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.
Sarah Hargreaves
Writing, Reading and Listening
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Which animal would you compare yourself to and why?
Desperate for love but really f***ing annoying.
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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.
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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.
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You’re writing your autobiography. What’s your opening sentence?
Bad day at work, this is how I feel…
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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.
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What are three objects you couldn’t live without?
- My phone – it’s true. I need it. Ignoring social media and communication, I need it to pay for things and to get into the secure accounts at work. Blasted 2 factor authentication.
- My car – i live in a small town in the countryside, public transport is not good. It takes 1 hour and a half to travel 9 miles to work. I physically cannot get to work on time by bus.
- My watch – not knowing the time is horrible – I’m addicted. My wrist feels naked without it, plus how will I know my heart rate, how many steps I’ve done, how many calories I’ve burned without it?!
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On a rainy Sunday, the day after Valentine’s Day, the boyfriend and I decided to go out for breakfast (we had done nothing for Valentine’s day mind you). After breakfast we went for a stroll down the high street and into a charity shop. I always head straight to the mass of old paperbacks and my eyes caught on this chunky fella. £1.50 and I bought it.
And I don’t regret it!
Easy to read and enjoyable. I was getting a bit frustrated in the later parts because I thought it was going on a bit unnecessarily but the reasons became clear and it tied everything together at the end nicely. A bit of a tome at 700+ pages but I read it in just over a week without it feeling like a slog to get through.
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As I try my hand at writing fiction, I sit scratching my head at how I’m going to actually write.
I can envisage a scene, as though I am the character. I can see what they see, hear what they I hear, smell what they smell. I now need to work out how to emulate that on the page.
I have always been a quick reader, for the most part, enjoying the story and not really appreciating the craft. Somebody has spent hours thinking about how they want their words to come across.
How each choice of word has been carefully considered.
Now, as I read for pleasure, I am trying to recognise this in well established authors. Why have I continued to read this 700+ page book and not given up? Also, the reverse is just as helpful. If I have given up on a book that I thought I would like, why have I?
What type of reader am I trying to engage?
And…the level of detail in books is extraordinary. As I write my first draft I already know that I have a substantial amount of research to do.
My main task is to get this first draft done.
Get the bare bones of the book and hopefully I can sort out the glaring omissions; sections that don’t make sense, paragraphs that don’t feel realistic.
As a mathematician we are trained to solve problems as efficiently as possible. I hope this will translate to my writing, but it may mean I am lacking in detail. Rather than needing to give my first draft a brutal edit, cutting significant parts out, I think I will need to add to areas. Try and generate a desire for the reader to continue. Maybe I’m wrong. Who knows. On we go.
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What experiences in life helped you grow the most?
Becoming someone’s line manager at work.
For years, I was only responsible for myself at work.
If something went wrong, I went to speak to my manager about it.
Now, as a line manager of a small team I have to deal with everything. My team are great by the way, but there is the stuff that comes with being a line manager. If they are off ill, if they have a problem, if someone has a problem with them, if the team aren’t getting on, making collective decisions as a group.
Yeh, it’s been a steep learning curve, but I like it.
