Perhaps during the last two years of the pandemic lockdowns one might assume that this would have been the right time to write. Plenty of indoor hours to think, create and get words on the page. But a strange thing has happened; post fire and then Covid-19 and now floods, I seemed to have not found the time nor the impetus to write very much.
I’ve been working on book 3 for some time, completed a bit of research thanks to a couple of interviews with local police (that’s not a euphemism for arrests; they were interviews!) and have been working on chapter plans ad infinitum but I just seem to have been literally spinning my creative wheels. I’m in some holding pattern that has made full engagement with writing a terrifyingly absent thing for several months.
It would appear, that unlike numerous writers before me, I don’t create under duress. It is a long-held belief that suffering, and discord are manna for story creation but for me disruption in the force is less so. Life has been somewhat anxiety producing. The fires, the pandemic, personal losses and a few mad people getting in the way have not helped me at all. Too busy feeling overwhelmed to imbue my characters and plot with the emotional energy required to bring a story to life. I’ve been distracted by life, which is somewhat ironic for a writer.
But now is the hour, now is the ‘write time’ and I have given myself two months to complete this current project. It is the time to put aside the distractions and the existential angst and crank up the laptop for a sprint to the finish. I’m sure there are a dozen or so sporting metaphors I could throw in here but this not the time for gratuitous techniques. It is the time to be accountable to myself and others (publisher most likely) and readers who believe it or not have been asking when book 3 will be available.
Well, I’ve made the public declaration and I’ve set the completion date. You dear readers can keep me accountable (possibly the odd enquiry about how close the finishing line is, gentle harassment and subtle reminders). Now if I can keep the daily announcements about where the next flood will be, the worries of the world, the appalling roads around the shire and the general mayhem I tend to create at bay, I should be on track for the big finish.
With all the planets aligning (supported by my recent retirement from teaching) Welter (Book 3 in the Lily O’Hara Mysteries) will be with you soon.
Wish me luck x
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