Smile
How are the New Year's resolutions going? Mm - me too. Not feeling much 'sprezzatura' around here. I was lying awake with the lyrics to Luhrmann's 'Sunscreen' going round and round in my mind. The song was released in '97 - the year we got married, and during my (too short lived) gym phase seemed to be playing every time I was cursing my way through ab exercises. There are some choice pieces of advice:
'Don’t be reckless with other people’s hearts, don’t put up with people who are reckless with yours'
'The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday'
'Be kind to your knees, you’ll miss them when they’re gone'
I have been devastatingly blindsided, as it were, and will be taking a short break. Fortunately, a couple of lovely ladies kindly wrote guest spots at the end of the year, so this is a perfect time to hear some inspirational advice from people who are living the dream of writing full time. Today Lynne Hackles has some advice for us. She writes great guides for writers, and her site caught my eye because it is so full of character. Back soon x
When Kate asked me for some top tips to pass on to new writers I tried to think of a couple not included in my Handy Little Book for Writers (buy it from me via my website). After a good think – I’m really good at thinking and this session involved feet up, telly on and a box of Quality Street – here are two I came up with.
1. My biggest fear during the early years of my writing life was that someone would find out I’d been bluffing and that I had no idea how to write. How could I have when I left school at 15 with no qualifications? The Headmistress said without me standing on the desk doing Cilla Black impressions (and other assorted naughtiness) the rest of the class could concentrate. Getting my first book accepted (Racing Start) was a fluke, landing a job with a local newspaper was down to a great big fib – I told them I was a freelance writer when all I’d ever had published was a reader’s letter. Then I began talking to other writers and realised that many felt the same way. We were all pretending we knew what we were doing. So Top Tip Number 1 is believe in yourself because those people you fear might catch you out are probably bluffing too.
2. I hear many of you are juggling your writing with jobs and families. Been there, done that, and didn’t appreciate it at the time. My kids supplied me with loads of ideas for humorous family life pieces published during the 1980s in My Weekly. As well as two kids, a husband, a cat and two adventurous stick-insects, I had a job. I always worked but never for very long in one place. The job count was way above fifty when I decided to write full time. On top of that there was training to do. I used to compete in time-trials on a hand built, made-to-measure racing cycle, sprayed in a colour to match my nail varnish. Pedalling 100 miles on a Sunday and 25 every other day left me little time to write. Wednesday afternoons were the only time I had and boy, was I prolific during those few hours. Now all day is available to me I mess about and actually don’t produce much more than when time was so limited. Top Tip 2. Focus on your work no matter how short the time you have.
And whatever you do, make sure you enjoy it.
Lynne
TODAY'S PROMPT: Do you keep a notebook by the bed? It's one of those writer tips that seems to really work for some people - catching those fleeting 4am moments of brilliance. I tried it for a while but could never decipher the scrambled handwriting in the morning. However, those were the days when I could sleep, so maybe it's time to try again. Why not give it a go? Or you could just listen to Sunscreen:
