Focus & Persistence

Why is it that after a year of working on my third book, I’m still nearer the title page than 'The End'? Admittedly, I have allowed other projects to distract me from time to time, but that’s not the sole reason for my lack of progress. For one thing, my story is based on the lives of real people, and I have a responsibility to truth that demands a great deal of research – endless hours of research. Then there are the trivial, unavoidable interruptions integral to daily life; other peoples’ needs. Oh, how I wish I could hunker down in an isolated cottage on a windswept headland overlooking the sea, or rent a forgotten cupola atop a remote riverside home. As a husband, a father and a friend with commitments to others, the idea seems rather selfish, so I resist the temptation. Perhaps all I need is a little more resolve and perseverance.

Still, in my view, writing is a solitary rather than a collaborative process, and though I regularly associate with other writers, enjoy their company and learn a great deal from them, I find isolation is the key to my best work.

I’m proud to be a member of the Canadian Authors’ Association and I belong to an informal literary group known as the Third Thursday Group – which, by the way, meets on the second Thursday of the month, but I don’t wish to write like them. Each of us have our own style, our own approach, and a unique way of telling our story. Some feel critiquing one-another’s work will improve the quality of our writing, but I’m concerned that in the end, our manuscripts will become indistinguishable, a homogeny of the collaborators’ perspectives and approaches.

Don’t misunderstand me; I’m not advocating ignorance. If we are to offer our readers something of value, we must explore the conventions of grammar and style; study literature and language. Then, with the tools we have assembled, the collective knowledge of our predecessors and our contemporaries, we must shut the door, turn off the phone and focus.