Write your way through 2020

This is that time of year where people reflect on what they've been up to in the past year, and resolve to achieve a particular goal in the new year. I know from conversation with some of my writing friends that we have a terrible tendency as creatives to beat ourselves up over not getting published, or not getting our particular pet project finished, or for not even dusting down the laptop or getting as far as sharpening the pencil.

Writing - if it's something you enjoy and you want to do - is like anything else in life. If for 2020 you want to get fit, buff your body or get yourself a trim beach butt, then you have to exercise. It won't happen any other way. And if you want to see your work in print and in bookshops, then you have to write.

But how can we do this, I hear the cry, I have no time, I need to learn, I don't know where to start....

Writers, or those who want to write successfully - which for many means mainstream publication, although I would say that if you write for pleasure then you're a writer anyway - have to simply get on with the act of writing. Whether it's opening up a notebook and jotting words and sentences down with your favourite biro, or tapping away on your iPad, you simply have to do it.

To write successfully, as with anything else you want to achieve, writing has to become a part of your life routine. And to do that, especially if you also have to work and have a family to care for, you need to find those spaces in your routine that allow you to do it. So, for example, in the same way someone who likes baking will make sure that they churn out the perfect scones for tea on a Saturday afternoon because that is when they have time to do it, the writer will sneak into a corner of their home (or the back of the car, or under a tree in the park, or in a corner table at the cafe) and spend an equivalent amount of time writing.

One of the wonderful things about writing is that you can do it anytime, anyplace, anywhere. I've managed to draft up a poem while walking the dog, thanks to the record function on my phone and not caring one hoot that passers by consider me an utter oddity for muttering away seemingly to myself.

One of the drawbacks of writing is that unlike the scones, the finished product may take days, weeks, months or even years to complete, so you can become pretty disheartened. I have been co-writing a non-fiction book with my daughter since 2015. We are both full time workers and mothers, the research has been intense, the subject matter complex. But we are getting there, a few hours most Sunday afternoons, a few paragraphs at a time. We still have two chapters, an introduction and conclusion to go plus all the revising, editing and rewriting, but it's steadily happening. It's taken the slow forming of a Sunday habit to get this far.

Other writers I know dedicate an hour per evening most evenings to their writing project once their kids have gone to bed. In fact, one of these sets an alarm so it is exactly one hour, which she claims to give her an intensely focused hour of writing. I can't contradict her because it seems to work perfectly well for her and she's in the throes of her third novel. Still others prefer the early hours and will do the same but before breakfast. You simply have to find that time of day that suits you best and that day of the week that suits you best.

And get selfish. Your time is so precious, so use it to fulfill that writing dream. There are people who go to their sports practice every week religiously and their families support them. You can be exactly the same about your writing. Okay you won't win Olympic gold but you will be the creative writer you want to be.

So back to New Year writing resolutions. The 20% or so of people who purportedly stick to their New Year Resolutions, whatever those may be, are those who:

-     set  one clear goal which can be broken down into small achievable steps
-     take small, steady steps towards that goal and don't try to overreach themselves in one go
-     enlist the support of family and friends
-     ask for support (if you need to get fit, you might hire the services of a personal trainer, or join a gym. It's the same with writing; join a creative writing class; or join a writer's group, or talk to writers you know and ask for help - most of us simply can't say no to helping aspiring writers do the writing that they love to do themselves)
-     cut themselves some slack; one slip up should not derail progress to achieving a goal

Here are some ideas for getting your writing on course in 2020:

Make writing a part of your everyday life

Even if you're not yet ready to start writing a book, experiment with finding that time and place that works for you and write. Even if it's just twenty minutes a day accompanied by your morning coffee and croissant before the kids get up. Twenty minutes is enough to write a short blog post, or a letter to a friend, or some draft lines of a poem, or some notes for a new chapter, or even the first paragraph of a novel. Once writing is part of your life, it will start to flow and by February you will have some material you have produced and can revise and work with.

Fall in love with writing

And I mean the process itself: savour the smell of a brand new notebook; feel the way your favourite pen lets the ink flow across the page; shape those words with a sense of pleasure; sit in comfort, in your favourite spot, where the view and the sounds around you don't distract but perhaps add to the enjoyment of the moment. Don't just focus on the end product - this could take years in the making and impatience will make you give up. Just enjoy the moment of writing, however brief those moments seem.

Read new material

Writers read. Good writers read a lot. Set off some sparks in your creativity by reading something new, in a new genre or form. If you read sci-fi, pick yourself up some poetry; if you like romance, try out a fantasy novel. Give your brain a holiday from the  usual and it will reward you with fresh ideas.

Share your writing more

Find a group of other writers willing to do the same and who you know will give you constructive, kind criticism and fresh insights into your work. Meet regularly and learn from them and with them. The support and confidence you will gain, and the motivation to write more is immeasurable.

Set out a specific goal

Whatever your goal is, don't be frightened of it. It can be as extravagant or as humble as you like. From 'I am going to write one short story I am proud of' to 'I am going to write a fantasy series to rival GOT'. Then this time next year, see how far you have got. With a bit of work, you will have exceeded your own expectations.

My goal in 2020 is to finish at least a good working draft of that non-fiction book. Get in touch and let me know what you've set for yourself!

Stories all around

Photo by Surachai courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

We understand our world in stories.  We tell stories to inform each other of events, to explain circumstances, to reflect on history, to investigate our thinking and explore concepts.  Some stories are make-believe and some are real, but what we do know, is that as human beings, our understanding and knowledge is based on the stories that we create and tell.

“After nourishment, shelter and companionship, 

stories are the thing we need most in the world.”

