What I Have Learned This Year

It is almost one year since I started blogging, thanks to the encouragement of my friend Robert who did all the technical bits and introduced me to wordpress.  Some of you may remember the old format which was just a stream of postings one after the other and a few photos but hey I’m a cheap date.

I have to say it has been a blast and thanks to all of you readers, those who drop by, the now and thens and the regulars who are not shy at leaving comments.

So this morning, having realised that the phone call from Hollywood wasn’t going to come (I’ve always wanted to be a screenwriter in Hollywood on the soaps: Grey’s Anatomy – I’d get rid of that whingeing Meredith and bring back Burke; Brothers and Sisters - I’d give Sally Fields a young love interest and Justin a nude scene)  I hitched myself back onto the pitching wagon and pitched two great article ideas to the UK Press.  Both provocative and, to my mind at least, winners but that wagon was obviously being pulled by a donkey in a sun hat on a beach in Clacton as both pitches have gone AWOL into the great pitching bin in cyber space.

So whilst I wait and pitch and pitch again, listening to the church bells and the beeping of the Fishman’s horn (it’s Tuesday) announcing his arrival in front of the épicerie, I go back to writing THE book which in reality means I spend many happy hours visiting other sites.  Everyone should take 18 minutes out of their day and listen to Isabel Allende’s very funny, passionate speach on www.ted.com.  Now there is a woman who understands the world.  

Here are the things I have learned about a writer’s life over the past year:

a)  You need lots of solitude to listen to the inner voice.

b)  Too much and that voice just drones on and on boring you to tears, so balance is key, get out a little, live a lot.

c)  Patience is a major virtue.

d)  Cultivate the ability to be nice to ALL people, ALL the time, even those Commissioning Editors who want to sell you up the river.

e)  Two articles in the UK press doth not a writing career make.

f)   Keep a notepad by the bed because you WILL NOT remember in the morning.

g)  Do not start writing wearing your pyjamas with greasy hair as you are likely to stay like that all day and this worries your children and the postman.

h)  Expect less.

I)   Celebrate every success.

J)   Not all your friends will approve your life change but those who do will like you more for it.  Keep only those who are clapping and whooping along with you.

k)   You and the dog will get flabby from lack of exercise.

l)    You will swear more.

m)  Your mother will know more about your life than is healthy.

n)   Reaching out to people and getting feedback is nice.

 o)  Sometimes words tumble out racing each other to get onto the page and sometimes when you want to write War and Peace, out comes a version of Janet and John with the syntax and grammar of a 6 year old.  When this happens turn OFF the computer, go hide under the duvet and crack open a box set of DVDs until it passes. 

p)  Being honest pays off.

 A writer’s life is a very fine life indeed.

 

PS Thanks also to Gray Harris for the In The Pink illustration.