Where is this year going? I can't believe that we're already at the end of May and the summer is nearly upon us. It has been an interesting month, with plenty of writing done! It started with a new story idea, inspired by a picture of a house online, and lots of watching Location! It features the restoration of a Victorian house and I plan to base it somewhere in London (I feel a visit coming on, for research purposes obviously!) I've started writing the story and planning the characters so looking forward to seeing where it goes.
I often wonder once I get the initial inspiration how my ideas take the shape that they do. Some are similar and different, sometimes I think they are an accumulation of dreams and the many different people stuck inside me, aspirations or something else? Its a big question, and one with many answers depending on each writer, but where does inspiration really come from?? Its something I'm still trying to discover for myself.
You may remember that I was on holiday at the start of the month, and given that it was in the beautiful Lake District I was looking forward to feeling inspired and coming home with lots of new ideas, but this didn't end up being the case, disappointingly. No notes or writing done the whole time, in the wrong mind set I suppose and too busy walking to really take the time out to sit and think. But something positive did come out of it, in that I'm fired up to find more time to write and have booked some time off to do just that, I can't wait! It will give me chance to visit and revisit all the places in my head and really focus. I sat in the library the other day and surprised myself with how many scribbled ideas I came away with after just an hour! Just watching the people around me and keeping my mind open seemed to work well, taking ideas from conversations, images from other stories and lines in books, its amazing what you can come up with.
In terms of other writing projects that I've been working on, my next column was submitted and came out this week, so have to start thinking of some more ideas for the next one! I've also gone back to some of my older stories and found new inspiration of where I can take them, Its been a really positive exercise and one that will be on going. I found it had been better to leave them, and then come back after a time, but not forget them. This has also been the case on my could be novel, my Cornwall story. Having left it for a while and work on new and old projects, I've come back to it again in the last week or so and have been really pleased with how much I've achieved on it so far. I believe its important to not just focus on one thing as a new writer, I've found you just hit a wall and really feel stuck, which is when your good writing disappears. I've certainly found it a huge positive to have lots of different ideas and things on the go, my writing is much better for it too! Still being a novice to my creativity, I'm writing because I need to, whether or not it comes to be considered to be anything in the eyes of the world, Maybe that day will come sometime in the future, but for now I'm doing it for the work itself and the feeling of creativity and inspiration it gives me. Maybe this is the place I can start to share things, when I feel ready and see what happens?!
So to round off the month, I just want to share with you how important it is when you are starting out as a writer to make sure that you surround yourself with like minded people. Joining the writers group has to be one of the best decisions I have made in the last year or so. I get to share my works in progress with them and receive useful feedback, as well as the meetings providing me with lots of new ideas and things to remember. Just last night I went to an Open Mic night with some of my fellow group members, meeting with other local writers groups and hearing such a variety of pieces, it was a very inspiring way to spend an evening, plus I won a book token! It did help that the meeting took place in a bookshop,,,, So if like me, you feel the need to free some of the creativity within you, don't be scared to take that first step, there's an amazing world of words just waiting out there for you to come and find!
