Finding the time to write & other stories
A few things are changing around here
Hi everyone,
Something a little different this weekend. As you can see, there’s no Ten for The TEN or The Write to Know.
I took a step back recently to examine how creating content for The TEN was encroaching upon my own creative writing time.
The hard truth is that it’s taking up almost all of it. And that’s no good. In fact, it’s quite the opposite.
Inspired by the many writers I’ve interviewed this year, who have all shown such dedication to their writing schedules, I realised I needed to pare things back a little.
The TEN is now six-months-old and very much a work in progress. I love sharing magazine-style features with you but I also want to be able to blog about my own writing journey.
For that to happen, I need to have a journey. And therein lies the rub.
I’ve written since I could hold a pencil. Thanks to a cinephile dad, I became hooked on movies from a young age (Bugsy Malone was one of my early favourites) and was thrilled when I sold my first screenplay in my twenties. I tore through the children’s section at our local library so quickly that my parents had to give permission for me to borrow books for the oldies. (“Stop showing off” - Ed).
So it’s no surprise that writing a novel remains firmly on my to-do list. And that’s why I need to get back to my passion; telling stories.
From now on, I will be posting one Ten for The TEN interview and one The Write to Know newsletter every month. This cuts my workload in half and will give me vital breathing (writing) space.
These changes are small but mighty.
But what’s coming up?
Well, plenty!
Next Sunday sees the arrival of my second industry interview for the INSIDERS series (and it’s a good ‘un!). You can read the first one with Eddie Gamarra here.
Earlier this week, I launched my 12-week Summer Writing Breeze, which I’ve designed as a realistic way of keeping all of us accountable and motivated through the balmy days of summer. (Or the arctic days of summer if you’re living in the UK).
Every week, I’ll update you on my novel-writing progress and hopefully get to hear about yours.
Do take a look if you want to be part of this writers group aspect of The TEN. Summer Breeze is a paid feature and your support means so much to me. Already, there are many more subscribers and followers here than I ever imagined there would be when I first ventured onto this site.
So that’s where I’m at and hopefully you’re all on board with these tweaks and tucks. Einstein once said that “intelligence is the ability to change”, and that’s a great quote for this moment. But so is “you’re about as easy as a nuclear war” from Is There Something I Should Know, by Duran Duran.
I think we’ve all learned something here today.
Almost done. Just one more thing because I feel guilty for upending the apple cart this weekend; if you’re looking for a Sunday long read, why not check out this feature from Harpers, about what it’s like to be a writer in modern-day Hollywood, or this archive piece from Jeff Maysh about LA’s infamous ‘dine and dash dater’.
Happy writing - and lots of it!
Lisa
The Harpers article---something else.