Chase away writer’s block in the real world

During the last couple of months, I have been immersed in a virtual world of social media. Yesterday, my family insisted that I visited the real world of the Brecon Beacons.

Initially, I complained that it was another rainy day in Wales and it wasn’t worth braving a potential storm.  I was happy to admire the colours of the garden, from my writing room, but the writing wasn’t flowing.  Finally, I left my handbag at home, retrieved my walking gear and went to the Brecon Beacons.  The beep, beep, beep of my phone was left behind as we drove into the heart of the impressive mountain range.

Always one to admire the cloudless blue sky, I was surprised by depth of the grey sky.   I had been adamant that I needed the blue sky for some ‘blue sky thinking’, but I was wrong. I needed the reality of a dramatic landscape to chase away the writer’s block.

We stood in the landscape as the colours were dissolved by silver, grey and bronze tones.  We discussed how the scene was changing before us, and how the moving clouds were like the curtains opening and closing on the stage.  This very real experience made me aware that the weather re-writes the landscape in the same way that a writer changes the shades of meaning in a story.

Rather than staring at the computer screen for inspiration, or peering into the same garden – why not immerse yourself in the real world?  It is good to hear the real tweets of the birds rather than the computer-generated tweets.

 

Please see my blog at jessiecahalin.com

Windmills of my Mind in Devon

For me, the thrill of chasing ideas is the most exciting element of the writing process.

Words can take us to any place and any time. I was delighted to discover words I wrote in my notebook during a summer holiday in Devon.  My thoughts were scattered on the page, so I picked them up, revisited my photo album and returned to a time when I suffered a creative drought.

Words let us travel to any place, any time and any season.

The heat stifled ideas and frazzled my creativity. I complained the holiday cottage was too dark for me to write.  After a few days, I worried my ideas had taken leave.  I blamed the environment because small windows trapped the darkness in the room, and I seemed to have reached a dead end with the story.

I found the ideal house for an author.

Entering A la Ronde, created by Jane and Mary Parminter, confirmed that the correct environment is essential.  My creativity opened again as soon as I wandered around the eighteenth century house.  I found the ideal house for an author.  Imagine a sixteen-sided house that allows you to follow the light around the house. Perfect!

In this house, I would be able to chase my ideas around and around in circles until I found the correct room to write.  Ideas travel around like the wheels of a windmill until I get them on paper and stop them circling.  Sometimes, I release ideas too early and they must be abandoned.  For me, the thrill of chasing ideas is the most exciting element of the writing process.

At Greenway House, Agatha Christie’s holiday home, I found out that she also enjoyed chasing ideas for her stories.

At Greenway House, Agatha Christie’s holiday home, I found out that she also enjoyed chasing ideas for her stories.  She spent time listening to conversations in hotels, researching and plotting.  She delighted in the process of developing her narratives but didn’t look forward to ‘sitting down and writing the darn thing’. Exploration of the garden of Greenway House did give my ideas more room to develop.  Sitting in Agatha Christie’s room, I met the anti-hero in my novel.

Since confessing my frustrations to my notebook, I have completed my second novel, Loving You (working title). I am using feedback from the RNA New Writers’ Scheme to control the ideas I chased across the page during a heatwave in Devon.  My RNA reader is currently sitting on my shoulder, shaking her head occasionally and pushing me to challenge my characters.

I have learned to move around the house in search of inspiration because working in one room inhibited my ideas. Moreover, I just need to get on and ‘write the darn thing’ and accept there will be times of frustration and many, many drafts of the novel.

 

Please see all my Handbag Adventures and my website and blog at JessieCahalin.com.

A copy of my novel is available here.