Experimental Writing !

-
I should have been working at the Hay Literary Festival this week but, due to a pulled back muscle, I've been off sick and housebound instead for the last seven days  :(   I couldn't do much for the first couple of days except lie flat or, alternately, hobble around feeling bored. But by Wednesday, thankfully, I was able to get down to doing some writing - albeit standing up at my breakfast bar.



Having kicked my last book into touch for a while, I decided to take the opportunity to try something a bit different.  Would a new work station and view spark some fresh ideas and approaches?  It would and it did!  I'm one of those perfectionist type of writers who go over and over the same paragraph, line, or even word sometimes until it is  just right, at least to my mind.  To an editor or reader, of course, it might come across as completely wrong.

Too many times, when layering my story and digging deep into emotions, I've found myself not being able to see the wood for the trees. Writing pal Sarah Snowdon  took the words right out of my mouth a few days ago when she said "The more I think about my story, the harder I try, the worse it gets."  I know exactly how you feel, Sarah!


So, in an attempt to get my work flowing freer and faster, and to break my habit of overwriting, I'm actually drafting two, very different chapters for the RNA conference industry appointments next month.  One is a new book, which I'm aiming at HMB, and the other is a rework of an old story, which I'm aiming . . . well, anywhere really.  I'm also setting myself a goal of 1000 words minimum every day, achievable so far and hoping to still reach that target when I pick up the day job again next week!


Comments

  1. Sarah Snowdon5 June 2016 at 13:38

    Hi Melissa. I'm glad to hear a new view is helping to free up those writing muscles. Sometimes I have to consciously stop mentally galloping ahead too far when I'm writing as it tends to tie my thoughts into all sorts of knots! Good luck with your two chapters for the conference. xx
    P.S. Hope the back's easing up.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lissa Morgan6 June 2016 at 01:50

    Hi, Sarah, thanks for your comment. Interestingly, I tend to trot slowly along in my writing and still get tied up in knots too! Time for a head-clearing, flat-out gallop I think ;) See you soon and hope the writing is going well xx

    ReplyDelete
  3. Kate Walker9 June 2016 at 10:04

    Nothing wrong with an occasional gallop as a way of getting the words down - as long as you go back and edit them - and untangle those knots - later. As the saying goes . . . you can always edit a bad page. Believe me, this happens to published authors too! Hope your back is much less uncomfortable now, Melissa.

    See you both soon

    ReplyDelete
  4. Lissa Morgan10 June 2016 at 03:56

    Hi Kate, yes, my back is a lot better now, thanks - seems a gallop is good for a lot of things not just writing ;) Looking forward to catching up soon xx

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

RNA Conference 2016

-
The annual Romantic Novelists' Conference is one of the highlights of my calendar, and this year was no exception. Held at Lancaster University, the venue was lovely even if the weather wasn't exactly sultry and summer-like.  Getting together with good friends over a bottle or three of Prosecco was the absolute high spot of a wonderful couple of days. The sessions were interesting and inspiring, among them HQ Harper Collins 'Reaching the Top in Commercial Fiction,' Vasiliki Scurfield on 'Writing the Foreign Hero' and Kate Walker on 'Emotional Punch.' One of the most illuminating sessions, from my point of view at least, was Sonia Duggan's workshop on 'Rekindling your Romance with Writing.'  Having been writing for almost ten years and as yet unpublished, this one really struck a chord with me.  Sonia gave us an exercise on composing a Dear John letter to our writing and what I wrote both surprised and shocked me and, for the first time, I was...
Read more

RNA Conference 2018

-
Image
As a writer, the annual conference is definitely the highlight of the year for me and, surprisingly, it seems to come around quickly each time. This year was no exception and, from counting down the months, then the weeks, then the days, suddenly I was packing and wondering which shoes would go with which dress! Welcome with Nicola Cornick and Jan Jones This year, the conference was in Leeds Trinity University, a campus just outside Headingly. Leeds is a lovely city but I didn't see anything of it beyond the train station. Horsforth, where the campus is located, was really nice though, and I enjoyed a short and pleasant walk from the train station to the campus with HMB author Rachael Thomas . The conference sessions were useful and enjoyable and included a double presentation from Mills and Boon. This began with editors from the longer 'Trade' imprint giving a summary of the recent rebranding of the company, and concluded with the Series editors outlin...
Read more

Dydd Gwyl Dewi Hapus - Happy St David's Day!

-
Image
Okay, I am a bit late posting a happy St David's Day  here, but as it isn't officially a public holiday in Wales - at least not yet - most people are celebrating it today, Saturday.  I imagine that many leeks and Welsh cakes are still being consumed even as I write, though sadly, this year, Dydd Gwyl Dewi Day has rushed up at me rather, and was gone before I knew it! My publisher, Mills & Boon, remembered however, and put together this fabulous image for my Warriors of Wales series - the daffodils are my addition!  The first in the series, The Warrior's Reluctant Wife , was out in September 2023 and the second, The Warrior's Forbidden Maiden , will be out in June. This second book features the Abbey of Ystrad Fflur (Strata Florida) where the Life of Dewi Sant was possibly preserved after the Normans demoted the mother church of Llanbadarn, where it was written by Rhigyfarch, son of Bishop Sulien. The story features the Life of another saint, almost as revered in th...
Read more