It's OK to Just Write...

I’ve not blogged in while, not since World Book Day back in spring! it’s a constant worry at the back of my mind, that I’m not blogging enough, that I’m not reviewing enough and that I’m not engaging enough on social media. Despite the constant nagging worry that often turns into guilt I have to try and convince myself that it’s ok.

It’s ok because life is busy, so far this year…

• Moved House
• About to facilitate another house move
• Have had increased work to be done for my business
• Helped my youngest child transition to secondary school
• Helped set up a new charity Bookshop
• Commenced house renovations 

And so on, I won’t bore you with any more details. But, as you can probably imagine, this means my writing time has somewhat diminished, and therefore I have to prioritise my writing activities.

So, for now my main priority is editing my current WIP MS under the careful guidance of my Golden Egg Mentor, and one and only Mother Goose Imogen Copper.

This may not sound too arduous, but it is time consuming. With every piece of feedback comes a necessity for latent thinking time in order to process and fully understand the issues raised and to come up with creative solutions that work with the remit of the story and world. Much of the time this also includes research to ensure that any factual elements are correct (as we don’t want a Star Trek Discovery science type blunder to undermine our carefully constructed world). Of course research whether it is from books, web-sites or documentary's takes time to find and digest.

Here’s a photo of some of my last bought of research, which is rather an eclectic mix. I always think that it’s make a good game – looking at authors research materials and then trying to guess the plot. If you fancy trying it, please comment below.

Then there’s the plotting and planning, which again takes time, to het it right and ensure that timelines are correct and that the MS still conforms to you chosen plot structure.

Edit plan!

All in all it means when push comes to shove and time is short I have had to choose writing over blogging and social networking, Of course despite knowing it’s the right thing to do – to give myself permission to prioritise I still feel like I’m failing by not accomplishing everything on my ever increasing to-do-list. 

That being said, it’s taken a dislocated hip and trip to A&E to get me to properly accept that it is ok to just write. Although having said that I did find myself recommending books to the nurses for their kids, so I guess I’m actually still doing what I love - promoting children literature – just sometimes not on the web!

Well that’s all for now, I need to go edit!

Editing whilst recovering from dislocated hip - i appreciate the irony of the title!