A Change of Scenery – Writing Tips
Hello lovely blog readers! In the last few weeks I’ve realised that rather a lot of people are reading this blog, which is very gratifying but rather scary!
So thanks for reading, first of all. And please do let me know if there are any writing or publishing topics you’d like me to cover. I’d do my best to be of assistance.
I have lots of things to say today but not much time to say them in. So I’ll write a longer blog next week about writing for the 5 to 7 age group (I’ve just had a book accepted by O’Brien Press and I’ll explain how I went about researching and writing it), but today I’ll talk briefly about writing in bed.
Yesterday I felt pretty grotty – bad throat, headache, sniffy nose – so I took to my bed in the morning with my notebooks and wrote in my pyjamas with a pencil, ‘cause you can’t write lying down unless you have a super duper astronaut’s pen (I actually used to have one, no idea where it is though!). It takes a peculiar kind of stubbornness to be a writer, and writing while feeling sick is a product of this. But I actually had a very productive writing day – lots of scribbled notes on a new adult series I’m working on the proposal for (I’ll get it to you soon I promise, Peta! – Peta’s my lovely agent), and another chapter of Amy Green Book 3.
Sometimes changing where and how you write can help you over a sticky bit. A new pen or pencil, a new notebook; writing in bed, in the car, in the library, on the train. I used to write a lot of my books on the train – I travelled a lot when I was working for Eason. While the other buyers read the paper, I wrote!
Writing something else before you tackle your book/short story can also help. Which is why I sometimes write a blog before getting started on my fiction. Writing anything can get the words flowing – just describing how you are feeling – stiff, snotty, tired in my case! But as I’m stubborn that way, I’m still going to work today – typing up my notes and scribbles from yesterday.
Next week – how I got an early reader accepted by O’Brien Press.
Until then – check out the mountains to sea festival – www.mountainstosea.ie – see you there! Free book readings and events for kids – Sat and Sun, 1 to 5 in People’s Park, Dun Laoghaire. Derek Landy, Judi Curtin, Marita, me. You’d be mad to miss it.
