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Why Making Brainspace For Your Writing Is More Important Than Time
We can filch hours from anywhere, but what about mental energy?
I’ve been hearing it a lot over the last couple of years, but more so recently, when the “fruits” of my writing practice have been published or read. “You’ve really hit your straps with that book/manuscript.”
For those of you not familiar with the term, “hit your straps” means (according to the dictionary) achieve your full potential or become proficient. In this case, people are saying my books are getting better and better.
Hmm. They haven’t said that before. I’ve published quite a few books now, both children’s and adult crime fiction, and the first was back in 1997, so it’s not like I was writing badly for twenty years! I was doing OK, sometimes I even felt like I’d done a really good job. I was mostly happy with my final revisions.
So what changed?
Did I get hit with magic writer’s fairy dust?
No. I stopped teaching creative writing. After 23 years, I resigned. I loved teaching other writers, but it sucked up an awful lot of my creative energy. There were many times during the year (mostly workshopping and grading times) when I couldn’t write at all, or even read something a bit more…
