BRITISH WEATHER AND CREATIVE FLOW

Greetings blog readers from a warm and sunny Norfolk!

How long will this wonderful weather last we all wonder? This year we have waited so many months for the sun. Who knows? It could all change tomorrow. Britain is an island nation and our weather is forever changing. Subject to numerous variables, none of which is in our control, we tend to wait, anxiously, for things to improve.

Sometimes I think the British weather is like creativity. You can’t guarantee it will be there when you need it and most often it is not. I find my creativity comes in waves, and diminishes when I am tired or stressed. Some days I can write for hours. Some weeks I cannot write at all. It is not laziness, nor lack of application. I find if there is nothing to say, then there is nothing to write. As soon as I know what to say – the next piece of the plot is in my mind – I write.

One of the things I have to do when writing is to stop reading. Fiction is a no-no. Newspapers, crosswords and the odd television programme I can cope with, but other people's stories scramble my ideas. If I want to write, I need a clear head and a quiet mind.

A week ago, having finished the 7^th and final Sprite Sisters story, and in a burst of creative energy, I sat down to write the first title of a new trilogy that has been in my mind since 2006. I have made copious notes and written numerous chapters for The Earth Stories, but the ‘right time’ had not come. I had been too busy with the Sprite Sisters to engage in another big project.

Having got out the box file and looked through it, I typed, ‘The Earth Stories – Book 1 deadline Autumn 2013’, printed it out and stuck the piece of paper on the wall in front of me. I like to have a deadline.

But something surprising happened. As I sat there, staring at my new deadline, the words ‘Boudicca’s Daughters’ kept ringing in my mind. Boudicca’s Daughters, Boudicca’s Daughters . . . The words would not go away. This had been the intended title of the second volume of The Earth Stories, but I had often wondered if it would make a better stand alone novel for young adults.

So, as with the British weather and guided by some invisible force, I went with the flow. I got out a second box of notes and writing that I had done on Boudicca’s Daughters in 2010, and was surprised to see how much I had completed. Okay, I thought, I’ll write this book first.

I peeled the deadline for The Earth Stories off the wall, typed and printed out another. Now the words, ‘Boudicca’s Daughters’ stare at me from the wall, with the deadline of October 2013.

Much like our island weather, I set out to do one thing but found the pattern changed quite suddenly. I am back in ‘lock-down mode’, shutting out as much of the world around me as I can, while Boudicca’s Daughters makes its way on to the pages of my new book.

Outside the sun is shining, but I am sitting at my computer going with the creative flow.