This post could also be titled: The Great Procrastination. However, procrastinating I am not. It’s felt like a difficult year. It has been another difficult year for many of us. But, wow!
By contrast, my life could be labelled Easy. Yet, I’ve been battling Easy as if it were the most tenacious antagonist to ever stop at my door/hatch – I’m back aboard my tiny houseboat project and have no door as such, but a hatch that slides above my head to close me in.
Yet, I remain very free. And it’s this freedom I and many of us are fighting for. Other freedoms are under debate already, and so I will focus on my personal story. Not to promote my books or self, or rant against the system or our loss of freedom of speech, but to talk about an age-old topic I have yet to rectify with any amount of success:
That time and money thing
So important was it a hundred years ago that Virginia Woolf dedicated an entire book to it, and so poignant for me today as it was over a decade ago when I drank in her words like good coffee and never came down from the rush – she knew a writer needs space and cash-flow to bankroll a book or two!
In a A Room of One’s Own, Woolf discusses frankly that without the two, women would not have the privilege, nor resources to write, and recognised how privileged she was to have them. In her time, women were still not allowed to visit libraries without permission, and/or being accompanied by a man. Also, the library shelves were mostly absent of women’s works because historically we weren’t able to write and read, let alone write books (and influence people). It was the era of women’s liberation.
What it takes to write that first book
Today, things are different for most women in the Western world. We have the privilege of education and employment, the vote, vast libraries of information at our fingertips, and self publishing, just like Woolf had. But securing an income is not as easy as it was a decade ago, nor is the ability to move freely to somewhere more accommodating (without a visa). In some ways, things are moving back to Woolf’s era.
Luckily, I have a room of one’s own. An entire little boat, an old yacht, and she screams (through cracked paintwork) ‘antiquity’, and inspires me daily to never give up. Yet, daily, I do feel like screaming back: “I’ve had enough for the day. Please, just be a boat and a room to write – and not a sieve of rainwater and time!”
So, what does it take to finally write that first novel, and the steam to write a second, third, and so on? The answer is momentum. It takes momentum, plus: a bloody good spirit, heaps of wit, and a few nice treats. Patience, tolerance of self and others (and the craft) are also must-haves.
Any tricks or hacks for completing a manuscript?
I’ve read many books on writing, including by writers like Virginia Woolf, Steven King, plus many autobiographical books, talks, and films by other inspirational writers. I could list many inspirational writers I admire, but the message here is to learn from the best. For some, writing comes easy, and is as second nature to them as breathing. For others, every word is a battle. But the simple truth that every writer agrees on is that the only way to write a book is to write the damn book. Word by word, a book is written and finished.
There’s no perfect recipe or hook, just to get the words down, one by one, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, chapter by chapter. Repeat this process about 40-50 times and you’ll have a finished first draft – the elusive manuscript you always dreamt of writing. This is how you write a book.
I wrote my first draft with a pencil and a few A4 notepads. Part of it from inside a tent by a beach whilst travelling in Spain. They, the book I’m working on now, was also originally plotted out on paper from an old house in the Spanish mountains before I pulled the plug, went wild, and fell off the map.
Warning: Why mixing fiction and reality almost made me quit writing
Since publishing my first book, it took nearly a decade to write the next in the series. One massive reason is that it features my gran, and she died suddenly whilst I was writing book two. This means any read-throughs are a little emotional for me, and I literally couldn’t face re-reading or thinking about chapters or plots with her in it (same for book three, which is now temporarily on hold).
I guess this could be a mild warning to anyone thinking about featuring a loved family member in their work. However, she is now immortalised, and when I figure it out (and get a grip), she’ll get a good send-off sometime down the line.
Setting realistic expectations and deadlines
I’d also started another book (They, a thriller), and I’ve been desperate to carve out the time and resources to finish it. It’s been about five years now since I started it! A prolific writer I am not. I’ve only really had two good shots at completing the first draft, until just recently – I’ve literally forced myself to wipe the proverbial table clean and pick it back up. More so, I’m really excited about finishing it. I’m pushing for completion and publishing it in the new year (56,500 words written).
Meanwhile, I’d promised readers that book three in the series A Dangling Fish would be finished soon. I can’t possibly write them both, work on my boat, and do the usual job-hunting/ freelancing work to bankroll them. Plus, book three will feature my gran, and those books in the series are supposed to be more funny and not sad. Also, last year I redesigned and relaunched my freelance website, and it was systematically plagiarised.
These types of situations are what’ve stopped my progress (and probably thousands of others) from writing anything. It took me a long time to get the room, but the time and money part is always a struggle. Add the death of a loved one, copyright infringement, more price hikes and fewer jobs, and things can get really tricky.
Don’t be beat
Unfortunately, the business of publishing isn’t geared for supporting writers without a guaranteed book series or film deal they can capitalise on from an existing fan base, and there are much fewer grants for unknown writers, or flexibility with government payments to help, either. As things get more expensive and our time in exchange for money worth less, having the resources to write and write well under these pressures is more straining than ever.
In some ways, our modern times are for us creatives a bit like Kerouac’s Beat generation. Though, the arts were more glamorous and easier back then, and freedom of speech was fashionable, well-practised, and the backbone for many writers’ works. We’d be jailed in numbers if we wrote so freely today. In fact, in the UK, we are being jailed in numbers!
Thank the universe I can’t get another Facebook account. Maybe it’s because I once said somewhere I didn’t like it. It’s not quite true, actually, it was for security reasons. But, not having access is one less thing to do, and it’s probably stopped me from getting arrested for saying something factually and actually correct. However, the benefit here is that I don’t waste my word-writing stamina (and time).
Don’t quit: Persistence pays
Alas. Back to writing books: one word after the other, just like you do with those social media rants. Soon enough, you’ll have your first novel, and it will feel absolutely fantastic. Yes, there will be much editing and rewriting and read-throughs ahead (and tantrums), but let’s not ruin the moment of pure elation you will feel for writing your first book.
Today, I’m back in the UK and living off-grid on my boat project. This means I don’t have many bills, but I also have to be careful with water and power consumption. Sometimes, I don’t have enough power in winter to run my devices or tools or be plugged in all day and night. I’ve re-wired the electrics twice in a week because it’s been textbook wet and windy and horribly damp, and I probably kicked a cable because I’m still working on my boat and nothing’s in its proper place. I could quit often.
The only fact is: if you don’t start writing your first book, you won’t finish. Only if you quit, you fail. The not-quitting part remains omnipresent, and failure assured if we do. Like a piggy bank, every word written is a penny in the proverbial book jar until it’s full. Persistence pays, never give up. Good luck!