Eat Me

Do you buy into divination, fortune telling, horoscopes, superstition? Dangerous? Amusing? Or do you consult your cards before getting out of bed in the morning? My writing technique (I’d still balk at calling it a ‘process’), at the moment owes a lot to the ancient Oracles of Greece. The staircase to the basement is an open drop into the darkness from the kitchen. During the day, I scribble fragments on the backs of envelopes, shopping lists, or transcribe shorthand scrawled on the back of parking tickets with eyeliner at the red light while driving. When we crash through the kitchen during the usual chaos of homecoming (hungry children, leaping hound, messages on the answering machine …) my pockets and bags are emptied and the slips of paper are tossed downstairs. It’s like surrendering to the great unknown, waiting for an answer. (Maybe like the Elves and the Shoemaker I am hoping to stroll downstairs, flick on the light and find a beautifully bound bestseller). After tea/bath/bed when the house is quiet and I have whizzed through tidying up, if the pilot is away, I practically run downstairs with the hound and flick the lights on – the floor is often a carpet of mysterious scrawls. Then comes the process of deciphering meaning, form, signs and the direction the next book is taking. Supper is often on the hoof - less exciting than Alice's 'Eat Me, Drink Me' experiences but once down there, the hours fly away with me – it is like going through the looking glass to another world. (The image is by a fantastic artist Su Blackwell who sculpts books). Perhaps one day when I have help with the house and children, it will be easier – right now this is the only way anything gets written,.

Someone asked me over dinner the other night whether anyone I know has actually read the book. Who reads your work – do you share it with people close to you or not? The pilot tried a couple of chapters, some trusted friends have seen fragments, but beyond our best man (who also writes), who waded through the huge first draft bless him, no one I know intimately has read the book. It’s been professionally edited, agents and their readers have read and commented (once, memorably, leaving their readers’ comment sheet accidentally among the pages – *ouch* Wayne loved it, Hannah not so much, if you were curious). I’m still getting used to the idea of the work being out there – the blog is an interesting rite of passage as several people I know in real life are kind enough to drop by or have subscribed. One Mum, who’s reading it and also writes (very well I’d imagine) has been working on a children’s book and said ‘But I don’t have to ‘breathe’ writing like you ..’ It feels like coming out of the closet – I bridled a bit, but then thought this is just the beginning – if you stick your head over the parapet, this is what happens, people read your work and react. To be honest, isn’t it easier to think of perfect strangers reading your work rather than your nearest and dearest? It took me ages to get over the idea of my grandmother reading steamy love scenes and just write without censorship.

One thing I have found is that great writers are uniformly generous to newbies – they have been there. Like life, it’s people still scraping their way up who can be tricky. When I helped run an arts festival it was never the headline acts who kicked up a stink about dressing rooms and jelly beans, but the third viola player in some medieval string ensemble who clearly thought he should be playing better gigs. People get to the top for a variety of reasons but humility and professionalism certainly help. Over the years I’ve contacted many people I admire to ask advice. Recently Joanne Harris who wrote ‘Chocolat’ gave me her tips for balancing work and family. She concluded: ‘make sure all the balls you are juggling are balls you really, truly want to keep in the air. There's no shame in pruning the non-essential aspects of your life to make room for the essential ones...’ Good advice, maybe you agree?


TODAY'S PROMPT: Assuming you really want to write – are there any non-essentials that can be pruned? Can you shape your life to make room for your work? Generosity of spirit will take you further as a writer than anything else – this I believe. Being pleasant to everyone from the guys on the shopfloor who stack your books to the man or woman who commissions your magnum opus will stand you in good stead. How do you feel about people reading your work – do you want to be ‘out there’ or are you happy writing for yourself and a small number of readers? Which writers do you admire greatly? What would you ask them if you had the chance, or would you just want to thank them for their work? If they are alive, why not google their sites – write a quick contact message. If they are dead, why not jot down in your notebook the elements of their stories you love - it can be a useful way to identify the direction you'd like your own work to take.