Give yourself permission to NOT write

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I've just spent a very enjoyable evening doing nothing but knitting a sock, and watching the first three episodes of Castle. Now, most evenings, I make myself sit down and do some 'work'. It might be drawing, or working out some more 'punchlines' for my forthcoming comic, or it might be working on the next instalment of my serial, The First Tale. I might even be writing another Friday Flash, or deciding what I'm going to blog about. I might be rewriting my novel, or figuring out what I'm going to say in my next AudioBoo. I don't know about you, but that looks like a fair amount of things to be doing in my 'free' time.

'Not finding the time to write' is a common complaint of writers. Other creatives say they simply cannot find the time to create. "Modern life is so hectic", they say. "I have a full-time job and three kids and an invalid parent to care for," they cry. I can fully sympathise with the full-time job issue. Of the approximate seventeen hours I am aware, I have just four to spend on myself, and everyday errands. That's without a family to take up my time!

There are a myriad of blogs out there that will tell you it's okay to cut down your TV time by 15 minutes, or it's healthy to wake up 15 minutes earlier, or that no one will mind if you skip something else in order to write. You can "give yourself permission" to write. It's a very valid argument, and I agree with it wholeheartedly - there probably is a lot of junk in your day that could be safely jettisoned to make room for your creative pursuits. However, creative people often don't like to do anything creative because it's fun. It doesn't feel like work. It can often feel like an indulgence when there are errands to run or chores to do.

That being said, I'm here to tell you it's also okay to give yourself permission to NOT write. Normally, I've got so many projects on the go and so much that I want to do that I get stressed out if I don't get it all done (which would be impossible anyway, unless I somehow found a way of adding more hours to the day). If I hit a creative block, I panic. The work I want to do becomes work that I need to do and thus it becomes actual work, rather than 'work', if you get what I mean. Once that happens, I don't want to do it any more, and then I become frustrated with myself because I start procrastinating, and stop producing. It doesn't help that all these books and blogs seem to be telling me that I need to be writing almost continuously in order to really be 'a writer'. So now I'm not a real writer because I'm not writing every minute of every hour of every day? Golly, talk about pressure!

Yet it has been a wonderfully relaxing couple of hours after I told myself it was alright not to do any writing (aside from this post) for one single evening. I've made some decent progress on my sock (this is the left one I'm currently working on - eventually it will look like the right sock I've posted a photo of up there) and I've discovered a new TV show that combines my interest in crime dramas with my love of Nathan Fillion and a consideration of the writing process - win! As it happens, various ideas have been ticking over in my brain and now I feel refreshed and rejuvenated - ready to start writing on my way to work tomorrow.

So give it a go. Give yourself permission to have a night off, and see what wonders you can accomplish.

Spoken Sunday

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I wrote a blog post on Tuesday about the new phenomenon of AudioBoo, and how much I'm enjoying figuring it out. Well now there's an extra reason to get on board, as Benjamin Solah's #SpokenSunday hashtag gets into full swing! Benjamin's written a post over on the Spoken Sunday blog to explain in greater detail, but in a nutshell, Spoken Sunday combines the concept of the #FridayFlash tag with the 'open mic' quality of AudioBoo.

It's my intention to write a short, 100-200 word flash fiction with the sole purpose of posting it as a spoken word Boo every Sunday, but this week I was very tired so I decided instead of go back through my archives of material. I've chosen The Crossing, which was originally published on Gloom Cupboard in January 2009. I'm still very proud of it, and I thought it would be a good flash to dust off, and give an airing for Spoken Sunday. You can find it here.

I hope you enjoy it, and I hope you get involved with Spoken Sunday!

Friday Flash - Unforgettable

Tweet This story is currently down as I have entered it into a competition!

The AudioBoo Bug (How I Was Bitten)

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In this hot, sticky summer of mosquitoes and other flying nasties, I have been bitten. Oh yes. By the AudioBoo bug. Ha! Bet you thought I was going to say something else. Well, it's true. And it's all the fault of two very lovely ladies (and very talented writers), Annie Evett and Jodi Cleghorn. I kept seeing their tweets about this AudioBoo thing, and when Jodi suggested I check it out, I duly do so. After all, I like to keep up with what's going on in that vast, and often bewildering landscape we call the Internet.

For those of you who are as yet unaware what this whole thing is about, AudioBoo is basically a website (and iPhone application) which allows you to post short audio files. You can either do as I do, and record them on your computer using a microphone setup, or you can record and post a Boo direct from your iPhone (or Android phone). It's an extremely accessible and simple process, requiring little hardware, and none of the fancy set up required by decent podcasts (though if you want to do a podcast, I suggest you go and follow Emma Newman's blog - she's no stranger to the whole business since she's podcasting her debut novel, Twenty Years Later).

People use AudioBoo to discuss all kinds of things, but as a writer, it's a boon as it allows you to 'discuss' ongoing projects, read snippets of fiction, or simply connect with other writers in a new way. Blogs are all very well and good but there's something almost sterile about them. Sure, they take the format of the written word, our weapon of choice, but so often writers end up missing out on that spoken, vocal spark that comes from talking about projects. Now you can chat about your work to people other than your friends and family!

I also think AudioBoo is also beneficial in that it forces you to use a different part of your brain to articulate your point. Vocalising thoughts is a very different process to articulating them using the written word, and as such it can help you to have all kinds of insights into your own work that you might never have had if you hadn't chosen to actually talk about them out loud. So far, I've done an initial introductory Boo, a second Boo in which I discuss my plans for my Tales from Vertigo City serial, and newest Boo in which I discuss my current projects. None of the Boos are longer than four minutes, so you'll probably be able to listen to them and digest the contents faster than you'd be able to process one of my blog entries!

