Swimming and Writing

I love to swim. I really do. When I was small I swam every single day. Most of my early childhood memories involve swimming with the hot sun on my back.

I didn’t swim for a long time. For more than ten years I pretended that I didn’t swim, that I couldn’t swim. I somehow forgot how much I loved it. Then one day, I needed to swim again. It was all I wanted to do. I couldn’t think about anything else. I was too scared to swim in a crowded pool so joined a fancy health club. It was the kind of place where they give you a pile of fluffy white towels when you walk through the door. I really couldn’t afford it. I didn’t even have a job but I had a beautiful swimming pool. I swam and swam and swam and kept on swimming.

Now, as I swim, I make up stories in my head. I try out new ideas. I close my eyes and all the sticky bits in my writing come unstuck. It’s a kind of magic that happens under that electric blue water.

It is important to find those places that help you write or the routines that get your mind whirring. You don’t even need to do any writing. It might be that you always get your best ideas by going for a run or on a particular walk or by sitting in a certain cafe. You might already know your secret thinking-about-writing place but if you haven’t then you should go and hunt it down. Try different approaches, go to new places and see what happens. You might stumble across your best writing yet.

I Learned...

 

5. I have too many books.

I never believed that you could have too many books. I thought that was just something people said. But I have recently got into a lovely habit of buying at least a book a week. Before that I worked in a bookshop for years and slowly tried to buy every book I thought I might need in the future using my staff discount. If books got damaged then we could have them for free so I ended up with loads of sad torn paperbacks. I used to write book reviews so all those free proof copies got added to the piles. 

Now, I think I finally have reached the point of having too many books. They are piling up around me. I looked round my study this afternoon and they are everywhere. All the bookshelves are full and there are books stacked on top of other books. There are stacks on my desk and piles on the floor. I need more bookshelves but I have run out of space. 

So, yes I learned this afternoon that I do have too many books but I also know that I can't get rid of any of them.

I Learned ...

5. I was accepted onto an amazing mentoring programme for writers.

This is some great news that I learned today. There are only ten places on the programme and I am really excited about getting in. It is a new programme set up by a university to work with professional writers. It will be 18 months of support while I finish my novel-in-progress. I believe in finding the best support you can for your writing and I think this will be perfect for me. Days like this make me want to write even more than ever.

I Learned...

4. It is easier to do something than worrying about about not doing it.

When I am about to start a piece of writing I start to worry. I worry about finishing it and realising it is terrible. I worry about what would happen if I didn't write it at all. Then I start writing and all the ideas swimming around in my head start to some together. The writing begins to take shape and I wonder what I was so scared of in the first place. 

So, today I learned to just write it and stop worrying so much. It can't be as bad as you think it will be.

I Learned ...

3. Sometimes the only way to get any work done is by hiding in a library in an unfamiliar part of town.

This is what I do. Alot. I get much more work done when I exile myself away from my comfortable chair in my study with the happy yellow walls and spend all day in a library. I prefer an obscure library, somewhere I would never usually go. I have just found one in a suburb a few miles from my house. I don't know anyone there so I can spend hours in silence, thinking and working. It sounds dull but really it is wonderful.

Giveaway on WishStudio

We have a giveaway going on right now at WishStudio. It's for a place on the upcoming Handmade Writer course (starts 12th April.) The giveaway ends Saturday 27th February. Hurry, hurry, don't miss it.

I Learned...