This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
You can listen to Anna’s podcasted novel over on her website www.annabellwrites.com and follow her on twitter @annabell_writes.
Back to School Nerves
The past few months the real world has caught up with me and I haven’t had time to write much of my books. But instead of being excited when my life got back to normal and I had time to write, I kept putting off writing.
I was moving house, and kept putting off picking up the laptop as there ‘was too much to do’. And even now the house only has 3 smallish boxes left to unpack (the virtue of moving from the world’s smallest flat to a house with loads of space) I kept finding other more pressing matters.
I’m not going to say that I enjoyed not writing as I really missed it, but what I enjoyed was the lack of pressure.
I know it’s ridiculous, I don’t have an agent, a publishing deal or any deadlines, but whenever I’m writing in the back of mind all the time is the hard work that goes into attempting to get published. And that awful feeling that maybe I’m going to be the only person that reads my books.
I guess not writing was easier. Without writing there were no expectations and no failures. Which means that I could go back to my normal world were I was a contented museum curator and not a failed wanna be writer.
It was the same feeling I used to get when I’d been off sick from school or after the school holidays. I always knew I’d be fine when I got there, but the thought of it filled me with dread.
So finally on Sunday, when I really didn’t want to unpack the final 3 boxes, and no more important things, I switched on the laptop…
Having moved from a teeny tiny flat, at first I didn’t know where I would want to write. I mooched around the house for a bit looking at various table and desk options. The box room/office is where the unpacked and empty boxes are currently stored, and I didn’t think it would be too conducive to writing. The kitchen was too much of a distraction, too much to eat and too many cups of coffee to have to make. In the end I found a table in my spare room which is right next to a window. So having found the perfect writing environment, the right cushion to bolster my back, I started writing.
Now luckily for me, I still don’t have internet in the new house, which limited my distraction potential. And after a couple of hours I realised I’d missed my characters and before I knew it I’d almost written two thousand words.
And the feeling of dread had gone, hurrah. I’ve just got to get back into the habit of writing regularly and those back to school nerves will hopefully not reappear… until I hit the next writer’s block!