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Being ‘a writer’ can be a weird thing to be. Sometimes when you are a writer, then yes, what you are doing is certainly writing. Sometimes that writing is actually the writing of a book, which would certainly be the first thought that would come to most people’s mind.

But if that were the only form of writing you think a writer does, then you are very much mistaken. For a start, many writers must actually earn a living, because their writing work may bring in little or no actual money. The average writer in Australia apparently earns a small amount of money, with only a few making big dollars …

Other writers have to have actual jobs, sometimes working full time, and having to do their writing in the gaps and cracks of time in their lives, on the weekend, late at night, early in the morning, or on holiday perhaps. Or they may (many do) earn other income from doing readings of their words, or writing related workshops, gigs at writing festivals and so on.

These kinds of extra work can be fun for a writer, or they may be tedious distractions from doing the only thing they really want to do. Writers can be mixed in their attitudes to such things, and no particular attitude is inherently ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Writers do what they have to do, to keep having a roof over their head, and to eat, the same as everyone.

Other writing related roles may be journalism, or blogging. Blogs can be used to get your word out, and the writer can possible sell copies of their book or books on such online sites. Visiting institutions, such as schools, prisons, and a large variety of other places, doing public speaking gigs can be another sometimes well-paying options.

So when writers aren’t actually writing books, they may be writing articles, or workshop plans, or writing submissions to those institutions offering themselves to do their ‘word work’ for the benefit/entertainment/learning of others possibly for payment, but usually at least for the selling of copies of their books.

And of course writers have to have things to write about, so they have to get out there and actually live a life! Meeting up with people, going out to cafes, playing sport, exploring, imbibing, seeing, climbing, walking, many many things are out there waiting for a writer to be involved in, think about, and then write about.

Writers many of them, would say that even when they’re not writing, they’re still thinking about writing! Do you agree? I certainly do! Feel free to leave a comment, letting us know your own thoughts about writing and writers!

 

When the mind feel like a holiday from coming up with new ideas for the novel I’m writing, new back story, dialogue, plot issues and answers, that’s when it may be time for writing some more non fiction. And right now, that is just the spot I feel I am currently in.

It’s Mothers Day, and I am having a lovely day of doing not much really, while my husband gets on with doing things – making coffee first thing in the morning for me, as a lovely Mothers Day gift, then cleaning, and now working hard on getting our main meal cooked and lovely. Roast chicken with vegetables, in the Weber, lovely!

I was reading various things on Facebook and Twitter, then I decided it was time to get some writing done. If I want to call myself a writer, I have to write, right? Right! So I’ve spent a few hours adding to my current non fiction work, an exploration on the everyday wisdoms I have found, and am continuing to find, in my life. I envisage this book being popular with people who are working at finding deeper meaning in their own life.

(this book case is right next to me, when I sit on the sofa with my laptop, and write, and the green and blue thing is a small blanket I’ve been meaning to finish crocheting, but need to get more yarn for, and keep forgetting to …)

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This book is still a long way from finished, but I am finding the writing process a satisfying one, thinking, then writing, thinking, writing some more. The word count is slowly rising, but there are still many more words that need to be written.

And today, , a few days past Mothers Day, I have connected with this blog post, in draft form and am finishing it off, having just posted a new blog post here, with a new Creative Writing exercise, the sixth one. I’m happy with the post, it’s a good writing exercise, about using the senses in your writing, which is always a good idea to try to remember to do. It brings more into your writing.

It was a creative writing workshop I help a couple of years ago, so I had to make a few changes, which is definitely a ‘non-fictionish’ kind of thing to do. Perhaps I’ll get some more of that novel written today too, and more of the non fiction manuscript I’ve been working on, off and on.

So another blog post done, and posted, I’ll finish that coffee, feed Missy, then get my own lunch happening! Life, such a lovely life, I am living here!

 

There are at least five senses usually recognised for humans. They are the ability to see, hear, smell, touch and taste. Some people may add in another sense, extrasensory perception, which relates to things sensed through the mind, rather than the body. For this exercise, we will refer to as many of these senses as we can, in one poem.

The actual theme of the poem is free choice, but make sure it’s something suitable for the exercise. Think about life, where you are right now, with things to taste – food and beverages, on a main street with cars to hear as they drive by. Where are you seated, and what and where? On a steady and solid chair, at an also solid table, with paper, pens and other things to pick up and feel. Or somewhere else?

Or you may remember your latest visit to a garden, your own or someone else’s. With the wind, the sky, trees and creatures – birds, insects, flys, bees, flowers … Smell the flowers, feel the breeze, is there any heat form the sunshine, how does if feel?

Or you may like to remember something from your past, a special place you’ve visited, for instance. Remember back to that time, and recall it through memories of how your senses perceived it … I’m thinking about my many visits to the Torrens River from when I was a school kind. I’ve never written about that, even though it was an important part of my growing up.

This poem of mine takes in some of these thoughts:

Making Sense of Life

Wind plays with the chimes

And willie wagtail joins in

Cheeping and chirping in tune

Wind through pine trees

gives a constant droning backdrop

And sparrows join in too,

repetitive chirps, constant reminder,

they’re here as well.

The occasional car is a different sound

Intrusive but infrequent

As are billowing clouds of dust

That threaten me as I sit here

On our front veranda

Senses switched on and tuned in

Experiencing everything.

 

The wind in my hair tickles and taunts

Blowing across my face

And into my eyes, nose and mouth

Reminding me of its length

As I think of times long gone

When my hair was a glorious

Childhood Cloak of honour,

Thick and golden honey-red.

Now my hair is falling out,

Boring brown hairs disappearing

As the wind catches loose strands

And takes them out of sight,

But not out of mind.

