Writing

It was fascinating working through the process of writing a full novel. Here’s my thoughts and learnings so far for anyone who is interested.

P.S. I can’t work out how to get rid of the stars, so each piece has five stars, bit self congratulatory I know, but hey ho.

Good for your mental health

Writing as a hobby has helped me through some of the most stressful moments of my life, both at work and at home. There are so many ways it can help. I recommend it to anyone.

The short story versus the novel

If you have a small word-count limit (say 750 words) then every single word has to fight for its place. If you write a novel like that, I think  it’s way too dense and difficult to digest.

The benefit of writing courses

Maybe after your 10th best-seller, you don’t have anything new to learn. For the rest of us, we all can learn so much from well structured writing courses.

Erm…is now a good time?

How do you create the space you need to write, and what makes for a good writing environment? I’ve also found that my mood dictates what I’m going to be good at.

Rewriting and Review

Maybe Shakespeare wrote perfect prose straight off the quill, but he was quite clever, all things considered. I’ve had to rewrite, edit, rewrite, cut and rewrite again. It’s worth it.

The writing process

If you are as easily distracted as me, it will definitely help to have a process to follow, even if you deviate from it. Worth considering to avoid frustration and confusion.