Some days I just don’t feel like writing. I sit at my desk, play with Facebook, check my emails, tidy my pen holder, read my mail, look for chewing gum, curse the fact it’s all gone, clean my laptop screen with my sleeve, lean forwards and clean my window with bits of paper from my bin . . . anything other than write my current novel. I’ll happily write book reviews, my blog, notes for talks, that kind of thing – but when it comes to getting the novel finished, some days the mere thought of it just defeats me.

I’ve learned not to actually get up – that’s fatal. I may never sit back down again. But if I sit at my desk long enough I run out of things to logically do.

So I sit there and sit there and finally, finally! I start writing. Sometimes it takes a whole hour to get motivated but I’ve never once, however bad I feel physically or mentally, not written something on a working day. I’ve been writing full time seven years now, so that’s not a bad record.

People interested in writing often ask me ‘But how do you do it – how you do finish book after book?’ (in my case 23 and counting) and there really is no secret. It’s just hard grunt. Day after day, word by word, chapter by chapter. You have to be pretty determined to finish or it just won’t happen. And then the edits – phewey – don’t get me started! If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you’ll know exactly how much time and energy goes into the edits.

But here’s the thing – I still love it – even if some days I find it damn hard – I wouldn’t change it for the world. Yes, I miss daily contact with real people, people who don’t only exist in my head; yes, sometimes I knocked back a bit – an editor doesn’t quite click with one of my ideas, I lose a chunk of text, a book comes back from another editor with a long, long list of edits – but I just dust myself down and get on with it.

I’m a writer, that’s what I do these days. I write! And do I love saying ‘Writer’ when someone asks me my occupation – you bet I do!

So however much I bitch and moan, I know how much I have to be thankful for.

If you too would like to put ‘Writer’ in the occupation section on boring official forms and make yourself smile, stick at it. Keep writing. Day after day, word by word, chapter by chapter.

Good luck!

SarahX