Dream of Writing

By Lucy Nel

You dream about being a writer, but you’ve got so much going on at the moment that you’re overwhelmed. You’re not sure if it’s even possible to write one chapter, much less an 80k novel when life is so full of demands.

It’s possible. Not necessarily easy, but absolutely possible.

For me, it all comes down to priorities. I had to shift my attention. I had to stop focusing on all the hours I don’t have to write that other writers might enjoy. I had to take what I have and make it work for me.

I work full-time, putting in around nine hours daily. After work I rush to pick up my adorable son. More rushing happens. Preparing and putting a reasonably healthy meal on the table. Spending some quality time with my hubby and toddler. Since becoming a mother, my priorities changed again. Sleep became a savored but interrupted occurrence. By the time my son falls asleep I’m usually wiped out and left with morsels of time and energy. If I go to bed after midnight, I’m unable to be human in the morning without ridiculous amounts of caffeine. Getting up an hour earlier was like milking a rock. Impossible. But, I really wanted to pursue this writing thing, and the characters in my head refused to shut up. I had to come up with a solution. I now arrive at work half an hour earlier, and that’s my writing time. Thirty minutes every morning, Monday to Friday leaves me with over two hours of writing.

I’m not going to lie. Writing takes an incredible amount of discipline. Most writers don’t have an accountability system in place (and even if they do, it’s normally extremely flexible). Usually there’s no one breathing down your neck to finish your first draft. If you don’t protect your writing time, no one else will. If you don’t shift and change your priorities to fit in some writing, no one will be bothered.

I can guarantee you that few things in the world fill you with quite the same satisfaction as when you write those two magical words, “The End”.

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Lucy Nel is a coffee addicted work-in-progress daughter of the Lord Almighty. She's a mommy to a rambunctious toddler and wife to her best friend and real-life hero. Along with three spoiled Pugs, they make their home in Gauteng, the smallest of nine provinces in South Africa. She works as a bookkeeper and uses every available second to create interesting characters in historical settings.She's a member of American Christian Fiction and her dream came true when she recently signed a contract with Pelican Book Group for her Christmas themed novella, The Widow's Captive. Follow me on Twitter, Visit me at Pinterest, Find me on Facebook

The Gift of Writing Comes From Inside

By Peter B Forster

‘Oh I have always been a writer. All my life I have snatched words out of the air. Even as I woke in the morning my first thought would be to catch their bright burning flame, wield a pen like a branding iron and scorch them deep into a sheet of velum. The pain of the world writ large in raw hide…’ How many times have you heard that kind of pretentious twaddle from a writer?

When I was asked to provide an original piece of work for the magazine and one that might provide some useful insights about the process of writing to the readership I was stumped. Words usually pour out. They jump and bubble. I let them go and watch as they dance around the page like a row of chorus girls. I have never experienced the dreaded yips. Or the cold hollow whistle of an empty head. But that is because I think the gift of writing is within us all. It is not a unique talent; there is no magical formula. All you need to do is write down your thoughts. We all have them and it is as easy as that.

Of course that is pretentious twaddle as well because if it was easy then anybody could do it and if it was true we would all be bashing out books all day long.

‘Oh I’ve always thought I would write a book one day…’

How many times have we heard that? Of course every single person on this planet has a story. And everybody thinks they can write it down.

But they don’t, do they and why not?

It is easy to say creative writing takes discipline and hard work, but that goes without saying. If we all have the gift then anybody can sit down with a lap top. With the press of a button the flood gates are opened and the words just spill out. It is as easy as ABC. But if that is true what makes the difference between words that dribble out with the graceless hum of a splattered cowpat and those that slip off the tongue with a lyrical roll and move with a rhythm that captures the imagination?  I think it is personality. If a writer can harness their own unique personality and transfer it on to the page then the words come to life. They have a personality, power and majesty all of their own.

Well maybe, possibly, perhaps.

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Peter is a consulting Counseling Psychologist in a busy East London community health setting. He has published in academic works and provided chapters in books for counselors’’ psychologists and psychotherapists he nurtures a love of and talent for creative writing. He attends writer’s workshops, written and performed poetry as well as provided lyrics for jobbing musicians. Currently he is fulfilling his ambition to write full length fiction novel. Peter’s academic work can be found in Tribe and Morrissey (eds) Handbook of Professional and Ethical Practice for Psychologists, Counsellors and Psychotherapists. Brunner-Routledge (2005) web: www.peterbforster.com   twitter: @peterbforster

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Peter-B-Forster/382099575196003?ref=hl