CHAPTER FIVE AND THE PAINFUL TRUTH ABOUT WRITING

‘What’s it like being a writer?’

‘Are you disciplined and start at the same time each day?’

‘Do you listen to music when you write?’

‘How many words do you write in a day?’

‘Where do you get your ideas from?’

It’s wonderful and awful; no; absolutely not (words have their own rhythm and music interrupts the flow); anything between 50 and 5000; and, I have no idea, they’re just there when I need them, I reply.

 How does one explain that writing is as excruciating as it is exhilarating? Sometimes, you explain, the words creep along the page, sometimes they tumble out and, sometimes, if you’re really lucky and get ‘in the zone’, they will fly.

‘So what’s your typical day?’ they ask.

 This is how it often is.

10.00am. Coffee, strong and black, or a large pot of gunpowder and mint tea with some honey; either will guarantee I will need to go to the loo umpteen times in the next hour or so.

Necessary preparation

Ready to roll

10.10am. Upstairs to my office on the second floor, I create a new Word document for Chapter Five of ‘Magic at Drysdale’s School’.

The blank page

 This chapter is from my seventh Sprite Sister title. I know my characters by now. I know what peril I intend to place them in. The stories are fun to write; this should be easy. Off we go.

11.00am. Two trips to the loo, no words on the page. Go downstairs for a piece of Green & Black’s Milk Almond Chocolate and another mug of herb tea.

Well, it's necessary

11.10am. Climb the 26 stairs back up to the second floor and sit down at my desk. Get up and open the window to adjust the airflow, then go to the loo, again.

But why did I drink all that coffee?

 11.15am. While I’m in the bathroom, clean my teeth to get out the almonds in the chocolate that are sticking in my ancient, receding gums. On return to my desk I find there is still one bit still stuck and which is annoying me. Return to the bathroom and start the procedure again, this time with floss.

Distraction No 23

11.25am. Teeth now free of bits. Check my email and smart phone (this is done regularly through the day). Adjust the window again.

The worst distraction

 12.00pm. Answer the ringing telephone in case my aging parents have collapsed, only to find it’s a friend wanting a chat. If you have a lot of friends and a big family, you can be guaranteed frequent interruptions when you are trying to concentrate.

12.30pm. Stare out of the window. Stare at the keyboard.

Speak to me

2.00pm. 165 words now on the page. I will never get this written … Where are my characters going? I’ve had umpteen interruptions and my mind feels all over the place. 

 2.30pm. Time to go for a walk. Lie flat out on the grass and do some cloud watching, then sit under a tree and wait for inspiration. Now do I know what happens next in the story, I wonder, as I return home?

I should be able to clear my mind here ...

4.00pm. Refreshed, though still undecided, I stare at the computer screen. Remind myself that I am writing this book because I want to: nobody is making me. I am enjoying it, really I am. Check my diary again. 

Do the crossword.

I should be writing, not doing this ...

 5.00pm. Lie on the bed.

My back hurts

5.30pm. Back at my desk again.

Not to be beaten

5.35pm. Stare at the note I placed on the wall in front of me, some weeks ago. ‘Magic at Drysdale’s School – deadline end July 2012’, it says in large black type. Oh heck. Why didn’t I see that earlier? Four weeks and around 47,500 words to go.

Arghh.... hurry up, hurry up

 In that case …  Go back down to the kitchen, get a glass of cold rosé and come back up to my seat at the computer.

 6.00pm. As the day winds down and my neighbours return from their work, my mind settles and I know what my characters will do next. That’s the key – writing is easy when you have your plot clear. Within a few minutes, I’m away and into the zone. Time stands still, the noises outside the house recede and my concentration is absolute as my words zing onto the page. I'm on my way at last! 



Sheridan Winn is the author of the Sprite Sister stories. The sixth title, The Boy With Hawk-like Eyes, is available as an e-book. The first title, The Circle of Power, will be published as an e-book later this month and the other titles will follow.