Finding Time

19 December

The last week or so has been difficult. Ever since I returned from Chicago I’ve struggled to get back into any kind of routine. I personally find routine helpful, especially when it comes to the writing of books. Falling into a (good) routine means setting aside a prescribed time each day for writing and knowing that something positive is going to be achieved in that time. Without it, little seems to get done.

The accident which befell my typist hasn’t exactly helped. I had trained my head to look in one direction ie. MÄLAREN and now it’s being forced to look in another. I find I need to immerse myself in my characters and their story - to simply move from one to the next overnight isn’t feasible and it’s taken me time to adjust. So instead of ploughing straight on from where I left off in mid November, I’ve had to pick up a piece of work I last looked at over eighteen months ago and try to re-connect.

Well, ok perhaps if I could settle to it but we are of course at a time of year when other things demand one’s attention – you can’t escape the need for a Christmas tree and lights and decorations and presents and cards and everything else that goes with the season. Then there’s the visiting of relatives, the travelling and suddenly it’s New Year’s Eve and another set of celebrations are upon us, so there’s little hope of any routine kicking in before the first Monday in January. And having just taken ten days out of the schedule to go to Chicago (probably fourteen by the time you reckon on preparing and packing and unpacking etc.) it seems it will have been six whole weeks gone by and nothing concrete to show for it.

I was speaking to a fellow author on Monday (we met for tea and a chat at City Screen) and I suggested that she take some time off and relax (as you do). She retorted that for her, stress arises out of not being able to write and the thought of sitting around doing nothing over the holiday period would be intolerable. I know the feeling. We take weeks out of our lives preparing for time off – and when we get it, we wish we were doing something else.

I can’t say that the last two weeks have been entirely wasted. I have got over my disappointment with MÄLAREN, I have decided to proceed with AS DAD LAY DYING instead (I really must do something about that title) and I have read the piece through in advance of starting work on it. That at least is progress. I have begun making notes – not for the first time in respect of this novel, I have to say. The first draft was originally written in 2009 and so it’s very nearly 5 years old already. I have made attempts at re-writing it before (twice, I think) and I am revisiting old ground. But it all takes time to re-assimilate.

The good news is I am convinced of the worthiness of the subject. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I become engaged by it. I find Frank (the main protagonist) to be a fascinating character and I really want to tell his story. I also find that the story in itself is immensely powerful and that is a driving force too. And for me, that is what literary fiction is about – the exposition and exploration of character through the telling of a story. The same is true of BIRDS OF THE NILE where in Michael Blake I like to think I have created another interesting and credible character. I have recently received a kind review to the same effect and I find that extremely gratifying. If I can do the same with AS DAD LAY DYING (I’m determined to change that title!) I will be delighted.

All I need to do is find the time – and that means getting into a routine. Must I really wait until 6 January? I hope not and I must try and find a way of moving things forward amidst all the disruption that surrounds me. Wish me luck.