Group Discussions

I have become one of those people. You know the ones that seem to think anything is possible. Like the ex-smoker in a group that says you just need to stop.

I have been lucky enough to be asked to join a new writers group. I didn’t realise how much I missed talking with other writers and hearing what they are doing and writing. We are all unpublished and there is a mix of genres being written and of course different ways of going about that.

One member of the group, at our last meeting, read a first draft piece to introduce one of her main characters to get an idea from the group as to how it was working. It was great to talk it through, everyone had good ideas on ways to tidy it up and we talked about how she would use it, or whether it was a good exercise for her to develop more background on the character but that the actual piece itself may not end up in the final version.

I think with a first draft it is important to get the story down on paper and then rework. So this is where I turned into “one of those people”.

I asked how much of her story she had written down, and then suggested that if she gets the story down, she could work on the order, detail and so on later. She said she has the order and the plot quite well planned as it has spent several years moving around her head and taking over her thinking. But she has written very little of the story down.

‘But you want to write it.’

‘Yes, but I don’t have time.’

‘Just an hour a day?’

Here she scoffed and it was driving home that I realised we can’t put our own ideals and goals onto others.

She wants to write her story but she needs to work out herself the best way to do that. I should have suggested 10 minutes a day. Everyone can find 10 minutes and then build on that. An hour really does sound daunting when we have so much else happening in our lives.

I have recently decided that writing is what I really want to do above all else. I still need to spend time with my family, go to work and the gym, and do some housework. But if I want to be a writer then I need to fit writing in too. I get up early to get that writing time every day.  And sometimes if I’m really lucky I can get some more time of an evening or weekend.

But just like kicking the smoking habit, just because I can do it doesn’t mean everyone else can too or in the same way. We each need to work out what is best for us, and the best way to get that. And tt is worth noting that another member of the group also gets up at 5am to spend a quiet, uninterrupted hour writing. At least I know I am not alone.

Happy Scribbling