THE WRITING LIFE

Another busy couple of weeks, but probably a bit more writerly activity than I reported last time – including actual writing! Reading back over my writing journal. I see that I didn't touch the novel from 13th to the 25th of October. This is quite a long break when you're working on a first draft, because you lose momentum and it becomes increasingly difficult to re-enter the 'zone'. Fortunately, I'd booked a one day urban writing retreat for the 25th, so that forced me back into it. More of that in a moment. First, a quick roundup of my other writerly activities.

On Tuesday 21st  saw the launch of Watch & Wait, (Cybermouse multimedia). The proceeds from the sale of the book and from the launch are gifted to the Lymphoma Association - just over £1000 so far. My short story Day Tripper  appears in the anthology, which also contains stories from 19 other authors, including Marina Lewycka, Rony Robinson, Danuta Reah, Bryony Doran and Berlie Doherty to name but a few. The launch was a huge success. The room was packed, and it was such a pleasure to hear these wonderful authors reading from their work and talking about their writing lives. The evening continued with live music, drinking and chatting.

Saturday 25th started with the aforementioned retreat. I could only stay for the morning but just those three hours sitting in a room working quietly with other writers was enough to reacquaint me with my novel, so although I only wrote about 600 words, I felt so much better.

In the afternoon, I joined Danuta Reah for a book-signing at WH Smith in Fargate, Sheffield. This was mainly Danuta's signing – I was the 'support act'.  Danuta is a crime writer, and much of her work is set in Sheffield - I can highly recommend Bleak Water, which is set the around the canals. I'll definitely be reading more of her work. We'll be at WH Smith's again on 29th of November, and this time, I'll be the 'main attraction' with Danuta supporting me. So if you'd like a signed copy of one of my books, one of Danuta's, or the Watch & Wait anthology – all great Christmas presents – pop along for a chat on the 29th.

On Saturday evening, I met up with six writer friends for one of our regular 'writers dinners'. Writing is a solitary business, and you can feel very much alone when you're wrestling with problems in your work, so it's always great to reconnect with people who understand. My lovely friend Ruby, who I met 12 years ago on an Arvon course, stayed overnight and so we had lots of time on Sunday to chat talk about our novels (and to 'do lunch', of course.)

Some writers prefer not to discuss their work in progress, but I find it incredibly useful to talk about ideas and problems with other writers. This almost always helps to clarify things. After chatting with Ruby, I felt clearer about the problems, and I had a few ideas about how to move forward. On Monday, a phone chat with my lovely editor helped to complete the process and put me right back on track. Sometimes, the solution to a problem is staring you in the face, but you're just too close to the work to see it. Discussing it with someone who knows what they're talking about can really set you free!

This was all great timing, because on Tuesday, I headed off to the Forest of Dean for a few days' retreat with the wonderful and inspiring Annie McKie. I went on a retreat with Annie in July and had a terrific breakthrough in my work. I find that being away from the distractions of home and not having to think about shopping and cooking – Annie is a fabulous vegetarian cook –  means I can really focus on my work in a way that's impossible at other times.

I ate with Annie and her husband on my last evening, and these gorgeous roasted vegetables were part of the meal

'My' room - it has its own back door, an en-suite shower & loo and the most wonderful view

Annie is the perfect host - she leaves you to concentrate on  your work, bringing food when you need it, and she's on hand with helpful ideas for when you get stuck. The retreat room opens out onto a balcony overlooking the Forest of Dean.

I'm really pleased with what I achieved in those few days – I wrote three completely new scenes and rewrote two others. I came back on Saturday – did more writing on the train – and now, as if the loveliness will never end, I'm off to Lumb Bank near Hebden Bridge for an Arvon retreat. I'm really hoping to build on the good work I did at Annie's and come back next Saturday feeling significantly further forward with my novel.

In other news: Apple ibooks have picked up The Secrets We Left Behind For a special promotion, so for the next two weeks (from midnight 3rd Nov) the e-book will be £1.99 on iBooks.

