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The life of a writer

I seem to be getting into a pattern here. While I’m planning out some writing I am capable of keeping up with my author platform – blog posts, tweets and Facebook updates. But then, I get an outline all sketched out and thankfully I appear to be able to write between 500 and 1,500 words a day. Which, given I have three lovely boys to look after and a house to run is a minor miracle. But it does mean that something has to give – which at the moment is my author platform.

So, as you will have noticed by now, I am back to blogging for a bit. I’ve been commissioned for some fiction, which is new as most of my success so far has been non-fiction. I’ve just wrapped that up and have spent the last three days red-penning it (with a real red pen and hard copy). Also, a friend of mine asked me to write an article for a magazine, so that’s next in the pipeline, once I’ve got the red pen typed up onto the computer copy.

Also, last weekend, I made my escape. I went to the excellent Retreats for You for a weekend away. Their formula is really simple, a lovely old house, isolated deep in the Devon countryside running as a B&B. It’s run by journalist Deborah and her carpenter husband Rob and their ethos is simple. It is full board and the emphasis is that the guest should do nothing – I even had coffee and wine delivered to my laptop as I was typing! Being in the house of someone who writes means you have someone who understands that sometimes you need to be left alone and at others you can chat. (Also she was very accommodating of me laying out a whole plot using pieces of card!)

So, over one weekend I worked on the Fifth Warrior, my novel. During the week I’ve finished off a 20,000 word piece (short story? novella?) and I’m also thinking about a non-fiction article I’ve been asked to write. As my head is full of thoughts of word-counts and dead-lines this means I am now a professional writer! Actually I’ve been paid for the last few years for writing so I guess I lost my amateur status a long time ago.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been doing and where I’m up to at the moment. As ever, please leave a comment – it’s nice to know people are out there.

3 comments

  1. Well done on all the writing. The retreat sounds like a great idea and like you say it being run by writers mean they know what you need. Brilliant 🙂

    1. Hi Pete – I checked out your blog – another Baldacci fan here as well. And I also do the whole record keeping and logging how many words I write. The retreat was wonderful, a really good chance to reconnect with my novel instead of doing commissions.

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