 
― Philip Pullman

March in Gibraltar was very much the month of the story.  It all started right at the beginning of the month with World Book Day.  I joined a number of local authors at the John Mackintosh Hall where we set out our publications in the gallery overlooked by the exhibited works of young local artists. The focus of my day was the mini-workshops that I ran, aimed at encouraging local writers, or anyone who wants to write but won't go as far as calling himself a writer, to join a writers' group.

Christiana Fagan talking to a group of school children about her beautiful Nature Diary which she wrote and illustrated with water colours.

It was very much a day where we all focused on stories, local authors told the stories of their books and the school kids listened to the story telling session laid on by the Gibraltar Cultural Services department in the theatre upstairs.  At the workshops we looked at where we can find inspiration for stories, and how we can create a beginning to make reader's mouths water with anticipation, a middle filled with unexpected delights and an ending to savour. We are now looking forward to getting together later in April to see if we really can get a writers' group off the ground and create a home for all those stories in the making.


My review of World Book Day for Mum on The Rock

The month continued with the Drama Festival, and an absolute feast of dramatised stories it was.  I was lucky to attend almost every performance, missing only some of the junior ones because these were staged earlier in the day and clashed with work. I was hugely impressed with the Drama Festival, mainly because some of the theatre groups took on the challenge of some very difficult plays and pulled these off brilliantly well.  Notable to me were the polished performances of Jean-Paul Lugaro and Samantha Barrass in "Constellations" by Nick Payne, which won Samantha the Best Actress award, and the ensemble of young players from the Bayside and Westside Drama Group in Berkoff's "The Trial".  This latter play was mesmerizing from beginning to end and won the brilliant young Billy Snell as Joseph K the Best Actor award.  Super stories well told, it was a hugely enjoyable week of theatre for me.

My review of the Gibraltar Drama Festival 2016 for Mum on The Rock

We also had the deadline for the Gibraltar Spring Short Story competition in March.  Now, much as I love stories, I find these hard to write, especially with a 1000 word limit.  I did submit one, dubiously, and I shall wait and see how it fares, which is one of the things I like about submitting work: the anticipation.  Of course, the deep gloom that then descends on me after rejection or failure is something else.  I hope lots of other writers submitted too.  The short story competition is one of the very few local outlets for writers to showcase their work.

Photo by Witthaya Phonsawat courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.com

For me, the story moved on and at the end of the month during the Easter weekend, I volunteered my writing skills to keeping the media and the world of pool updated during the International Pool Association's Gibraltar leg of the World Series tournament.  I have never been a writer of anything sporty before, so it was a first for me, but I think I've found a new skill.  I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and getting to grips with something very out of my comfort zone, and I kept Facebook sites and Twitter feeds busy with reports on the matches.  A new way for me to look at and tell a story.

IPA Professional World Series Gibraltar 2016 page

From the month of stories to a month in which I am working on a new piece of fiction...because I just love stories. 

Photo by jannoon 028 courtesy of www.FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Gibraltar Writers

After a very slow summer as far as writing is concerned, characterised mainly by finding a way to avoiding queuing for hours at the border with Spain.  Did I say border?  It's beginning to feel more like our own Mediterranean Berlin Wall!  As I was saying, after a long, hot summer, I have managed to scrape the nib of a biro onto some paper again and clawed my way into second place in the Gibraltar Autumn Festival Poetry competition with a poem called "Nightwatch".  Second place to an excellent poem by Rebecca Faller, published in The Gibraltar Chronicle.  First verse of "Nightwatch" is printed below. One day, it will form part of an anthology of my poems, but first I have to sharpen up my pencil, fill up my fountain pen, and boot up my lap top and PRACTISE.

Because, if what they say is right, that generally you can expect to scribble out a million words of drivel before you write something worth publishing, I still have a way to go.  Not far, I hope, but still a fair way.  So practise is a must.

Which brings me to Gibraltar Writers.

Writing can be isolated and isolating.  You can only really write something worthwhile when on your own.  Not necessarily physically (above-mentioned poem having been written and honed while surrounded by loving but noisy family), but alone somewhere inside your head, in your own space and your own world that you create paragraph by paragraph.  And the more time you spend writing the less time you spend interacting with real people - social networking only goes a little way to bring you in touch with people, flesh and blood human beings with all their oddities and quirks.  And since books and stories are populated by people, writers just have to go out into the throngs even if only to glean ideas with which to draw their characters.

Gibraltar East Side (because it's different to the West)

And one way to feel a lot less isolated and much more supported and surrounded by others with the same interest in writing as you, is to join a writers group.  Gibraltar Writers meets monthly at the Sir John Mackintosh Hall, on the first Tuesday of each  month at 7.15.  It's a space and place in the month where we can put the lap top to sleep, leave the family to fend for itself and indulge in the company of others who simply can't resist the urge to write down their thoughts, weave wonderful tales, paint visions with words and want to share this with others.  We'll be sharing tips, ideas, testing out our own writing on each other, improving our craft by having others share their opinions on our work and generally supporting each other through the minefield of creating, writing, drafting, revising, editing and publishing.

Whoever you are, whatever age, whether English is or is not your first language, if you like to write, you need to come to Gibraltar Writers on 3rd December.  And if you are thinking about it but are unsure, email me for more info and so I can convince you to join us there!  jackiegirl@hotmail.co.uk  or find me on Facebook, or Google+ or Twitter (Gibtalk).

Sir John Mackintosh Hall, Gibraltar

See you on 3rd Dec with notebook and pen, or tablet, or wax and stigil or whatever you prefer to use to write!