Writing, Reading and Listening
What are your morning rituals? What does the first hour of your day look like?
Wake up either naturally or with an alarm.
Make myself a cup of tea, get back into bed, let the dog come up for a cuddle.
Walk the dog.
When it’s winter and it’s dark outside the dog walking might be later, but it’s spring and it’s light at the moment and I love it!
What’s something most people don’t understand?
I’ve not been on here for a while.
I haven’t written my novel or even in my journal for a while.
Life has been busy and tough recently but that’s OK.
Taking the break I need and not feeling the ever constant guilt. It’s ok.
What strategies do you use to cope with negative feelings?
I’ve got nothing.
What activities do you lose yourself in?
I wile away at lot of the day daydreaming. It sounds like a cliche, but I can also read for hours on end or making pottery.
So many things to do, to little time to do them.
I’ve been ill, I’ve been busy, and work is taking it out of me.
So, my writing has taken a back seat.
I have 3 weeks off soon so I am going to get back into it then. Being nice to myself but also recognising I need to keep going.
Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
Desperate for love but really f***ing annoying.
What is the last thing you learned?
The translation of the opening lyrics to circle of life literally means ‘Look! There’s a lion’
Apparently it can be considered more ‘behold, here comes the king’
But I learned that doom scrolling the Internet this morning.
What is one question you hate to be asked? Explain.
Ummm..so everyone knows there is a recruitment and retention issue in the education sector.
If being a teacher was so cushy, wouldn’t everyone want to do it?
When I first trained to be a teacher, I swore I wouldn’t go down this rabbit hole, but believe me, it is fully justified.
I won’t go into a long diatribe about how difficult the long days are (no, we don’t finish at 3) or how every minute of every day you have to be ‘on’. You can’t slack off for an hour lunch.
But just say that the numbers speak for themselves. Graduates aren’t training anymore, teachers are quitting because it’s hard and they can get paid more elsewhere.
Something needs to change, and no, it’s not make them work more.
You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
Bad day at work, this is how I feel…
So I’m writing a scene, tapping away at my computer, and something doesn’t feel right.
I can’t put my finger on it, but the tone of my descriptions, the dialogue, felt off.
So, I put my laptop down, made a cup of tea, ran a bath, and started a book by one of my favourite authors.
As per lesson 2, I started reading and was trying to think why I was enjoying it so much. What made the writing so much better than mine?
I can’t quite work out why, but since that little break, a read of an old favourite with new eyes, I have come back to my own writing with gusto. Just writing in bed with pen and paper has allowed some scenes and character details to just flow out of my hand without much thought.
So, what’s the lesson?
Read, read and read some more?
Don’t overthink?
I was overthinking when I was typing. I’m not when I’m handwriting.
I read somewhere (can’t remember where I’ve read numerous things about writing) that writing is 20% writing, 80% editing.
I could be misremembering the stats but the message is the same.
Get that first draft done. If it’s crap, we can worry about that later.
Sarah Hargreaves 