Memory and mirror

Hold truths for me,

Separate but connected.

The past still remains

But life changes it, prunes away

Even as it adds.

Memories take on different meanings,

Insights reveal adult truths

Or child-like ones, showing truth

In a new and textured way,

Where meaning has many ways of being,

And all can be true. Or none.

 

 

So that’s what we’re doing, get thinking, and then get writing!

What on earth could this be? A Writers Lock In, is it what happens when writers write the wrong thing and are ‘dealt with’ by incarceration? Is it when writers are shut away in the attic until they get something written?

Well, both of those options could be what a Writers Lock In, is, but the Writers Lock In I am going to be involved with tomorrow, will be far more pleasant than those. My writing group, Adelaide Plains Chapter and Verse, has held these events for group members several times in the past, and when the idea was mentioned at a recent group meeting, we decided we would make use of the public holiday, ANZAC Day, when our usual venue will be opening earlier than usual, and we could go there all day to write.

So, that’s what we are doing on the 25th of April, from as early as we can get there, until our usual meeting time (4pm-6pm). We will be metaphorically locked in the hotel, where there is food, and drinks of many kinds, and there is a small room, somewhat apart from the usual hotel business.

(this is the venue for our writing group meetings, & the lock in, the Prince Albert Hotel, in Gawler)

I am excited about the possibilities, other group members are too, and we will welcome anyone else who wants to join in the fun (oops, serious writing). I’m going to work on typing up, and inserting various pre-written bits of writing into my main novel-in-progress, “Talloola Travails”. I have many small bits of writing that belong to this novel-in-writing, because I have been using group writing prompts for this work.

(this is Mallala, my closest town, which is the town my novel is set in. I’ve changed the name and some details, to fit the novel)

The idea of being with other writers, people who understand what it’s like when the words won’t come, and are sympathetic, or when the words pour forth and are thrilled for you, this can be so wonderful! Family and non-writing friends won’t understand how you are feeling, not really, no matter how hard they try, but your writing friends will understand, because been in the some position in the past.

I’m going to take along my laptop, my mobile phone, and all of my notebooks where snippets of my work have been written, and are hiding. This will be fun, or frustrating, but I know it will be worthwhile, as long as I can get the internet working on my laptop!

And if I can’t do that, well, I’ll have plenty of coffee and desserts available to soothe my woes!

Would you like to be at a writers lock in, or have you been to one with noteworthy results? I’d love to hear about it, why not leave a comment to tell about it all!

Sometimes writers can have huge trouble finding a topic, or ‘thing’ to write about. Big ideas might require lots of research, hours, days, week, months and years of it. But every now and then a bit idea might leap out at you, ready for you to grab it and run!

Don’t waste ideas!
People might see that idea, consider it a viable topic choice but neglect to do any more than simply, for instance, hit the like button on Facebook, and pose a pithy response, then move on. The idea is reacted to, then moved away from, the opportunity gone.

Your response was an idea wasted, unless you do more with it. And sometimes (probably most of the time), your precious writing time, when you could be working on your next book, blog post, or article, well that time is wasted, your comment may gain some likes, but so what?

A better idea, a more useful way to use your pithy words, is to use them for things bigger than somebody else’s Facebook page … If you have a blog, and the comment is about something relevant to your blog, a better way to use your words could be to write something on your own blog, then respond on Facebook with a link to your blog post.

Then you could also record in a file, or list or some such thing, of ideas and relevant links, for a larger work. Ideas are seeds, and even the smallest one could grow into a much larger thing, a book for instance.

Go outside, look around!
The world is a great bit thing, with many people and ‘things’ (yes that word again!). Things are prompts, ideas, ideals, inspirations. People, Nature, News reports, Social Media, when you move beyond your usual, safe and comfortable places, you can find new ways and methods, fresh ideas about how you might angle your writing.

Think about your writing, and about the various aspects of your writing that could do with some freshening up, or some ideas about some aspects of your chosen genre. For instance, I have this dream of being a crime writer, one day, possibly in one of the novels I currently have in progress. I have characters, and some plot ideas, and I have one character who is a killer.

So one thing I’ve been doing recently is looking at places I drive past, and trying to find possible dumping places for dead bodies, that my killer character may use, or may have used in the past … Port Wakefield Road is one I travel along at least once a week, and there are so many places to put a body, than may take a long time to be found, even though thousands of vehicles travel past every single day!

Getting outside and taking my writing projects with me in my travel, this has been potentially very useful for that idea! I also see people, unknown people, and think about them – could they be characters I could use at some time? Snippets of dialogue heard, well they are free to the writer to use too. If I stayed home writing, I would hear or see such things.

Other People are Different
When you meet a new person, you may be meeting a new source of expertise, so don’t let a new person pass by you, without gaining at least some idea about what they are interested in, what they like to do both for work, and at play. And always remember that no-one is just one thing, the mother you met at playgroup, might be a extreme sports participant as well, when she’s not being Mum. She is certainly a useful possible subject for your writing.

I am a mother, wife, daughter, dog lover, former dog breeder, and dog exhibitor. My family in my younger years, and still now, have connections to the Harness Horse Racing world. I grow (or try to grow) bonsai trees, and herbs, I am interested in philosophy, and politics, I once ran as a candidate for Local Government (unsuccessfully). I like trees, clouds, blue skies, and creatures. I’m a published poet, have a published school reader, and have written a memoir about my chronic illness (Multiple Sclerosis).

When I meet people, I am always happy encourage them to talk about themselves, because I never know who or what I may find. Even nasty people can be useful in my writing!

Do you have some more thoughts about this, I’d love to hear them, if you do!