I don't know about you, but I find my writing goes in cycles. Not regular, rhythmic patterns, but surges and ebbs. Sometimes I think it is linked to seasonal changes. It is September, and like many people who have been in the educational world for many years, it feels like time for new beginnings. I have a novel that needs a second draft, but I am feeling new ideas nudging at the corners of my thoughts.
The problem is knowing what to write first. It's easy to start - but it's the finishing that's the thing. Writers all have half-finished, part-formed books. They lurk there in drawers and on book cases, waiting to be completed. I take them out from time and tinker with them, and sometimes they 'grow legs' and walk.
In the past I have found that when my writing is at a low ebb, other creative activities help to get me fired up again. That's the great thing about having a 'double life,' working as a textiles artist as well as a writer; the two lives complement each other.
My two lives are starting to mesh together. I am now starting to illustrate my own work with my felting and stitching. It's been a revelation! It means I want to work all of the time, though...but one side of my work fires up the other and I just don't want to stop. Luckily, autumn is my favourite season, so the call of the woods gets too much for me, and I *do* get outside every day. Then there's the apple-and-spice autumnal cookery to do...
I still teach a lot - writing and felting rather than the PGCE students I used to teach - and one of my students remarked rather wistfully the other day as she was leaving class that my life was rather idyllic. You know what? She was right.
(You can see more of my textiles work at Faerierealms and hear about writing at Book Nurture well - should you feel the desire!)
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