Good morning from a still-dark London! Well, it might not be dark by the time you read this. 🙂
Apologies for being a day late with this writing tip – I took a day off yesterday to see a friend (sitting outside a café with a coffee in December – who would have thought it!)… plus I took a walk in a local park. As you see, it was misty! It was cold, but beautiful.
It was good to take time off. I was going to write to you today about narrative voice, but actually I’m going to write to you about refreshment, because I think it’s important.
Sometimes we get stale. This year we have lacked variety in our lives, haven’t we? Most of us have been at home pretty much constantly, with the same people, doing all the same things…
Let me encourage you to take time to do something different this week to nourish your body, soul and spirit. This will mean different things for different people. Here are some ideas:
- Create something beautiful
- Have a group chat with friends
- Walk somewhere different
- Read a brilliantly-written book
- Try out some new recipes
- Take up a challenge
Stop right now, decide what you are going to do, and commit to doing it. Not something you HAVE to do or OUGHT to do, but something which will bring YOU pleasure. 🙂
And you know what – your writing will be better for it.
Let me know what you plan to do!
Something else you can do, is enrol for the Write for a Reason course. Registration is now open for the January start. You can read more about it here. If you write fiction for older children and/or teens and want to make sure you’re getting all the basics right, I’d love to help you take the next step in your writing journey. A little bit of knowledge can make all the difference. Don’t waste any more time getting the basics wrong! Narrative voice, character arc, plot development… we go through all these and so much more. And it’s great fun! Hope to see you there.
Stay safe,
Janet
P.S. Is there someone else you know who might like to join the course, or receive these free writing tips? Do feel free to pass on the information.