Time and Space for Writing - in the mind

So I managed to book rooms, and made a stab at hosting a writer's group.  And wrote a story.  And then it all went wrong.

No-one turned up.  Well, two did, but by that time, I'd had an eleven hour day, was hungry, cold, disillusioned and went home.

Then the next time, the room had been double booked.  So no great success there, plus the guilt of letting other people down.

Clearly I need to take control again, make sure that my writing time is there and that everyone around me respects it, and that I can give some thought to communicating with other local writers.  At home I've set aside Sunday mornings and the family is easy going about it.  The first hurdle has been cleared.

But in recent weeks all I've done is work, so intensely I can barely think when I get as far as home, can sleep only in fits and starts and reading is a struggle, let alone writing.  Now that is a much deeper problem, and one that many writers must face, because it is an unusual thing for writers to be able to learn a good enough living from just writing alone.  Not unless they are so hugely dedicated, so good at their craft, networking, marketing their work and so on, that they have very successful freelance writing careers.  And I have huge admiration for these writers.  But I am in that dilemma where I must work to raise the family, keep a roof over their heads etc. but I cannot rely on writing income because I have no time to hone my skills, market my work etc. quickly enough to obtain enough commissions to be a full-time writer.

But that's ok.  Not all painters expect to exhibit their art in galleries and have a bidding war going on over their canvasses at auction houses.  But they still paint, and hang their art on walls in homes or maybe even in local cafe's and enjoy the creativity, the production.  Which is pretty much how I look at my writing.

So when work interferes to an extent where my hobby can have no time in my life because in the time I have my brain is dulled by mental exhaustion, then it is pretty clear to me that my work-life balance has to be redressed.  Because unlike sport, or cookery, or flower arranging, or going to a wine-tasting club, or salsa classes, writing needs enormous engagement of the mind.  Work does not interfere with me walking the dog - and I used to use this time to work out plots or characters in my head, but recently I've been wording up emails or working out lists of things to do the next day in the office.  Physical time is there every day because I get up extra early and I go out late in the evening to  walk.  But it's mental time.  My brain is so cluttered and tired, that even thinking about storylines is tiring.

I decided to see if there were any tips out there I could put to use - I can't afford not to work, though that would be a fine thing and I found these three I'm going to try out next week:

1.  The right tools to write with

      Being prepared is essential, so since I give myself two hours on a Sunday, then I can make best use of this when I have everything around me I need - laptop, notes, a notebook, a cup of tea, and the door to my room closed.  I make sure my pens work, the laptop charger is to hand and that any notes I may have scribbled down during the week are to hand so I can refer to them.  If I approach my writing like I do my work, then for those two glorious hours, I can focus on the task of producing the novel or story or poem I want to write.

2.    Music

       I find quiet background music helps me focus.  It makes me detach myself from work altogether so my thoughts are less likely to wonder back to what I left at the office on the Friday.  Each person will have their own trigger item or routine that will help them focus - a friend of mine sets an alarm for her one hour writing session, it focuses her on trying to finish the piece she is working on in that time.  When the alarm goes off, she finds she has achieved some progress and that keeps her thinking on what she is writing rather than on the everyday things that can be so distracting.

3.   Setting a goal

      In a way it's using a technique from the office, but if it is successful at work, then no reason it can't be successful in my writing.  My goal this week is to try to enter a story for the Gibraltar Spring Festival short story competition.  I've only got till 14th March to get it ready.  My preparation for this was giving it some real thought when out walking the dog (and yes, I did occasionally get distracted thinking about work, but like everything else in life, discipline helps), and then I wrote it out during my session.  It needs to be finished and polished, so I will have to carve out an extra session this week, and I'm sure it will be worth it.

I'll give these three things a try.  The long and the short of it is that writers write.  Less bleating, more writing.  There can be no success without trying.