It’s taken me almost three months to add a further chapter to the rewrite of Khamsin – rather tragic, when I share that it’s beginning was written almost a year ago.But it’s completed at last – an exploration of culture shock to bridge a chasm between two classic expressions of genre.
This one’s for anyone who’s tried to secure creative time against the demands of home, family and work. It’s for everyone who clings to a dream that ‘one day’ they will return to their chosen art – and it’s for everyone who’s woken up and gone ‘fuck it’ and dug their paintbrush out of the attic anyway.
It’s for the people who have helped me rediscover my confidence in this – particularly Mousewords, Teeg, and IAmKat. And it’s for words of encouragement from some unexpected sources.
My average word-count is worse than piss-poor.
But my imagination is awake and firing once more; images tumble, plot-lines weave, conversations develop. All I lack is time.
Learning how to write again is painful and an absolute pleasure... and I know that the more I persevere, the easier it will become.
The new chapter can be found here.
8 comments:
Much respect. I am just winding myself up to start writing again after three years on the wagon. My little girl will be three next month. Funny how her birth coincided with my cessation...
I'd forgotten how much I love it.
Your admission of piss-poor word count will help me a lot, I think. I get obsessed with bloody word count. There was a time when I knew the average daily word count of an unhealthy number of authors, so that I could compare myself against them. Jesus. What does that say about me?
Good luck - keep on making that time :)
You too - you've just had a massive change in environment and sometimes stuff like that is exactly what you need to trigger a 'new beginning' in other parts of your life!
I try not to think about the numbers - in comparison to what I used to chalk up it's too fucking depressing *grins!* Little steps - face the cold screen and type - every day is a little more headway - and all of that shit.
Let me know when you start again :)
Thanks - yeah, moving halfway across the world has really shaken everything loose.. One dayyy at a tiiiime :)
Don't make the mistake of inspiring yourself with great works. Inspire yourself from trash - stuff that's rotten or stuff that you absolutely despise.
It. Was. Finished. Completed. Done.
Hope you turn pro.
*Laughing!* The motto is 'read what you write'; I find (perhaps not so oddly) that if I don't read, writing's much harder.
And I love trash *grins!*
Pro genre author is hard - but hell, nothing's impossible, right? :D
I agree with 'read what you write' - studying your genre - but I prefer 'read everything you can get your hands on' - it's good brain stretching for me. You never know what will give birth to an idea.
I always laugh when I hear "write what you know" - it might work for non-fiction, but not soap operas, science fiction, most fiction, etc.
My favorite is "apply arse to chair & pen to paper (or hands to keyboard)" - completion is the key. I think that explains so many "unfinished novelists" & the birth of NaNoWriMo.
And when I typed "Inspire yourself from trash . . ." I was especially referring to garbage that had no business being published, particularly celebrity written (ghost written) schlock that wouldn't have seen the light of day if it wasn't for the famous face on the cover. I've read too many books that I wouldn't want to be seen holding.
Whatever motivates you to write works for me!
Hey - it works for me too; sadly, reading-time, like writing-time, is of the essence.
My partner (has a CW degree) always says there is only one piece of advice worth shit: 'face the cold page (screen) and write.
And when you cut away all the semantics and excuses, he has a point :)
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