Life, An Ongoing Writing Prompt

Being a writer can be a strange thing, and one of the strangest parts is the division in times needed to be the best writer you can be. You need time to write, for sure, but you need time to live a life that gives you deeper understanding of what life is all about, so you can bring that into what you write.

I spend a lot of my time watching life, the life of the creatures and plants in my life, particularly the birds, which always seem to be so busy, doing things. Sparrows, Starlings, but also Swallows, and various native birds that come from around the Adelaide Plains Council region where I live.

My current major work in progress is a novel, set in a town I made up, but very much based on the closest town to where I live. This made up town is ‘Talloola’ and this novel will be the first in my ‘At Talloola’ series of Cosy Murder Mysteries. So the more I now about the town near to me, the more ideas I can find to go in this first novel, and then the countless others to follow (I hope).

But living my life interferes with the time I put into the writing of that novel, and at the moment it feels more like a novel “not in progress”. Ah well, I’ll have a few free hours later on today, and there’s no telling how many more words I may add to the word count, by the time those hours are over.

And then after that, I have my weekly writing group meeting, when the writing prompts, for the writing down while there, and then the homework, to present next week, will inspire some more writing of the novel (I hope)!

And of course, writers, if they have published books, especially if their books are self-published, have to take on the role of marketing and selling their books. And some of my books are in that category, so I’m always aware of the need to look for potential book buyers. At the moment, I’m looking at beginning some of these kinds of activities, and am hoping to get that started next week.

I have a support worker, paid for by the NDIS, to assist me once a fortnight, with ‘things’. So Tash will be helping me by carrying my books for possible purchase, and other bits and pieces, in relation to giving talks and workshops in various places, such as Retirement villages, libraries and anywhere else that seems a useful place to go and do my thing.

I enjoy speaking to people, one to one, or to a group, no problems at all, it’s something that gees me up and makes me happy to do it. Connecting with others, that’s why people become writers, I feel, at least some of them, if not all. Using words to impart wisdom, or ideas, entertaining people, being with others, all good things, learning about how people do the things they do, these are all things to bring into your own writing at times.

So yes, life is indeed an ongoing writing prompt, and I will go on living my life in the best ways I can, looking and learning, enjoying together times, and the by myself writing times too.