Making notes after dark
When your story gets you out of bed. Plus, do you have a question about the In Writing podcast?
Paying subscribers can hear me read this newsletter aloud here, or on your podcast app.
I said it last time but I’ll say it again – God, a bit of time off works wonders. The word ‘headspace’ is a bit clichéd, but I am struggling to find a better one, because it does feel almost literally as though I have more space in my brain now that I’ve taken a break. I think creativity relies heavily on that – for me, anyway. To be creative, you have to feel free to move, mentally, and it’s hard to get that feeling when you’ve been overwhelmingly busy for months.
A few weeks ago I made a note to write a newsletter entitled ‘If you put a book in a drawer, does it die?’ It was something I’d been thinking about a lot, because in order to write my non-fiction book this year, I’ve put aside – temporarily I hope – the novel I started writing last year. I got worried, suddenly, that even though I have 55,000 words of the thing, this break might kill it. Its energy might seep away. I might not be able to revive it when I’m done with the other one.
The novelist Ayòbámi Adébáyò gave me a little hope, when she came on the podcast. She describes her writing life so far as an ongoing project of craft and evolving skill – she uses the word ‘apprenticeship’, which I think is such a wonderful and sustainable attitude to it, especially coming from someone who’s published two novels. When she reflects on the last decade or so of writing, it sounds layered and overlapping in a way that I’m sure is the reality for many people: projects being picked up and put down, returned to later. She said:
I have a folder where I save so many things that I cut or decide not to continue working on – just because it's easier to feel that it might be useful at some point than to just cut it and throw it away. … I do think I will finish them, quite honestly. But in one instance, I didn't feel I was ready to write that book. I didn't feel that I was skilled enough to write that book yet. And so I just put it aside, and maybe in a few years, I'll go back to it and read it, and then maybe continue, maybe not.
She was a great interviewee – calm, clever and without much ego. Do look up her episode of In Writing on your podcast app, or listen to it here.
Another wise writer friend of mine, however, told me to check in on the novel now and then. I think that’s probably good advice too. In any case, I’m not so worried now. A few nights after I got home from holiday, I had to get out of bed in the dark to go and write down a few lines of dialogue that had appeared urgently in my head as I was dozing off. It’s happened again a couple of times since – with all that new space, my brain is working on the novel without my involvement.
Maybe it’s that age-old procrastination thing, a bit like when I’m on a journalism deadline and find myself wanting to clean the bathroom: now that I have a deal for one scary book, I am newly motivated to pay attention to the other one.
I’d love to hear from you on this. Have you ever successfully revived a long-paused project? Have you written two books side by side? Or have you ever opened that drawer to find – argh – a dead story?
For paying subscribers, there’s a thread on In Writing where you can share your writing triumphs, or ask for advice or recommendations: it’s called the In Writers Write-In. A recent interesting contribution comes from subscriber Ben Wakeman, who is serialising his novel (exploring ‘the meaty and topical themes of gun violence and A.I.’) on Substack and is offering free access for a year to 100 engaged readers. Check it out, and do use that thread yourself – it’s there to be helpful, and to support people who are doing brave, creative things.
Next week I’ll release the final episode of this season of the In Writing podcast. To mark that, I’m going to write a newsletter soon answering questions about it. Do you want to know something about a specific episode, from any of the five seasons? Do you want to know what recording equipment I use? Do you want to know what it’s like to chat at a writer’s desk, and how that compares to interviewing them remotely? Hit me with your questions in the comments below, and I’ll answer as many as I can.
And something for your diary while we’re here: the next In Writing Creative Hour will be on Sunday 30 April.
That’s all for now. Good luck with your writing this week!
Keep everything you write. Everything. Writing doesn’t die, it gets reborn, if you choose to revive it. I’m currently reviving old material from the 90s for my female music journalist memoir, and my substack on that same topic, and I’ve been making notes for years. For the project, I’ll also be returning to the bones of a book on women and rock culture that I was commissioned to write for Serpent’s Tail in 90something, but never managed. I am so glad I kept the folder. Apart from anything, it’s fascinating to see what I wrote decades ago!
Sometimes I dictate & record my middle of the night musing using my phone. That way I can get back to sleep, hoping for more inspiration...