The Words We Use by Claire Fayers

 Writers, how do you describe what you do?

When I was starting out, writing alongside my day job, I was strident about calling writing 'work'. Especially when I was talking to people who couldn't, or wouldn't, understand that writing was something you could do for a living.

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

"I'll be working."

"You're doing your writing, you mean?"

"Yes, I'll be working."

I was probably very tedious. But I knew that if I wanted a career in writing, I had to take it seriously, to put in the hours, the effort, the training. Part of that was talking about it seriously and refusing to let anyone think it was just my hobby.

Several serious years of full-time writing later, I seem to have swung the other way. I've been rediscovering the joy of writing and reminding myself why I started doing this in the first place - because it's fun.

Recently, instead of going to work in the morning, I've been playing with ideas, messing about with words, amusing myself with characters. It's even spilled over into how I write. From doing everything on a computer, I've taken to scrawling in notebooks, doing everyday tasks in the style of my characters (If you've never done the washing up as an eight-legged alien, you should try it - it's great fun!) I've even painted inept watercolour scenes from my work in progress and they don't have to be good because I'm only playing.

I'll be starting edits on my next book after Easter so I may go back to talking about work at that point, but I'm sort of hoping I won't. I like the sense of playing for a living. 

Claire Fayers writes fantasy adventures for children. www.clairefayers.com Twitter: @clairefayers