It has been a busy year, so far. I keep forgetting how far into the year we are and am regularly surprised to realise it’s May or July or, now, almost August.
My writing journey has been flying over the last six weeks or so as I have explored more seriously the reality of being a ‘proper’ writer. One of the most important things I have learnt over this time is if I want to be a writer, I have to do some writing.
I have just started uni (again – why do I do this to myself?) and school resumed last week for Term 3. Consequently, the time I have had to do whatever I want – read, write, clean a cupboard, go to the beach, stay up late bingeing TV – is now much more restricted. So, as I am in the process of developing a regular writing practice my challenge is learning how to do this. For me, it means writing every day, even if I I’m too tired or very busy or can’t think of what to write.
I have learnt over the last fortnight to write about what I want to write about at any given time. Ideally, one day I will have a book deal (wouldn’t that be lovely?) and I may need to write about what I do not feel like writing about to meet the deadline. But, for now I can blog, think about a short story, edit a picture book, work on my life story, have a go at my family saga, etc.
I also have to write every single day. Every. Single. One.
Now, it’s like any new habit we want to engage in – healthier eating, exercising everyday, going to bed earlier – or skill we want to learn – playing the piano, bending a soccer ball, sewing – sometimes we fail. I have failed this week. I had high hopes and plans. I bargained with myself. Well, you did write the blog post for your uni assignment? I did meet with an author and talk about writing! At the end of the week, though, I had not written for pleasure every day.
But, failure is part of the journey! And if I try again the next day and the next or the one after that then is it failure or is it perseverance?
Trish Lewis 