'Take a walk and get back on your writing track'

 

"Writersdisplace their anxiety on to the tools of the trade. It's better to say thatyou haven't got the right pencil than to say you can't write, or to blame yourcomputer for losing your chapter than face up to your feeling that it's betterlost.” – Hilary Mantel

Born in England on July 6, 1952 (shedied following a stroke in 2022) Mantel was the first woman to win the BookerPrize twice – for the first two novels in her fictional trilogy of ThomasCromwell’s rise and fall in the court of Henry VIII.  Both novels, Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies, won a basketful ofwriting awards and were adapted as plays and BBC Masterpiece Theaterproductions. The third installment, The Mirror and the Light also was longlisted for the Booker.  The trilogy hasgone on to sell more than 5 million copies.     

Mantel was agreat historical writer, biographer and autobiographer writing 12 novels, two collections of shortstories, a personal memoir, and numerous articles and opinion pieces.  Several of her novels were semi-autobiographical in nature including the excellent Eight Months on Ghazzah Street,which drew on her time living in Saudi Arabia.

  

Shortly before her death she said she had perfected aformula for overcoming writer’s block, the bane of many authors:

 

“If you getstuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make apie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise,” she advised.  “Whatever you do, don't just stick therescowling at the problem.  Don't maketelephone calls or go to a party; (because) if you do, other people's wordswill pour in where your own lost words should be.”

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