Working Four days

Yesterday was the test.

When I was approached about the possibility of working at our church, it was only going to be able to be a four day job. Tim and I ummed and arrd (is that how you spell it ;) about me perhaps doing a day of study, or working on the other day- but seeing as we could afford for me not to- it was decided that it would be better if I just worked four days.

And suddenly open to me was an amazing possibility that I could dedicate half a day a week to fiction writing. I know that doesn't sound that exciting- and many a weeks will find me spending that much time on my story anyway. But a whole half day- dedicated- where I do nothing else. A set time which is my writing time. It just seems so authorial and cool!

Yesterday was the test.

I've been working for three weeks. The first week I worked 5 days a week, so that during the second week I could work 3 days and have a night away with Tim for our anniversary. So yesterday was the first day to try it.

What was it like?

It was strange.

Firstly, I was a lot more critical of my own work. I kept writing things and thinking things like "This is just rubbish, why am i bothering to set aside time for this", and "This is going to take me at least 5 more years to get this done and right. Is it worth it?". Dedicating time to it seems to give it a certain respect that I don't always think it deserves. Luckily Tim has read some and loved it- so I can always go to him for encouragement to persevere.

Secondly, having devoted time to it meant that I did things that are necessary for the story writing process but that I put off during my "free time" writing because they are frustrating and a little bit boring. One of the struggles I've had in my story is getting my head around both the history of the fictional nation around which my story is based, and to get some consistency in the timing of the actually events with in the story- particularly in relation to ages of characters. Because the whole thing spans 12 years- and various characters come in and out of the story- I need to make sure that their ages are consistent with what I want them to be able to do. Doesn't sound very exciting does it? But it's necessary, and so I spent two hours today putting together a timeline to keep it all together.

Thirdly, having this time meant that the story was rolling around in my head all day, and even some of the day before as I prepared for it. And last night I ended up staying up too late, doing some "fun" writing just because I'd been thinking about things I wanted to put on screen. Since I've found writing is 3 parts thinking 1 part writing- the more thinking I do, the more I am likely to be able to put on paper writing that is actually good. And it seems, the more time I set aside to write- the more thinking I do at other times.

So overall, i am satisfied with this first stage of the experiment and look forward to next week.
Written so far:48 pages (not all yesterday!)- number to go...who knows ;)
love B