Writing Blog

20220416 When Writing Goes Astray

April 16, 2022, 12:00pm

As I type this, it is almost midday on Easter Saturday. A four-day public holiday stretch. Perfect for...

...avoiding writing.

I spent yesterday at a crab festival. All you can eat fresh crabs for a very cheap price. I ate too much. This morning was the ladies auxiliary of the town doing pancakes. Delicious and I ate too much (notice a pattern?). I am typing this while waiting for some baking to cook that I am doing for a family friend. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday and I'm running a stall at the local Easter market. Then Easter Monday and I might get down to some serious writing.

This is not to say I haven't written. I've done a heap of editing, and two Weekend Notes columns (including one commemorating the life of recently deceased Chris Bailey) have been written, but this latest novel of mine has taken a serious back seat. That's what I hope I can do Monday as Tuesday it's off to my regular interviews at the dole office.

This is the biggest issue with being a pantser.

For those unsure, there are three types of writers. Plotters, who plan everything in immaculate detail; Pantsers who make it up as they go along (writing "by the seat of one's pants"); and those who combine the two anywhere along the spectrum (Plantsers, Plotsers, etc.). It's not an either/or - there is a definite spectrum. Well, I am pure 100% pantser. And before Plotters get all in my face (it's happened) - I sell to traditional publishers so it works for me.

Anyway, by the time I hit the story it will have been 6 days since I touched it. And that means the ideas I had and where I was aiming is gone and doesn't have the same feel, or has been forgotten. It's a reason why I write every day, to keep that flow, but with three quarters of my writing this week being non-fiction, I have lost the flow of the fiction work.

So, that's this blog entry - me complaining about my writing.