Being Realistic About Your Writing...

As I write it is 12 days to Awards Night at Nottingham Writers' Club, combined with the annual  restrained Christmas party... I've had a slight relapse on the health front and now need an inhaler for a short while, so hopefully I'll be feeling 100% by the party.

After the awards we have finger food and a few quizzes with chocolate type prizes for the winner/s or the winning table. And this is truly when the hidden competitive streak comes out in all of us- in a good natured way of course. :-)

Chocolate and writers just seem to go together...

It's also the evening I should be getting the comments on my romance trophy entry returned to me. This year it was judged by writer Sue Moorcroft (who is also one of the judges in the Fiction Workshop section in Writers Forum magazine).

So I'm looking forward to seeing what Sue thought about my entry. I am prepared for good news and bad. Though I won't read the comments properly until the cold light of day when I can calmly absorb them.

Once my novella in progress is completed I'll go back to the novel- as I've been contemplating it for the past year and learning more about my characters- and think I'm ready to proceed with it...

I'm realistic enough to know I need to be honest about my writing, and need to make clinical judgements about it, as a well-known novelist suggests.

A L Kennedy in the Guardian has written an article on looking closely at your work and seeing not only it's good points, but the weak areas as well. There are some interesting suggestions included.

We all have areas of writing that we are better at, but it doesn't mean we will always see all those weak spots, so honest but supportive writer friends can be invaluable.

So on Awards Night I'll be clapping the winners, and looking forward to the prospect of another writing year, learning more and steadily improving...

Back To The Writing-Chapter Endings...

After a few busy weeks, plus the nasty chest infection, I'm now getting back to the writing.

Yesterday I finally completed chapter 2 of my novella (admittedly it's only the first draft) but I found myself ending the chapter at a point I hadn't expected- though when I looked at my outline, I realised that I'd planned it that way-  I just hadn't noticed that was how my sub-conscious had seen it...

I know I used to worry (unnecessarily) about where to end my chapters when I started writing again- many years ago.

Now the characters always decide for me and refuse to co-operate if I try to go beyond their cut-off point. Of course it doesn't mean it's going to stay that way in the rewriting, but as a progress point, it works for me.

Like most other areas of writing, you read, you inwardly digest and improve by doing. Basically, I'm continually learning and adapting as I find what works best for me.

Then there are the boundaries for the chosen genre- final length, and any specific editorial requirements- beside a great story that the editor can't resist, obviously... :-)

So this year I decided I had to be flexible. But as you can see from the chapter 2 mention above, I'm still trying...