Fabulous advice from Toby Litt. Every point here is scary and exhilarating. I’m thinking of my own W-I-P (very early stages) and how it has come to life when I’ve pushed on past feeling ridiculous and overblown and too much. I’m hugely excited by it, whilst at same time pretty sure it’s not a mainstream thing and when I get to the point of not caring about what happens when it’s finished is when I work best and am happiest.
I’m reminded of skiing (I’m not a good skier) when I was always at the back and scared but also, sometimes, breathless with the joy of it and all the tears and cold and aches and fear were worth those few moments.
Similarly, acting (I’m a better actor than skier) when I didn’t always know where I was supposed to be standing or what words came next. I wasn’t scared – less likelihood of physical peril on stage. It felt like flying and was in and of itself worth doing. I hope the audiences felt that energy and enjoyed it too but who knows, eh?
1. Don’t Bore Yourself When I’m starting a writing class, I usually emphasise that the most important thing in a first draft isn’t the idea, it isn’t…
9 Things Not to Do in NaNoWriMo
Just waving 