A different kind of month than the last as most of it has been spent
coming back to the task of actual writing. I’m finally nearly up to date on my
typing, now on my current notebook in terms of where I’ve got to. But then the
weather has been mostly beautiful, and not wanting to waste the sunshine, I
have instead spent the time sitting outside, or as close to it as I can get and
gone back to the pencil. Although I already had notes for parts I wanted to
work on as well as some started scribbles, at first it was not as easy as I
would have hoped or expected. It’s been
a little while since I really wrote anything new, a chunk of writing at least.
So I suppose it wasn’t going to be like I’d just stopped and carried on again.
These things come when you’re not planning them to, it just makes the set aside
time that I make for writing more pressured. And at the start of the month, I
was hopeful that it was just a little hump to get over before I’d be back in
full swing.
And I was right! Nice to be able to say that just a couple of weeks
later. There really is nothing better than putting pen (or pencil) to paper and
just watching it flow, and that it has. I’m enjoying writing again and beginning to
feel the gaps. So I’m sure the end is nearer than I think but I will only
really know that when the jumble is laid out before and I begin to sort
through. I keep telling myself there is always tomorrow, I have no deadline,
only the one I’ve set myself. Write off today and start again tomorrow. I try
to keep telling myself that too, particularly on the bad days, and not just
with writing, but work too. I often feel stuck with writing or more distracted
if I’m having an off day, it’s all relative.
But I’m happy to say that thankfully those days haven’t been many. I’ve
managed to type up another 5301 words and whilst that seems very little in
comparison to what I have been doing recently, I’ve achieved a decent amount of
actual writing this month instead as I build my story more. And it’s been
lovely putting pen to paper once again. And its not just been my novel, as new
ideas have been forming and scribbled down for working on in the future. It’s
certainly been interesting as I never quite know where the inspiration will
come from, and sometimes it can be the most unlikely things, and not when I
expect it. But whilst I’m careful not to
get too carried away and lose sight of the WIP, I feel its good to have new
ideas and projects in the back of my mind, scribbled in a notebook. It keeps my
mind somehow fresher. I look forward to exploring them and delving deeper when
I can. And there are always columns to write too, so I can’t say I’m not
occupied!
And just a thought or two to end on. The lost art of writing by hand. It’s
how I work and I’m sure I’m not the only one, but I sometimes feel like I’m a
bit old fashioned in my methods- writing longhand and then typing. Some would
say I’m wasting my time probably. But I like the feeling of a pencil in my
hand. I have a purpose. And each writer is different, all with the same end
goal, to tell their story. Does it really matter how they get there, or how
long it takes? I don’t think so. And anyway, I like the smell of a new
notebook, its much like that of a brand new book, a scent that I never tire of!
And so back to it, to carry on building….