A cheeky request
If you've enjoyed this post, I'd be so grateful if you'd Tweet the link. I never usually ask for RTs of my blog posts, but as I'm off to Arvon in a couple of hours, I won't have time to do much Tweeting myself, and my poor little blog that I've worked on the morning will lie unread. Thanks in advance!

New Amazon reviews:
The Secrets We Left Behind: Two 5-star, one 4-star and one 3-star.
The Things We Never Said: Three 5-star, two 4-star and two 3-star.

If you'd like to keep an eye on what I'm up to, follow me on Twitter @sewelliot or 'like' my Facebook page You can visit my website here

Urban Writers' Retreats

I've long been a fan of writing retreats and have been on several run by the Arvon Foundation. These usually take place in a rambling old house, nestling in the heart of glorious countryside. They run from Monday evening until Saturday morning, so there are four clear days in which to write, and five evenings in which you can write if you wish, but which are often spent chatting with other writers  over a glass of wine or three. It's an incredibly supportive and encouraging environment, and the total immersion in what you're doing, together with the creative energy created by a group of writers living and working together, is extremely productive.

But how would it work, I wondered, with an urban retreat, which usually lasts for just one day and takes place in a busy town or city?  When I heard that there was to be an urban retreat here in Sheffield, I signed up pretty quickly. I'm finishing the first draft of my second novel and I thought some focused time away from the distractions of home – the Internet, the dog, the laundry – could be just what I needed. But there would be no beautiful countryside in which to walk when I got stuck, no evening round the fire with a big glass of wine. Could it possibly be as conducive to work as the residential retreats have been?

Reader, it could. It was; it is! The day started at ten, and the first fifteen minutes or so were spent talking with the other writers. The words of a sceptical friend rang in my ear, "I don't think you'll get much done," he said. "I think you'll all just chat." But then the organiser led a brief introductory session so that we all knew who was who and what we all hoped to achieve, and then we settled down to work at our laptops, and for the next few hours, nothing was heard but the soothing tap of fingers on keyboards.

Throughout the morning, cups of tea and coffee with an accompanying tin of biscuits magically appeared at my side. At lunchtime, there was a general clicking of necks and stretching of legs. We ate the light lunch provided, talked about how we were all getting on, and quickly got back to work. The afternoon progressed much the same as the morning, only perhaps with a renewed intensity as everyone seemed aware of the time running out.

The retreat was due to finish at five, and as the time approached the clattering of the keys got louder and faster as we all tried desperately to get just that little bit further before we had to leave.

By the end of the day, I had got more work done than on any other single day that I can remember. I finished a scene I'd been struggling with, wrote a new short scene, and did a significant amount of rewriting and editing.

I staggered home stiff and aching, jittery from the coffee, half-blind from staring at the keyboard, and slightly dazed from the sheer intensity of it all. But the overwhelming feeling was a sense of exhilaration at the amount of work I'd  achieved.

This particular urban retreat cost £30, including all refreshments. I couldn't afford to do it very often, but in my opinion, it was £30 well-spent, and I'll be booking another one in the very near future. For details of this one (Sheffield Writers) and others around the country, see links below:

In the North:   Sheffield Writers' Retreats

In the West Country: Retreat West

In London: Urban Writers Retreats

To find out more about me and my work, including my debut novel which is being published in a few weeks by Simon & Schuster, have a look at my  website

Should you read fiction while you're writing?

We all know we mustn't drink and drive, but is reading fiction while writing as risky for the well-being of our novels as drinking while driving is for the well-being of our fellow man?


Some writers think so.  Some writers claim that they never pick up a novel while they're writing for fear of being influenced by whoever it is they're reading. What do they mean by 'being influenced'? Does it mean there is a danger that we might start writing like those authors? If so, quick! Bring me a pile of books by authors I admire and respect and would give my eye teeth to emulate. I'll give anything a go. Would that it were that easy!


