I’ve failed a bit over the last few weeks at writing updates for this blog. I was given a promotion in May, which led to increased responsibility at work. I hesitated for a bit before I accepted the promotion – over various different aspects – but one of the things I was considering was my writing.
I knew that taking the role would lead to more work for me, and that it would invariably lead to working longer hours, maybe even overtime at the weekend. In short, it would cut into my writing time.
I didn’t have to accept the promotion, I could have stayed doing what I was doing. So what pushed me into accepting? It wasn’t money. It wasn’t even the particulars of the new responsibilities, which at the time left me a little underwhelmed. What pushed me to accept was my drive to be the best that I can be.
I’m a sucker for computer games where you climb levels, whether that’s level after agonising level in Candy Crush, or gaining experience points in order to grow the strength of my Pokemon.
I don’t really measure myself against other people, I measure myself against me, and in everything I do, I try to be better than I have been previously.
I also fooled myself into thinking that I would always find the time to right. To be honest, I’ve not allowed that to happen.
But that doesn’t mean I did nothing. During a week in Brighton, followed by a week in Scotland – both for work – I managed to pin down the main plot of the second book. It’s three pages of about eighteen paragraphs that detail the main plot points. It likely won’t stay like that, but I now have the skeleton of where I want to go with it.
It took me eight years to write Memories of a Murder. This is another chance for me to better than I have been previously. Today is July 12th 2014, the day that I will officially begin to write my second novel.
I’m setting myself a target of the end of the year to be finished. I’m allowing myself to not reach that target, but as long as I’m finished by July 11th 2022, then I’ll be happy, because I did better than I did before.
I just need to not let work distract me too much. Wish me luck.
Ramblings of a(nother) Frustrated Writer 