In
the past I’ve blogged about my pattern of ‘Writing with the Seasons’ on ABBA, and
how it’s always worked for me, but over the last few years it’s all gone
out of sync – not just the whole writing with the seasons thing, but my entire routine
and writing process.
Various
factors have contributed to this, which I won’t bore you with, but they have
had a major impact. It’s not that I haven’t been writing, because I have, but
not quite in the same way.
Reworking
a manuscript is a very different kettle of fish to writing a new book.
With
a new agent and fresh eyes on my work, I spent the first part of the year
re-working a manuscript that is very close to my heart, and by the end of that
process I was quite happy with the end result. I am now reworking a second
manuscript, which I am finding much harder going. The voice of the main
character eluded me for a long time, and I couldn’t understand why. It was only
when I switched to the first person that things started to click and fall into
place.

But
this is when I come to the writing with the season thing. I know my most
productive time of year for writing is autumn and winter and spring. Not the
summer. The summer has always been the most distracting time of year, firstly
because of school holidays,(although my teen is now old enough to arrange his
own distractions, which he happily does!) family holiday, the sunshine, the
allotment, the tennis, the...you get the idea. Routine disappears and with it
the word count plummets and the guilt rises. There are too many offers for a
game of tennis, the swing seat and a good book are always beckoning, the weeds
on the allotment need to be kept under control, and there way too many
courgettes to give away and recipes to look up!

What’s
the answer? Well, we all know that writers never fully switch off, that story
ideas, scenes and characters are always percolating in the grey matter, and
that a break from writing is good and necessary, and that a holiday is
essential. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t get the present re-write
re-written, which has to be done before the end of summer. For my own peace of
mind I need to be back in synch.
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First crop of cherries for my two year old tree |
Without
the external pressure of a looming deadline, and the self-imposed deadline not
working as it does at other times of the year, it’s all about time management
for the summer months for me now: allotting hours of the day, days of the week
to the current re-write and fully committing to them, and if that means turning
off the phone, the internet, and dare I say it, Facebook and Twitter and the
rest of it, then so be it.
Well,
that’s the plan...
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Third time lucky garlic crop |
 |
Four varieties of potatoes |
My website
Twitter @savitakalhan
4 comments:
It's an EXCELLENT plan - you go for it!
Thanks, Joan. Like all plans, it's all in the execution of them...and if it's only partly successful then at least the batteries will have been recharged!
I love the shots of your garden! I grow veg myself - so satisfying in many ways - why not try writing about it? I did and this November the book is coming out.
Look forward to your book, David. Good luck with it! I'm still very much a novice at allotmenteering, only my 3rd year, but I love it!
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