I certainly won't be abandoning my blog any time soon, but I'm hoping to post Boos fairly regularly from now on...come and have a listen to my odd accent over on my AudioBoo!

Fiction Friday - Pieces o' Eight

Tweet Here's my attempt for this week's Fiction Friday challenge on the Write Anything blog, also submitted to the Friday Flash collection. The prompt was;

“Include a telepathic parrot in your story..”

"What shall we do with the drunken sailoooooooooooooooooooooooooor!"

Captain Scarlight lurched across the street. His voice cracked as he held the already-flat note. He threw his arms around a lamp post for balance.

"Well helloooooo, Mistress Gaslight! Sooooo good to see ye!"

A parrot swooped down to the nearest windowsill in a flash of crimson and electric blue. It cocked its head on one side, watching the captain dance around the post.

"Thusie! Ye made it!" cried the pirate. He clung to the lamp post. He tried to haul himself upright as he saluted the parrot with his free hand. The bird rolled its eyes and clicked its tongue.

For the seventy sixth time, my name is Methuselah.

"Don' do that 'talk in me head' thing. ‘S weird," said the captain. He shuddered.

Your men asked me to intervene in your escapade, thought the parrot. 

"Awwww they spoil me fun!" shouted Captain Scarlight.

Several couples enjoying the early evening air crossed the street to avoid the drunken pirate shouting at his bird. A woman reeled in shock when the parrot put its wings on its hips.

Samuel, you're in very grave danger of embarrassing yourself, and subsequently me, thought Methuselah.

“Ye need to....loooooosen up!” The captain shook his fist at the parrot.

A young man in an apron appeared at the window behind Methuselah. Flour dusted his hands, and streaked his hair.

“Excuse me, sir?”

“What do you want, pipsqueak?” The captain staggered across to the window. He slammed his fists onto the sill. The parrot fluttered out of the way, landing on Captain Scarlight’s shoulder.

“Why are you shouting at that bird? Is it yours?” asked the youth.

“Aye! What’s it to ye?”

“Well why are you shouting at it?”

“Am not! We’re havin’ a con-ver-sa-tion,” replied the captain. He enunciated each syllable carefully.

“You’re...you’re talking to your parrot?”

“No, he’s talkin’ to me.”

I do wish you wouldn’t persist in laying the responsibility upon me, Samuel, thought Methuselah.

“Shurrup, I’m talkin’ here,” said the captain. He wagged a finger at the parrot.

"You're telling me that you can hear that bird talking?" The youth stared at the parrot.

"Aye!"

"Say something then." 

The youth folded his arms. Methuselah rearranged his wings, and puffed out his chest.

"PIECES O' EIGHT!"

Amid the noise and haste, go I

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The New Author has posted an interesting entry about the types of environment in which writers write best, and it got me thinking about my own creative process. Indeed, my very good friend Thomas D. Szewc asked me a very similar question over on my Formspring a couple of weeks ago.

I've always been the kind of person who works best amid some kind of noise. When I was at school, I did all of my homework lying on the living room floor in front of the TV. At uni, I'd write essays while watching movies (I had an excuse, I was a film student) but this would severely hamper my essay-writing ability during exams. After all, I could hardly ask for the invigilator to make a lot of noise to help me concentrate! It's therefore not really surprising that as a writer, I like some kind of chaos around me in order to write.

I've written many of my flash fictions on the way to work, surrounded by colleagues on my lunch break, sandwiched between tourists on the tube, or in a noisy coffee shop. I've even been known to write flash a couple of sentences at a time while tidying my flat. It's very rare indeed for me to sit down quietly and work on a piece. The closest I've come to that was my contribution to this year's Chinese Whisperings anthology, which was written at home while I listened to Alkaline Trio and talked to my lovely boyfriend, Jimmy Misanthrope, on MSN.

I find that if I'm sitting quietly at home, my mind wanders too easily. I'll waste time on Twitter, or decide to sit and draw yet another robot, or grab my knitting needles and carry on with my woollen work in progress when I should be writing. I could argue that at least the latter two distractions are still creative, and I've already discussed the merits both of drawing and being crafty, but it's still not writing. Yet if I'm surrounded by noise and distraction, my brain focusses on what I should be doing - writing. It's as if I need the white noise in order to have something to 'tune out'. Without the external interference, that focus just disappears!

It's rare that I do decide to sit down and write, but when I do, I'll either have a movie or some stand up comedy on in the background. Occasionally I'll listen to music, but not religiously so. I'm not entirely sure what effect, if any, the music that I might choose to listen to has on my fiction. On those occasions when I do write and listen to music, my media player is continually on shuffle so the same piece could have been written during punk, 80s glam, classical and country. Can you tell?

I guess it doesn't really surprise me that noise appeals to me so, considering what a chaotic and frenetic person I am anyway. I'm very restless and find it difficult to sit still for long periods of time, and I like to do several things at once. Some people might think that this is somehow splitting my focussing, or that i means I'm not serious about my writing, but what can I say? What is good for one is not always good for another. I'm incredibly serious about my writing, I just cannot help the quirk of personality that means I work better across a range of tasks when I'm juggling them, as opposed to completing them in some kind of sequential order.

Still, like any writer, I do daydream about taking myself off to the middle of nowhere, and settling down in the peace and quiet to write my little heart out. Trouble is, I know for a fact it would be the kiss of death for my writing! After all, look what a writer's retreat turning into in The Shining...

What do you prefer? Silence? Noise?

Icy disses The Collector - Vlog 02

Tweet Having enjoyed recording my first vlog entry, I thought I'd do another one. Where I did comics in 01, I'm now doing films - specifically The Collector.

Enjoy!