The day started with a phone call from my Guru, who is also a trusted friend of mine. I wasn't expecting the call so it was a lovely surprise. Somewhere in the conversation we found ourselves talking about emotion when it suddenly hit me like a sledge-hammer that emotion was the element that my writing had been missing these last few weeks, to which my Guru agreed. Looking back it is so obvious but I suppose when you are so close to your own work you sometimes can't see the wood through the trees.
We all have experiences in our lives that involve emotion, whether happy or sad and to draw on those experiences is a valuable asset. I had lost sight of that fact and couldn't see that I was mostly writing for the sake of writing without actually having anything to say. However, all is not wasted, the wishy-washy writing of the last few weeks can be archived and re-invented at a later date. I reviewed my Mslexia competition entry and decided that it wasn't what I wanted my writing to reflect, so back to the drawing board with that one. The closing date is next week so hopefully I will have re-built it in time to enter it as planned.
After the phone call I discarded what I was originally going to do in favour of scribbling down an emotional account of my relationship, old and new, with my mum. Before I knew it I had written five sides of A4 paper which I have put aside to review tomorrow and type up onto my new laptop which my wonderful hubby Carl has got for me. This one is sadly nearing the end of it's life and needs to be plugged in all the time as it has no battery function at all.
All in all a very productive day for me. A big thank you to my Guru for her as ever sound and honest advice and to Carl for always ensuring I have something to type on and to keep all my writing safe.
About Me
- Rae Argent
- A fiction writer and mum to three great kids, also lucky enough to be married to the man of my dreams. In spite of that mushy comment I do not write flowery romance - I like a nice helping of real life grit in my work. I have a Diploma in Literature & Creative Writing from The Open University and remain a member of the wonderful Watford Writers, despite moving on several times. I am a big fan of Swanwick Writers Summer School which has taught me a great deal and where I have made many great friends. I have yet to reach the dizzy heights of becoming a published superstar but will continue to send my work out into the world.
Great post Rae. It's true what you say about sometimes not seeing things that should be obvious because we're close to our work. I like posts like these because they pull me up and make me take special note when I write. Thank you :-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. I'm one of those naughty writers who reads and reads her own work. Always the next day finds fault with the work done the previous day and emotion is the one thing I have to brush up on. But then... at least I have the basics done and I can really get down to the emotional side.
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