What does a writer do when she's between deadlines? Relax, that's what! For the past six weeks I've had the rare writer privilege of a break between commitments. It's been glorious and I've had lots of fun. I've sewn, I've knitted, I've met friends, I've gone away, I've exercised and I've had my weekends free. Oh, the luxury of 48 hours in which to do nothing but please myself!
A couple of weeks ago I went to see David Nicholls at Book Slam give his last ever reading from One Day. A few days later, I caught the train to the Cambridge Literary Festival to join fellow author, Helen Moss*, for a day of literary entertainment and thinking. (Oh, and eating. And maybe a bit of drinking.)
*Have you SEEN Helen's amazing website for her Adventure Island series of books?
But with Christmas just around the corner (and after that a whole new publishing year) it's time to click my heels and salute the scheduling sergeant major. Publishing Peeps are planning, which means meetings have been had and deadlines have re-appeared.
I'm not going to lie to you - I'm glad to be back in the swing of things. Writers get a bit twitchy after a few weeks of R&R. We need to feel needed!
So as the Christmas countdown gains speed, and festive publisher parties abound, I am trying to find the head space to think about other things. It's time to get serious, and as any seasoned author will tell you, Christmas isn't really a holiday for us. It's a big chunk of time in which we can get loads of writing done!
The truth is, schedules are another area of a writer's life over which we have little control. Make of that what you will - it can be a reason to complain or celebrate. Personally, I relish a deadline. And as Katie Dale and I celebrated via Twitter this week, no one needs to know what we look like when we sit at our writer desks. All we need to do is write...
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