The rewrites have started in earnest this week. So far (4 days in) they’re going well. I’m motivated, super excited, bouncing off the walls with energy… Or I would be if I didn’t have a cold. And for that I blame the London Underground.
That was the other exciting element of the past week, hot footing it up to London to mingle at a drinks event hosted by Diane Banks Associates
There’s nothing quite like talking with other writers for getting the creative juices flowing. And for the reassuring knowledge that, in writing terms, I am quite normal. I am not, for example, the only one who sometimes writes with earplugs in (real life is just too damn noisy). Nor I am alone in my love of writing in hotel rooms or exploring meditation mind palaces. Plus, I also got to put a few faces to names and (more exciting for me) writers to books.
What’s more, I got to see real people in all their weird, oblivious, wonderfully unique glory. For a woman who has tendencies towards the misanthropic, it was brilliant. Some of them even smiled. One person hummed a little tune whilst waiting for the tube. I only got jabbed in the ribs twice during rush hour.
Living out in the sticks has huge benefits, especially for writers. Solitude, peace, very little light pollution (we can see the stars beautifully on a clear night. Vital for writing novels, of course). But there is something to be said for the vibrancy of the city, especially in giving you a motivational kick up the rear.
So I may have a miserable, snotty cold but it was worth it for this new lease of creativity.
Rebecca Tinnelly 