Or do they mean that reading novels might cause the words of other authors to somehow seep through into their own writing and sully the masterpiece they're currently creating? Again, I'll risk it.


I have mixed feelings about reading while writing. On the one hand, reading something within my genre can give me a kick-start when I'm floundering. When it's a writer I admire, the rhythm of the prose and cadence of the dialogue can really inspire me and make me itch to get back to my own work.


But on the other hand, becoming engaged with a wonderfully written novel can be counter-productive in that I often find myself reading when really I should be writing. Also, I can end up losing myself in the novel I'm reading to the extent that I find I'm spending my spare time thinking about those characters and that author's fictional world rather than thinking about my characters and my own fictional world.


If I'm honest, I know that I'm better able to throw myself into my own novel when I'm not reading somebody else's. The absolute best thing that can happen to me is when I'm trying to read a novel but find I can't concentrate because my own characters are dominating my thoughts.


Having said all that, how can we not read? The idea of living life without a novel 'on the go' is completely alien to me. So somehow, I'm just going to have to find the right balance.


What about you? Do you find reading fiction while you're writing is a help or a hindrance? 




For more about me and my work, visit www.susanelliotwright.co.uk


And to access a list of recipes and book reviews on this blog, go to: recipes and book reviews and scroll down the page (past the writing bits)

Can I survive a month away from Twitter?

Like many others, I was sceptical about Twitter. Wasn't it all about celebrity gossip and the finer points of what Stephen Fry had for breakfast? And given the amount of time Twitter was bound to gobble up, how could it possible be 'good for writers'?

Well, it's almost a year since I joined Twitter, and I haven't once learned what Stephen Fry has for breakfast (mind you, I don't follow him, so his breakfast would have to be spectacular enough to warrant a retweet if I were ever to hear about it.)

And I have to admit that I do now see why Twitter is good for writers. I have gained so much from Twitter in the past year that it's now quite hard to imagine life without it.  Not only is Twitter a virtual water cooler/coffee shop in terms of giving us solitary authors access to the daily banter that enhances the working day of those with 'proper jobs', but it has also provided me with a number of book recommendations I might not otherwise have discovered, it has opened the doors to such a wealth of interesting newspaper articles, blog posts, quotes and YouTube videos about writing and the writing process that I can never hope to read even a tenth of what's available; it has provided real-time updates in the form of Tweets from writers' conferences and events that that I haven't been able to attend, and, most valuable of all, it has given me new friends.

The friends I've made on Twitter are mostly, but not all, other authors, and this means they understand a lot about my life, and I understand a lot about theirs.  We empathise with the challenges we all face in our daily quest to 'get some work done'; we sympathise with each other's isolation; we commiserate over rejections and we celebrate successes.

But there is a downside. All this wonderful support comes from having a strong network of people that you frequently interact with, and interaction takes time.  Twitter is also the BEST vehicle for procrastination, and what's more, when you confess to procrastinating, loads of other authors will jump to your defence, convincing you that it's normal or even desirable to procrastinate. I'm guilty of this myself and even wrote a blog post encouraging others. *hangs head in shame* See 7-ways-to-justify-procrastination 

So, in the interests of the health of my second novel, and at the risk of returning to Twitter to find that no-one remembers me, I've decided to follow fellow author Isabel Ashdown's  (@isabelashdown) example and have a month (ish) away from Twitter.  Gulp. I'm going away for a week in August anyway, and lots of other people will be away too, so I won't miss much, right? Who am I kidding - I'll miss loads.

But despite wondering how on earth I'm going to survive for a month without the support of my lovely Twitter mates, I'm going to take a deep breath, and I'm going to do it!  See you in September!

 For more about me and my work, visit www.susanelliotwright.co.uk

And to access a list of recipes and book reviews on this blog, go to:recipes and book reviews and scroll down the page (past the writing bits)