.

Don’t worry about reading your work out in class. By the end of three years you won’t even think twice. To begin with it can be quite nerve wracking but the feedback you will receive from tutors and peers is invaluable. The feedback others receive can help you to improve your own work or inspire you to think about writing in a way you wouldn’t have before.

     Be wary about group work. Group work was the thing I probably hated most about uni because other people can affect the grade you end up with. So it’s important to consider whether the other students will do their bit. Do you trust them to turn up on time or will you have to wait around for them when you could be doing other work. Do you have a similar outlook on the project? (Some students are happy to scrape a pass – if this isn’t you look out for someone with similar values). Ask your tutor if group work is necessary. I felt more comfortable having complete control over my projects. 

 

     Plan your essays. I disliked writing rationales and as my uni friends agree, it made them much easier to get through if we discussed them first and outlined them before we started writing. Another good tip is to do your footnotes and bibliography as you go along to save a gruelling few hours at the end (especially if you’ve forgotten what page number all your quotes were on).

    Start thinking about your final year project asap. The more effort you put into this, the greater the reward. In my case the creative project made 40% of my final degree so it really can change your overall grade. Looking back, I wish I’d started planning earlier in the second year and written gradually to reduce stress. I also seemed to get more into the project nearer the end when I was running out of time and wonder if I could have pushed my grade up a tiny bit more (I’m a perfectionist).

     Make your work stand out. In my first year I remember feeling outraged when I got a piece of work back that received what I classed as a disappointing grade. I booked a tutorial (very rare for me at that point) and asked how I could have got a first (in a nice way). The tutor explained the formatting of my piece wasn’t quite right and suggested a cover page with a title and my details on it. From then on this was how I submitted all my work. In my final year another tutor suggested images could be a good addition to our final year projects. Make it look good and they know care and effort went into it. Just stick to the uni guidelines.

I hope this has been helpful rather than daunting. The best tip I can give is to enjoy uni because soon enough it will be graduation and you’ll wonder where the time went. Please feel free to add your own tips to the comments.

“University's like this little world, a bubble of time separate from everything before and everything after.”
  Mhairi McFarlane, You Had Me At Hello